The textile trading firm of
H. ten Cate Hzn. & Co. is first mentioned in 1704, but is known to
already have existed in 1691. These so-called fabrikeurs bought finished
cloth from home weavers and sold them on. From the early nineteenth century the
trading company grew into an important industrial textile manufacturer that has
always been based in Almelo. Egbert I, Egbert II and Egbert II ten Cate have
played an important role in expanding the family firm and the industrialisation
of textile production in Twenthe. Egbert IV ten Cate -who died in 1955- was the
last of these so-called textile barons. With his death the company ceased to be
a family firm and became an unlimited company (NV in Dutch). The company has
been restructured several times since then and is now active in the production
of technical fabrics and artificial textiles. Textile undergarments are still
sold under the name Ten Cate, but they are produced by a different company.
After the railway had been
opened in 1865 the number of (textile) factories quickly grew, creating a need
for more labourers and more housing. This was at first provided by erecting German-style tenement blocks that resembled
barracks rather than homes and had few facilities. Around 1900 the realisation
takes hold that bad living conditions of the workforce hampers industrial
output. The first to argue for improved housing for the working classes are the
liberal elite, which often included factory owners. The 1901 Social Housing Act
(Woningwet) meant towns and cities were now obliged to provide housing
of a certain standard. The Social Housing Act also facilitated the foundation
of Building Societies (Woningbouwverenigingen) and Housing Cooperatives
(Woningcorporaties) that could loan money for house building at a
reduced rate (guaranteed by the government or the city). Several industrialists
funded their own Building Societies, in order to create more and better housing
for the workers. This wasn't an act of kindness however, but well-understood
self-interest.
This first resulted in a
plan to build on the Westeres (1904). The planning application was approved in
1908. Work started in 1910. Building Society Popular Interest (Bouwvereniging
Volksbelang) has 124 working-class homes built on the site. In 1913 the
last of the new residents moved in. This Tuindorp Westeres isn't based on the
ideas of the Garden City Movement, but a rather densely built-up urban quarter
along the lines of German examples of social housing.
In 1914 new social housing
between the town centre of Almelo and the railway line is proposed. For this a
Farm called De Riet is bought by the Almelose Woonstichting Beter Wonen (Almelo
Housing Foundation -for- Better Living). This long strip of land was to be the
first of many acquisitions, but prices where soon increased. So in 1916 a plan
was drawn up for the first phase of this Tuindorp De Riet, a garden village
named after the original farm. The name of the farm De Riet translates
literally as The Reed, but should be understood as 'by the small stream'
(derived from the Saxon ridhe). The name is a reference to the Weezebeek an artificial stream that
drained the Reigershofte and Molenbroek.
The first houses in the
garden village are completed in 1918. The works started on the Bornsestraat,
the pre-existing thoroughfare connecting Almelo and Borne. The buildings were
erected in 4 distinct tranches: tranche 1 1918-19, tranche 2 1920-21, tranche 3
1925 and tranche 4 1928-29. The oddly shaped site is used maximally for
housing. The streets often end in garden squares and public gardens. In 1926
the railway stop De Riet is opened. A proper railway station is, however, not
built until 1957. Along side streets and on small parcels of land
builder-developers build some typical semidetached middle-class houses.
In 1930 a planning
application for the expansion of the garden village is submitted. This planning
application is approved in 1934. The plan involves an expansion near the
railway stop centred on a small park. A builder-developer had acquired a large
farm on the Bornsestraat in 1930 and develops this land for middle-class
housing. In 1939 The Housing Foundation can buy the farm 't Nieuwland (The New
Land). In 1943 a plan for expanding the garden village further east is
approved. Due to the occupation and the shortage of materials, building work
doesn't start until 1947, two years after WW2 had ended. This housing differs
greatly as it is built along a series of parallel streets. Each street was
given a different architecture. The result however doesn't replicate the
variety of the older garden village as was intended. In 1967 a number of small
semidetached houses are torn down to
make way for a large home for the elderly. The schools that were included in
the garden village scheme have become obsolete and are being changed into
apartments. Some of the poorly constructed housing from the 1950s was replaced
in the 1980s and 1990s.
The garden
village De Riet is part of the neighbourhood of the same name. Most of the buildings
were developed here after the initial garden village housing. The garden
village (shown in grey) Extends from the Weth. E. van Dronkelaarplein (1) on
the Bornsestraat via two garden squares (2) to the railway stop De Riet (r) and
beyond towards the Weezebeek.The small park near the station (3) was in place
before the houses in the 1930s section (4) were built. In the same period the St
Egidius-neigbourhood was built next to a new school (s) a second school sits at
the heart of the garden village not far from the hostel (h) for single employees.
The post-war extension (6) is shown in lighter gray. In this period a home for
the elderly (e) is built next to a third school. A small industrial estate (i)
is part of the garden village, but is wasn't designed or built by the Housing Foundation.
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