It is believed that the name G�vle derives from the word gavel, meaning river banks in Old Swedish and referring to the Gavle�n (G�vle River). The oldest settlement was called Gavle-�garna, which means "Gavel-owners". This name was shortened to Gavle, then Gefle, and finally G�vle.
G�vle is first mentioned as a town in official history books in the year 1413 but only received its official town charters in the year 1446.
For a long time G�vle consisted solely of small, low, turf or shingle roofed wooden buildings. Boat-houses lined the banks of Gavle�n, Lill�n, and Islands�n. Until the 18th century the town was built, as was the practice then, around the three most important buildings: the church, the regional palace, and the town hall. Over the last 300 years G�vle has been ablaze on three different occasions. After the fire of 1776 the town was rebuilt with straight streets and rectangular city blocks. The number of stone and brick houses also started to increase. The biggest town fire occurred 1869, when out of a population of around 10,000 approximately 8,000 inhabitants lost their homes, and about 350 farms were destroyed. Almost the whole town north of Gavle�n was burnt down. All the buildings south of Gavle�n were saved. An area of the old town between the museum and the library has been preserved to this day as a historic reserve, Gamla Gefle.
After the catastrophe of the fire G�vle developed its characteristic grid plan with largees planades and green areas. It is now a green town with wide avenues. Stopping the spread of future town fires was the main idea behind this development.
An extensive redevelopment of the central town area was started during the 1950s. Around 1970 G�vle became a large urban district when it was united with the nearby municipalities of Valbo, Hamr�nge, Hedesunda, andHille. New suburbs like Stigslund, S�tra, Andersberg, and Bomhus have grown up around the central city
