Huizen

History

Huizen was originally an agricultural village, near the Zuiderzee until 1932. During winter the farmers went fishing, which started the development from an agricultural to a coastal village with a thriving fishing industry, stimulated by building the harbour around 1850. After the damming of the Zuiderzee in 1932, the old sea became a lake, and economic activity shifted towards industry and commerce. In the 1960s the town was designated to build substantially large residential areas, to overcome the housing shortage in the region. From then on, the village took on an influx of people and grew rapidly. Where the Phohi-flat now stands in Huizen, before World War II was a large transmitter intended to contact the Dutch East Indies, some 12.000 km away. A post mill that stood in Huizen was dismantled in 1916. It was re-erected in 1919 at the Netherlands Open Air Museum, Arnhem, Gelderland.