Mining colonies: Waterschei Genk

The coalmine at Waterschei (that name literally means watershed) is one of seven in the Campine coal basin. The concession named André Dumont-sous-Asch was granted in 1906 after André Dumont had found coal in the village of As (Asch in French) in 1901. The village counsel of As rejected the foundation of a colliery within its borders as they feared large scale immigration, pollution and negative effects on agriculture. The colliery was therefore to be located on the other side of the heath near the hamlet of Waterschei within the parish of Genk on the edge of the arable fields.

Work on sinking the first pit was started in 1912 using the Foraky-method. The work was troubled by set-backs resulting in the pit being completely flooded in 1914. Work on sinking the second pit was started during the first half of 1914 without many problems. Work on both pits was suspended during the Great War to be completed in 1922 (pit 1) and 1928 (pit 2). The first coal was extracted in 1924. Both pit towers are identical and date from 1922.  Between 1920 an 1924 a large representative office building with large hall, bathhouse, changing rooms, directors suite, administration, payment counters and lamp distribution counters was erected on the edge of the site near the Stiemersbeek, a brook that was at first brought underground and now feeds a series of ornamental ponds.

The offices of the colliery were housed in this imposing structure with a tower on the corner and an enormous central hall over two floors with a large window on the front facade. The pit towers at Waterschei were constructed by the Societé Anonyme de Construction et de Chaudronnerie d'Awans from Bierset-Awans near Liége in Wallonia.

The colliery site was initially organized using a grid layout. Housing for the pit workers and engineers was provided on the edge of the site. This housing took the form of Mulhouse Quadrangles and detached and semidetached villas along the Meridiaanlaan (i.e. Meridian Avenue). The villa for the director is located at the centre of this housings strip in its own park like garden. These buildings were erected between 1912 and 1914.  

The original grid of the colliery forms the basis for the area around the Meridiaanlaan and the production site itself. What is surprising is that the later garden village layout in part also uses the old grid and transforms it. This is clearly visible when the gridlines are projected on the street pattern. Especially the amenities (church, school and tennis courts) still have a link with the grid. The director's villa is placed centrally on the crossing point of two gridlines.

After 1920 plans were drawn up for expanding the mining colony. To this end the André Dumontlaan and Duinenlaan were constructed to link the site to the thoroughfare Genk - As. The Genk-Waterschei train station was built at the end of the Duinenlaan (Dune Avenue, as it lead to the heath) in 1925. Perpendicular to the Duinenlaan (and thus the older colliery grid)  a new broad avenue was planted: the  Onderwijslaan. This avenue ended abruptly at the point where the belt road of the garden village called Tuinwijk André Dumont starts. This Ceintuurlaan curves back to the Duinenlaan. The Binnenlaan  (literally: Inner Avenue) divides the garden village east - west. The streets follow a curved alignment reminiscent of park design of the day. South of the Onderwijslaan along an existing route along the Stiemerbeek called Stalenstraat (named after the medieval mansion of Stalen) developed into a commercial district serving the garden village. There was no space allotted for commercial venues (shops, bakery, barber, greengrocer etcetera) within the garden village. Here only amenities were planned and provided buy the mining company. This pattern is seen in all Campine mining colonies.

The street pattern of the garden village follows a simple plan with two avenues along the older grid connected by a belt road (Centuurlaan) and divided by a secondary central road (Middenlaan). The edge of the garden village was determined by the Stalenstraat to the south, the railway line to Zwartberg in the north and the Hoevenzavel to the west.

Between the Stalenstraat and the Onderwijslaan the Tuinwijk-Zuid was developed. It follows a strict street layout of parallel main streets with roundabouts connecting the side streets. After 1944 the central avenue dividing the garden villages to the north and south was extended to join the extended central avenue (Hoevenzavellaan)of the Zwartberg colliery.

After the grid had been abandoned in the 1920s it resurfaced around 1930. We see this in the small development between the Onderwijslaan and Stalenstraat around the Eeuwfeestlaan (i.e. Centenary Avenue, that was celebrated in 1933) and even more pronounced in the post war extension west of it. All streets run parallel and are named in commemoration of WW2.