Höfn was founded by the merchant Ottó Tuliníus in 1897 who relocated a trading place which had been established in 1861 from Papós, an area 15 kms northwest of Höfn, to the present site of the town.[1] Höfn had 300 inhabitants in 1946.[2] An economic boom started after the construction of the bridge Hornafjarðarbrú [ˈhɔ(r)tnaˌfjarðarˌpruː] in 1961, and with a length of 255 metres the bridge was the second largest bridge in Iceland at that time.[3] Höfn attained municipal status on 31 December 1988 and had 1 647 inhabitants in 1989.[4] Höfn and the community of Nesjahreppur were united on 12 July 1994 under the name Hornafjarðarbær [ˈhɔ(r)tnaˌfjarðarˌpaiːr̥]. On 6 June 1998 Hornafjarðarbær, Bæjarhreppur [ˈpaiːjar̥ˌr̥ɛhpʏr̥], Borgarhafnarhreppur [ˈpɔrkarˌhapnar̥ˌr̥ɛhpʏr̥] and Hofshreppur [ˈhɔfsˌr̥ɛhpʏr̥] were united to form the new municipality of Sveitarfélagið Hornafjörður [ˈsveiːtarˌfjɛːˌlaijɪð ˈhɔ(r)tnaˌfjœrðʏr̥].