- Sloterdijk (Amsterdam)
Dutch town locator maps
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caption = Sloterdijk in the municipality of Amsterdam.Sloterdijk (coord|52|23|N|4|51|E|type:city(100)) is a village in the Dutch province of
North Holland . It is a part of the municipality of Amsterdam, and lies about 3 km northwest of the city centre."ANWB Topografische Atlas Nederland", Topografische Dienst and ANWB, 2005.] Sloterdijk is also the name of the borough of Amsterdam in which the village is located.Nearby is the site of
Amsterdam Sloterdijk railway station.Early history
To protect the area around Sloten from the as-yet undrained IJ the
Spaarndammerdijk was laid along the south bank of this inlet. In this vicinity at the same time, a dam on the Slochter (or Slooter) river was built, the Slooterdam. Trade grew in the vicinity, and in 1465 a weigh house (or waag) was established.A church was built in about 1479; however, it was destroyed in 1573 by theGeuzen , a group of nobles rebelling against Spanish control of Holland, following thesiege ofHaarlem . In the 17th century the Petruskerk (St. Peter’s Church) was built, which stands to this day.Rail and tram lines
The construction of the
Haarlemmertrekvaart in 1631 brought new prosperity to the village, and a toll was placed along the towpath.Industry grew around Sloterdijk in the 19th century. On
September 20 ,1839 , the first train to operate in The Netherlands traveled from Sloterdijk to Haarlem. The new rail line between Amsterdam and Haarlem ran parallel to the Haarlemmertrekvaart, but for half a century the line passed through without stopping.From 1882, steam-powered tram, and later horse-drawn trams ran to Amsterdam along the
Haarlemmerweg . This was the last horse-tram in Amsterdam, and it was electrified in 1916. An electric tram from Amsterdam to Haarlem andZandvoort ran from 1904 to 1957.New stations and new growth
The construction of the new Sloterdijk railway station in 1956 should have meant the end of the village. Earlier, in 1860, much of the town was destroyed in a great fire, but had been rebuilt. The construction of the
Coentunnel and a new business district almost led to the destruction of the entire village, but the Petruskerk and a few housese were spared in order to preserve the town’s history.The 1956 station was moved to the northwest in 1985, along a new rail spur to
Zaandam that had opened in 1983.Tram service also moved to the new station in 1985. The station was expanded to two levels in 1986 when theSchiphol line was opened, and in 1997 theAmsterdam Metro came to Sloterdijk. Since the 1960s, three new business areas have been laid out in the vicinity of the old village.When Amsterdam was divided into boroughs, Sloterdijk became part of the new borough of
Bos en Lommer . The business districts fell under the jurisdiction ofWestpoort .References
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