Drachten is the capital of the municipality of Smallingerland in
the Dutch province of Friesland. It is located northeast of
Heerenveen and southeast of Leeuwarden.
The Drachtstervaart
runs through Drachten. In 2020 Drachten had 45,075 inhabitants,
making it the second largest city in the province of Friesland by
population. The hamlets fall under Drachten; Buitenstverlaat,
Folgeren, Nijtap (small part), Noorderend, Zuidereind and
Zuiderheide.
Drachten originated in the 17th century from the
villages Noorder-Dragten and Zuider-Dragten or Noorderragen and
Zuydervragen on the river Drait of Dracht. The area was rich in
raised moors and the Drachtster Compagnonsvaart was dug to remove
the peat extracted from it. Later, shipyards were established in the
area, including Shipyard De Pijp. Many skûtsjes have been built on
these yards.
The establishment of a Philips factory in 1950
attracted many jobseekers to Drachten, so that the population had
already increased to ten thousand in the 1950s.
Drachten does
not belong to the Frisian eleven cities, because it has never had
city rights (in Friesland the term stain / stain is also used for
these kinds of places). However, according to modern concepts (size,
employment, public facilities), Drachten can be called a city.
However, the local media do not always agree and sometimes continue
to call it a village due to the lack of city rights. In 2015, the
Ministry of the Interior was even asked whether Drachten could
indeed call itself a city.
Because Drachten only
became a larger town in the 1950s, most of the buildings date from
after that time. Nevertheless, there are some buildings of
architectural importance from before that time. Some examples are
the former monastery on Burgemeester Wuiteweg (where this road
passes under the A7), the Bleekerhûs (a mansion on the Moleneind)
and a Jugendstil house on the corner of Stationsweg and Lange West.
Around Torenstraat you will find a number of houses designed by
municipal architect Cees Rienks de Boer, the woodwork of which is
painted after a design by Theo van Doesburg from 1921. Because of
the primary colors that Van Doesburg prescribed, the district is
called the Papegaaienbuurt.
To steer the explosive growth in
the 1950s on the right track, the municipality of Smallingerland
hired the architectural firm Van den Broek en Bakema, which also has
the Lijnbaan in Rotterdam to its name. They have designed the
shopping and pedestrian area of the town (the most centrally
located parts of De Kaden, Moleneind, Zuiderbuurt and Stationsweg)
following the example of the Lijnbaan and are also responsible for
the "Tjaardaflats", three residential flats of thirteen floors on
the eastern edge of Drachten (where the Splitting used to enter
Drachten) to give Drachten a more urban look.
The water
tower, also from the 1950s, has been nominated as a national
monument. Drachten has 24 national monuments and 37 municipal
monuments.
In the 1990s, the city council decided that this
urban appearance did not suit Drachten and the pedestrian area was
renovated. The most striking change of that time is the Carillon at
the central intersection of the shopping promenades. At the
beginning of 2012, construction began on the new shopping center
Raadhuisplein. The new central square, which belongs to the shopping
center, has also been used as a city square.
Nowadays there
is talk of the Drachtstervaart, which was located on the Moleneind,
filled in in the 1960s, and extended to the center again. In
preparation for the construction, artist Henk Hofstra designed a
symbolic blue road measuring ten by a thousand meters. The text
Water is life appears in white, which is also the title of the
artwork. This led to a lot of protest from local residents, because
they were not or hardly informed about this in advance. The
temporary project also costs the municipality an amount of 37,500
euros. However, the blue road did generate a number of reports in
the national and international press for Drachten.
In the
spring of 2006, two unique bicycle bridges were opened in Drachten:
The Ring is a bicycle bridge over the A7 motorway and is a joint
project of the municipalities of Smallingerland and Opsterland.
The Slinger is a bicycle bridge over the Zuiderhogeweg from the
Overstesingel to the Eikesingel. With a total length of 240 meters,
it is the largest bicycle bridge in the Northern Netherlands. The
bridge is built above a roundabout and these two together ensure a
good flow of traffic. Before the roundabout was built, cyclists and
pedestrians had to cross the intersection via a crossing with
traffic lights. This resulted in a lot of traffic jams, because the
intersection is near the exit of the motorway. The bridge itself is
quite steep, which causes some problems for the elderly and
children. A viewing platform has been placed in the middle of the
bridge, from which you can look down on other traffic. There is a
fence with bars around the plateau. Above it is a large cone that
makes the total height of the bridge 30 meters. In the evening the
entire bicycle bridge is illuminated.