Purmerend

Purmerend
Municipality
Purmerend city centre
Flag Coat of arms
Location in North Holland
Coordinates: 52°30′N 4°57′E / 52.500°N 4.950°E / 52.500; 4.950Coordinates: 52°30′N 4°57′E / 52.500°N 4.950°E / 52.500; 4.950
Country	Netherlands
Province	North Holland
Government[1]
• Body	Municipal council
• Mayor	Don Bijl (VVD)
Area[2]
• Total	24.56 km2 (9.48 sq mi)
• Land	23.39 km2 (9.03 sq mi)
• Water	1.17 km2 (0.45 sq mi)
Elevation[3]	0 m (0 ft)
Population (May 2014)[4]
• Total	79,532
• Density	3,400/km2 (9,000/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Purmerender
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postcode	1440–1448
Area code	0299
Website	www.purmerend.nl

Population pyramid of Purmerend.

Purmerend ( pronunciation ) is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The city is surrounded by polders, such as the Purmer, Beemster and the Wormer. The city became the trade center of the region but the population grew relatively slowly. Only after 1960 did the population start to grow from around 10,000 to around 80,000 by the 2010s. From the 1960s onwards, Purmerend has seen major expansion and continues to do so. This expansion has turned Purmerend into a commuter town; many inhabitants of Purmerend (14,200 in 2011),^[5] work, go to school or spend their leisure time in Amsterdam. Purmerend is part of the Randstad, one of the largest conurbations in Europe.^[6]

History

Early history

Purmerend was created out of the small fishing village Purmer, which was situated on the land between the Purmermeer (Purmer Lake), the Beemstermeer (Beemster Lake) and the Wormermeer (Wormer Lake) on the south bank of the river De Weere, which used to connect the former Purmermeer and Beemstermeer.

Purmerend was founded by a rich banker from Amsterdam, Willem Eggert. HRH Count William VI of Holland (Willem VI van Holland) gave him permission to build his own fortified castle, Slot Purmerstein, in 1410. The castle's construction was completed in 1413^[7] and it remained standing until it was demolished in 1741 after it had fallen into decline.^[8] In 1434 Purmerend was given city rights and on 21 April 1484 (some sources claim 14 April 1484) the city was given “marktrechten” (the right to organise two “jaarmarkten” annual markets and a “weekmarkt” weekly market) by Count Jan van Egmond.^[7][9][10] This meant merchants from outside of Purmerend could now offer their merchandise for sale on the market. Before 1484 only food products for its own population were allowed to be sold.^[11]

Medieval drawing of the fortified castle Slot Purmersteijn.

Drawing of the Purmerend skyline from 1674.

17th century

By 1500 Purmerend had grown considerably, as can be seen on maps dating from that period. They show that the town had a rectangular shape and was crossed by two roads: one leading north-south, the other east-west. The draining of the Beemster Lake in 1612 and the Purmer Lake in 1622 resulted in a great loss in fishing grounds to Purmerend. However, the new and fertile soil favoured agriculture and livestock breeding, making Purmerend prosperous again. Purmerend now became the centre of an agricultural region, the produce of which was sold on the markets of Purmerend.

20th century

During World War II Purmerend was occupied by German forces on 14 May 1940. After five years of occupation, the city was liberated by Canadian and other allied forces on Wednesday 9 May 1945.^[12]

21st century

Purmerend was named Kermisstad van Nederland.^[13] (Funfair City of the Netherlands) in 2003. After the funfair, Purmerend is most famous for its cattle market, the so-called koemarkt (“cow market”), where cattle are sold and traded, mostly cows and sheep. 52°30′30″N 4°56′59″E / 52.50823°N 4.94985°E / 52.50823; 4.94985 After the outbreak of many cattle diseases between 1995 and 2001 the cattle market was not allowed any more. It was reinstated on a smaller scale on January 2002.^[9]

After 400 years Purmerenders saw the last cattle auction at the original location in downtown Purmerend in 2008. The auction was moved to the "Baanstee Oost" industrial area, in the north side of Purmerend. This was decided for various reasons: freeing up downtown traffic congestion, allowing for more parking area downtown, more room for auction grounds and ease of moving trucks around at the new site.

Geography and climate

Geography

Satellite photo of the city of Purmerend. (centered)

Purmerend lies on a swampy and watery area known as Waterland. When the first settlers began cultivating the land, consisting mostly of turf (veen), they dug ditches that run parallel to each other to drain excess water. As a side effect of this process the land began to sink. This resulted in a never-ending battle against the water. And made agriculture near impossible at the time. It also meant that any structure needed to be built on an artificial Terp or natural hill. The former being true for Purmerend which was built on the bank of the river De Where, that linked the former Beemster and Purmer lakes.

Autumn in Purmerend - 2013

Topography

Dutch Topographic map of Purmerend (town), as of March 2014.

Districts

Bierkade in Purmerend

Purmerend is made up of the following districts.

• Centrum ('het stadje')
• Zuiderpolder
• Overwhere-Noord
• Overwhere-Zuid
• De Gors
• De Gors-Zuid
• De Gors-Noord
• West
• Purmer-Zuid
• Purmer-Noord
• Wheermolen
• Weidevenne
• Baanstee-West
• Baanstee-Oost
• Baanstee-Noord
• De Koog
• Molenkoog
• Hazepolder

The municipality of Purmerend also contains the towns/hamlets of Purmerbuurt and partially the Purmer. (The Purmer is shared with Edam-Volendam and Waterland)

Climate

Public transport

Tramplein.

Public transportation is mainly focused on Amsterdam, with several bus services and a train service via Zaandam.

There are 3 train stations in Purmerend, in the north, centre and south. These are:

• Purmerend Weidevenne
• Purmerend
• Purmerend Overwhere

The bus station in Purmerend is called "Tramplein" (or, Tram Square), but not because any trams run in Purmerend today. History is that a tram ("'t Boemeltje") ran from Amsterdam Centraal to Purmerend, ending at the Tramplein location. Although the tram service discontinued years ago, the end stop has retained the name Tramplein.

In 1951 The Ramblers had a hit commemorating the tram service "’t Boemeltje van Purmerend".

Local government

Former city hall. Now a museum.

The municipal council of Purmerend consists of 35 seats, which are divided as follows since the elections of March 2010:

The mayor of Purmerend is Don Bijl (VVD).

Born in Purmerend

Notable people born in Purmerend:

• Jan Stuyt (1868), architect
• Pieter Oud (1886), minister of finance and mayor of Rotterdam
• Jacobus Oud (1890), architect
• Mart Stam (1899), architect, urban planner, and chair designer
• Hans Klok (1969), illusionist
• Vincent van der Voort (1975), darts player
• Roeland Westra (1981), Project Manager

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Purmerend is twinned with:

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Purmerend.

• Official website

	Beemster		Edam-Volendam
	Wormerland
		Purmerend
	Landsmeer		Waterland

Municipalities of North Holland
Aalsmeer Alkmaar Amstelveen Amsterdam Beemster Bergen Beverwijk Blaricum Bloemendaal Castricum Den Helder Diemen Drechterland Edam-Volendam Enkhuizen Gooise Meren Haarlem Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude Haarlemmermeer Heemskerk Heemstede Heerhugowaard Heiloo Hilversum Hollands Kroon Hoorn Huizen Koggenland Landsmeer Langedijk Laren Medemblik Oostzaan Opmeer Ouder-Amstel Purmerend Schagen Stede Broec Texel Uitgeest Uithoorn Velsen Waterland Weesp Wijdemeren Wormerland Zaanstad Zandvoort
See also Netherlands Provinces Municipalities