[4][5] Between 500 and 1000 AD, the Åker farm was one of the most important power centres in Norway, located just a few kilometres away from today's town of Hamar.

The town is said to have reached its apex in the early 14th century, dominated by the Hamar Cathedral, the bishop's manor, and a fortress, plus the surrounding urbanization.

Hamar remained an important religious and political centre in Norway, organized around the cathedral and the bishop's manor until the Reformation that took place in 1536–1537.

[6] Hamar, like most of Norway, was severely diminished by the Black Plague in 1349, and by all accounts continued this decline until the Reformation, after which it disappeared.

The cathedral was still used as a regular church, but it fell into disrepair culminating with the Swedish army's siege and attempted demolition in 1567, during the Northern Seven Years' War.

In its place, the area was used for agriculture under the Storhamar farm, though the ruins of the cathedral, fortress, and lesser buildings became landmarks for centuries since then.

[7] As early as 1755, the Danish government in Copenhagen expressed an interest in establishing a trading center on the shores of the lake Mjøsa.

Elverum was considered a frontier town with frequent unrest, and there was even talk of encouraging the dissenting Hans Nielsen Hauge to settle in the area.

[8] Bishop Fredrik Julius Bech, one of the most prominent officials of his time, proposed establishing a town at or near Storhamar, at the foot of Furuberget.

It appears that Lundh in particular put great effort into this assignment, and in 1824 he presented to the Storting a lengthy report, that included maps and plans for the new town.

Lundh's premise was that the national economic interest reigned supreme, so he based his recommendation on the proposed town's ability to quickly achieve self-sustaining growth.

After surveying the entire lake, it submitted another report that considered eleven different locations, including sites near today's Eidsvoll, Minnesund, Tangen in Stange, Åker, Storhamar, Brumunddal, Nes, Moelven, Lillehammer, Gjøvik, and Toten.

As steamboats were introduced on the lake, the urban elite developed an interest in the medieval Hamar, and in 1841, editorials appeared advocating the re-establishment of a town at Storhamar.

After a few more years of discussions and negotiations both regionally and nationally, member of parliament Frederik Stang put on the table once more the possibility of a town in or near Storhamar.

The governor at the time, Frederik Hartvig Johan Heidmann, presented a thorough deliberation of possible specific locations, and ended up proposing the current site, at Gammelhusbukten.

On 26 April 1848, the king signed into law the establishment of Hamar as a kjøpstad on the grounds of the farms of Storhamar and Holset, along the shores of the lake Mjøsa.

The first executive of Hamar was Johannes Bay, who arrived in October 1849 to facilitate an election of a board of supervisors and representatives.

The board quickly decided to award licenses to both applicants and set the upper limit to 12,000 "pots" of liquor, an amount that was for all intents and purposes limitless.

The painter Jakobsen had early on offered the use of his home for public meetings and assembly, and upon buying a set of solid locks, his basement also became the town prison.

In Hamar's early days, the entire population consisted of young entrepreneurs, and little was needed in the way of social services.

Svartbækken was convicted for the murder and executed the following year in the neighboring rural community of Løten, with an audience of 3,000 locals, presumably the majority of Hamar's population at the time.

In February 1879 at 2:00 in the morning another fire broke out after festivities, burning down an entire building that housed many historical items from the town.

In 1889, there were riots in Hamar over the arrest of one of their own constables, one sergeant Huse, who had been insubordinate while on a military drill at the cavalry camp at Gardermoen.

The institution is a combined medieval, ethnological and archaeological museum, and has received architectural prizes for its approach to conservation and exhibition.

Additionally, Hamar is known for its indoor long track speed skating and bandy arena, the Olympia Hall, better known as Vikingskipet ("The Viking ship") for its shape.

It featured Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, who drew most of the media attention, however the gold medal was won by Oksana Baiul of Ukraine.

Hamar has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with fairly dry and cold winters, and comfortably warm summers.

In Hamar on 17 July 1993, Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree set a world record for longest distance covered in an hour.

The book's young lovers, denied the right to marry by malicious relatives, come to the town in order to try to get the help of the kindly and compassionate Bishop Thorfinn of Hamar.

Jorma Kaukonen, former guitarist of Jefferson Airplane, celebrated his love of speed-skating in the song Hamar Promenade on his 1974 album Quah.