Nieuwleusen

History

Nieuwleusen came into existence in the first half of the seventeenth century. At the time, most of the area between Leusen, a village on the Vecht, and the Reest on the border with the province of Drenthe consisted of inaccessible peat moors. The entire area of the Vechtdal, from Hasselt to Coevorden, is indicated as 't Veen (the Peat Moor) on a map by Abraham Goos from the early seventeenth century. The area where Nieuwleusen now lies is called the Ommer moer (Moor of Ommen) on the same map. On 8 January 1631, the Luessener Compagnie was established by inhabitants of Zwolle and Kampen to cultivate the area north of Leusen, which belonged to the Marke van Leusen (the local association of land owners). It was mainly pioneers from Leusen who made the land arable. The first farms of the new settlement stood along the Pad (Path), today the Oosterveen road. Hence, Nieuwleusen got its early name of Oosterveen, as seen on the earliest area maps. Once the settlement got its name of Nieuwleusen (New Leusen), the original Leusen got to be called Oudleusen or Old Leusen (Low Saxon: Oldlusen). It is believed that leusen in these names means lo-essen, approximately 'wooded fields' - which would have been descriptive of the (Old) Leusen area and carried over into the name of Nieuwleusen. Between 1640 and 1646, the nobleman Zweer van Haersolte built the havezathe (country house typical of Overijssel) Oosterveen here. It was demolished in 1862; a scale model is on view at the town's historical museum (see below). In 1655, a house for a schoolteacher was built on the Oosterveen. The baptismal register of Nieuwleusen was kept from 1659. The first Reformed ministers were called from Zwolle, Dalfsen and Ommen. The first minister was Reverend Van Bercum, who arrived in 1663. In 1809,…