Halfweg () is a village in the
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
province of
North Holland
North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...
. Previously a part of the municipality of
Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude
Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude () is a former municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland. It had a population of 5,760 in August 2017. On 1 January 2019, it merged with the municipality of Haarlemmermeer.
The munici ...
, it is currently a part of the municipality of
Haarlemmermeer
Haarlemmermeer () is a municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Haarlemmermeer is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water. The name Haarlemmermeer means ' Haarlem's lake', referring to the body of w ...
and lies about east of
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
. Its name, which translates as "halfway," comes from its location approximately halfway between Haarlem and Amsterdam.
History
In 1632, the
Haarlemmertrekvaart
The Haarlemmertrekvaart haːrlɛmərˈtrɛkfaːrt(Haarlem's Tow-Canal) is a canal between Amsterdam and Haarlem in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It was dug in 1631, making it the oldest tow-canal in Holland. Travel on such can ...
, a
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
from Amsterdam to Haarlem, opened for passenger traffic by
trekschuit
Trekschuit (, literally ''"tug-boat"'', but true meaning ''"tugged-boat"'') is an old style of sail- and horse-drawn boat specific to the Netherlands, where it was used for centuries as a means of passenger traffic between cities along ''trekv ...
(towed barges). At the halfway point the passengers needed to disembark and change boats.
History of the town and the mill
on Museum website
A towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport ...
was laid along the canal, and this route has become the Haarlemmerweg (A200). From 1904 to 1957, Halfweg was a stop on the Amsterdam-Haarlem-Zandvoort
Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...
electric tram line.
A sugar factory built in the 19th century was run by CSM Suiker fabriek from 1919 onwards. It closed in the 1990s, but the complex with its sugar silos still dominates the city skyline and is called "Sugar City" today.
Until 1876, Halfweg was right on the southern shores of the IJ Bay. With the construction of the North Sea Canal
The North Sea Canal ( nl, Noordzeekanaal) is a Dutch ship canal from Amsterdam to the North Sea at IJmuiden, constructed between 1865 and 1876 to enable seafaring vessels to reach the port of Amsterdam. This man-made channel terminates at Amsterd ...
, a channel was dug through the IJ and lined with dikes, after which the remaining portions of the IJ Bay were reclaimed and turned into polder
A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are:
# Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed
# Flood plains s ...
s. As a result, the village of Ruigoord
Ruigoord () is a village in the Houtrak''polder'' in the Dutch province of North Holland, situated within the municipality of Amsterdam. Until the 1880s, it was an island in the IJ bay, which was turned into a polder. In the 1960s, the municip ...
, formerly an island of the same name, borders Halfweg in the north, as does the town of Zwanenburg
Zwanenburg () is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, and lies about 11 km west of Amsterdam.
Zwanenburg has a population of around 7,670.Statistics Netherlands (CBS), ''Gemeente ...
in the south.
Gallery
File:Gemaal Halfweg.jpeg, Steam pumping mill at the location of the old sluice. Now Museum Stoomgemaal Halfweg.
File:Huis Zwanenburg te Halfweg 20090927.jpg, Gemeenlandshuis Zwanenburg
The Gemeenlandshuis Zwanenburg () on the Haarlemmerstraatweg in Halfweg is a former Gemeenlandshuis of the Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland designed by Pieter Post and built 1645–1648.
History
The Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland built this build ...
, former headquarters of Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland
The Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland is the oldest water authority in the Netherlands, having received commission to coordinate protection of the land from flooding in 1248 from Count William II of Holland and Zeeland. The council conducts surface ...
Water Board agency, now part of Sugar city, Halfweg
Image:Halfweg suikerfabriek.jpg, Old sugar factory (silos have been transformed into office space called Sugar City)
File:Noordzeekanaalweg 3 Spaarndam.JPG, Farm in Halfweg
See also
* Ans Markus
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Haarlemmermeer
Populated places in North Holland