Almelo is a city and municipality in the Twente region in the
Dutch province of Overijssel. The municipality of Almelo covers an
area of 69 km² and has a population of 73,175.
The
municipality of Almelo was created from a merger (1914) between the
municipalities of Ambt Almelo and Stad Almelo. In addition to the
city of Almelo, the municipality includes the centers of Aadorp,
Bornerbroek and Mariaparochie (partially). The municipality of
Almelo is part of the Twente Region. Some of the Almeloers speak
Twents, a Low Saxon dialect.
Almelo was created in the Middle
Ages. The name goes back to the Germanic words alma "olm" and lauha
"lo". A lo is a forest that is located on sandy soil and is often
close to a settlement.
At the above-mentioned intersection of
the Almelo Aa and that country road, the Huis Almelo was first
mentioned in 1236 and still exists today. Old documents show that
the settlement already had city rights in at least 1420. The city
had a moat, but no wall, so it was never of military importance.
Huis Almelo has probably been around since the 12th century and is
still in the hands of the Van Rechteren Limpurg family to this day.
The family had different rights in the city of Almelo for centuries,
including that to administer justice. Today, the count is engaged in
the restoration of old buildings in the city center and the
maintenance of forests owned by the family.
After the then
lord of Almelo, Zeger van Rechteren (1623-1674), who was living in
the Huis Almelo, forbade the practice of the Catholic religion, the
nuns of the Almelo Monastery of St. Catherine left in 1665 and
settled 300 meters across the border with Germany. just southwest of
Glane in the Netherlands in a monastery they gave the name Maria
Vlucht. After the abolition of the monastery, the church treasures,
partly from Almelo, were spread over the region.
In the 17th
and 18th centuries, home weaving began to emerge. The entrance in
Almelo of the first steam engine in 1830 caused a transition to
factory production. The textile industry was also promoted by the
construction of the Overijssels Kanaal (in 1855) and the railway
line from Almelo to Salzbergen, in 1865. Around 1900 there were
therefore many very wealthy families in Almelo and many country
houses and villas in various styles such as Art Nouveau,
Expressionism and Renaissance Revival.
Between 1818 and 1914,
the municipality of Almelo was split into the municipalities Stad
Almelo and Ambt Almelo.
During the Second World War, Almelo
was one of the places where the raid in Twente took place in
September 1941, in which 10 Jewish men were arrested in Almelo and
died in Mauthausen concentration camp. Then the resistance started
to allow Jews to go into hiding. Frits Tusveld and his wife Henny
Averink, as well as Alie Tharner and others managed to save 60
Jewish fellow citizens. The Jewish cemetery of Almelo contains a
monument commemorating the 242 Jews who died as well as the people
who went into hiding.
On November 15, 1944, eight members of
the resistance committed a raid on De Nederlandsche Bank on
Wierdensestraat. The loot amounted to 46.1 million guilders, the
highest loot ever during a robbery in the Netherlands. This bank
robbery was reenacted in the city musicals Van Katoen & Nu and Het
resistance cracks. The street names in the Dichtersveld district in
Almelo are named after several resistance fighters.
From the
1960s, the Almelo textile industry had a hard time because of
cheaper foreign competition, which led to massive company closures.
Today the effects of this are still visible in the unemployment
figures. Many textile factories have been demolished, but some
buildings have been preserved.
According to many, Bellinckhof
on Wierdensestraat is the most beautiful of the villas that textile
barons had built. Built by the Ten Cate family in the twenties of
the twentieth century, it is also one of the largest textile houses
in Twente. The house and park are not open to the public. The design
is by architect Karel Muller. The dining room is paneled with
mahogany, the hall has a black-veined white marble floor and the
room has green paneling with pink silk and decorated with family
portraits of the Ten Cates. The current family spawn is, just like
the count, active in city conservation and, in addition to its own
park, helps maintain the Egbert ten Cateplantsoen and the
Beeklustpark in Almelo.