Did you know this about Eindhoven?

This week, in the newest blog: Some funny and interesting facts about Eindhoven. Did you know...

… Eindhoven is a lot older than Amsterdam? Amsterdam was granted city rights in 1300, Eindhoven was already granted city rights in 1232.

… before Philips and the lighting city, Eindhoven had the nickname ‘La ville fumée’? In the 30s, Eindhoven was famous because of the many cigar factories in the city. 

… the lighting route (lichtjesroute) is organized annually to commemorate the liberation of Eindhoven in September 1944? Eindhoven wanted to give the celebration some extra light. The inhabitants of Eindhoven were asked to help by making their houses shine in any way possible for one day. Nowadays, various frames with ornaments made from lights are mounted onto lamp posts, but also special resting places are designated on the route.

… Strijp S had the name ‘the forbidden city’ for years? Only workers of the Philips factories were allowed to enter the area.

…  in South-Afrika, Johannesburg, there is a quarter with also the name Eindhoven?


 … in the light tower (licht toren), the light hadn’t been turned off for years? By night, Philips was testing the durability of their bulbs. Because of this image, the building got the name ‘the light tower’.

… the ART hotel Eindhoven has 192 rooms, which all have a different design? Even the numbers of the rooms are designed differently.

… the Admirant is the highest building in Eindhoven with 105 meters?

… Eindhoven has its own Jezus? The famous Arnol Kox is a street preacher in a mobility scooter who brings his message to the people who are shopping in the city center of Eindhoven. If he is there, you can’t miss him.  

… Theo Maassen (comedian, actor) stole the UEFA Cup from PSV in 2000?

… the name of the pop music venue "Effenaar" is a reference to the old linen factory? It had a machine to remove creases from fabric.  In Dutch this is called effenen and the machine was therefore called the effenaar.

… the Eindhoven station looks like a radio? The building is also included in the catalog of "Le Temps des Gares," the famous list of memorable station buildings on the earth.

… former coach Guus Hiddink awarded honorary citizenship in Eindhoven in 2006?

… the two statues in front of the Philips stadium are the famous footballers Coen Dillen and Willy van der Kuijlen?

… Steven Spielberg used the liberation of Eindhoven in his TV serie Band of Brothers (starring Tom Hanks)?

… PSV won the national championship for the first time in 1929? After that, the club has won the national league 21 times.

… de Bijenkorf in Eindhoven has a fake third floor?

… the market on Tuesday in Eindhoven has already existed since 1232?

… on the location of the Heuvelgalerie there used to be a castle? During excavation prior to the construction of the Heuvelgalerie in 1989, foundations of a castle were found.

… the Van Abbemuseum built the smallest covered bridge in the world? It is bright pink and designed by John Körmerling.

Old & New: A Look in the The History of Stratumseind
Part 2


This week we will have a look on the other part of Stratumseind.

The Boston Pub (42) & Cafe de Kram (41)

The left picture was taken in 1950. The left building (The Boston Pub) used to be the Labrehuis, a organization that took care of the homeless in Eindhoven. This homeless shelter had room for 25 people. The right building (Cafe de Kram) with the nice white facade used to be Butchery Peels.



Cafe Repelsteel (23) & Playerz (24)

The Playerz, the right building, has got a lot of negative publicity last months. The Playerz had to close their doors temporally, because one of their bouncers would have been too violent against a visitor. This café was not the only one with this problem, also Café Today and Café Santé had to appear in court because of the same reason
The left picture was taken in 1964. The building of Café Playerz used to be the home of J.J. Keunen. Keunen was one of the owners of tannery Keunen, which was located behind Stratumseind next to the ‘stadsgracht’ (the canal).

The Karaoke Bar (25)

The left picture was taken in 1932. In 1932, this building was the vegetable shop of family Lamers-Van Rooy (1926-1942). In 1950, greengrocer Sanders established his shop here. Nowadays you can sing along with your favorite songs in this Karaoke Bar.



D'n Katelein (26) & Phuong Anh Snackbar (27)

In the right picture you see the Phoung Anh Snackbar with a very little terrace. The hungry partygoers go here to buy a lumpia. Not really special you may think… BUT on this place there used to be the Pom Lai. This was the first Chinese-Indian restaurant in Eindhoven (1950). You have to imagine that in this time, this was one of the only restaurants where you could get ‘strange/foreign food’.  (The left picture was taken in 1968)

Bar 2 Alex (28) & de Bakkerij (30)

On the left picture (1968), this part of stratumseind was a real shopping street. There was a shoe shop, a liquor store, a vegetable specialist and a bakery. Nowadays, you can find here the coffeeshop de Bakkerij (the Bakery). Unfortunately, a lot of buildings are empty in this part of stratumseind.



Flooding of the Dommel in Stratumseind, 1926

Queen Wilhelmina in Eindhoven

Queen Wilhelmina visited Eindhoven in June 1927. On this picture you see a festive parade with Fords in Stratumseind.



Old & New: A Look in the The History of Stratumseind
Part 1

Stratumseind is the place to be if you want to experience the nightlife in Eindhoven. There are over 40 bars in this street. Each bar has its own public and music. Saturday night and Friday night  the pubs are open till 04:00. Thursday night the pubs are open till 02:00. This night is also known as student night. Stratumseind hasn't always been a nightlife district. It used to be a street with industry companies and small businesses, like barbers and butchers. In the seventies, these shops were replaced by bars and pubs.

Today, we will give you information about the history of the first part of Stratumseind (1-14 & 31-39 on the map) . We will start with a view on the Catharina Church with the Catharina square.


Catharina Church + Square & Cafetaria De Hoek (31)
On the first picture you can see that there used to be a rectory next to the church. Unfortunately, this rectory has been demolished. The square had been broaden. Therefore, nowadays stratumseind starts with Cafetaria de Hoek (ground floor of the flat in the middle).

De Spijker (2), Thomas (3) and Cafeteria de Hoek (31)
The old picture gives a streetview of Stratumseind in +/- 1900

De Spijker (2), Thomas (3) and 't Begijntje (4)
The left picture was taken in 1963. Nowadays, the two buildings on the left are known as cafe 'De Spijker' (The Nail). In these two buildings, there used to be a little hardware store with the same name. The people of Eindhoven could buy their nails, screw and bolts here.
In 1878, Thomas van Dijck, director of a timber factory, bought the beautiful white building in the middle of the picture. He rebuilt it into a music hall annex cafe and he sold it to the male voice choir of Eindhoven in 1923.  Later, the building has been used as a furniture shop, a textile shop, a shoe shop and finally as a kebab shop.
In 1995, after the renovation, Cafe Meneer van Dijck (Mister van Dijck) opened his doors. But I assume the owner prefers the first name of Mister van Dijck, because nowadays the cafe is known as the Thomas.

Thuys (7)
Café Thuys used to be the little book shop Smaling. The left picture was taken in 1939.

Tipsy Duck Pub (36)
The left picture was taken in 1976 when the Tipsy Duck was named 't Bierwinkeltje (the little beer shop). Cafe 't Bierwinkeltje used to be a butchery.

New Tavernee (12), La Route (13) and Krazy Kangaroo(14)
The left picture was taken in 1968. You can see that Café Tavernee already existed in 1968. Next to Café Tavernee there was a little barber and a hardware store.  

De Rechter (38), Bongo Beach(39), The Jack (17) and Miller Time (16)
The last picture was taken in 1910. Here, the buildings on the right side are still intact. In 1944 these buildings were bombed (first picture). Nowadays, you can find cafe the Jack and cafe Miller Time here (second picture).
On the left side, you see a big grey building. This is the justice building of stratumseind. You can still see the word Justicia on this building. It was inaugurated in 1843. Behind the building there are still residues of the former prison.
This justice building used to be cafe de Rechter (cafe the Judge). Unfortunately, the building is empty know.

Liberation of Eindhoven
1944. Liberation of Eindhoven. Parade through Stratumseind

Party! Asphalting Stratumseind!
Yes, a new asphalted road was a reason to give a big party in 1953!

Want to see more historical pictures of Eindhoven?
Take a look at www.eindhoven-in-beeld.nl

NEXT WEEK: PART 2!

5 historical moments in Eindhoven

In this blog we will describe the most important moments in the history of Eindhoven. You can find the moments that were crucial for the development of Eindhoven, but also the moments in history that Eindhoven became world news.

1) The moment that the city Eindhoven becomes the city Eindhoven
Because of fires, bombardments, pillages and even hurricanes, not much is left from the original city nowadays. But we know for sure that the city Eindhoven became the city Eindhoven in 1232. In this year, Duke Hendrik I of Brabant granted city right to the little agricultural settlement. He probably did this to improve the trade route from north to south (Den Haag - Liège) and from east to west (Antwerp - Germany).
Fortunately, a couple of monuments have survived from this period! For example the monastery Marianhage (1421). This building used to be the castle of Jan van Schoonvorst the lord of Eindhoven and Woensel. The castle wasn’t good enough for him, so he built a new castle (this new castle didn’t survive the eighty years’ war). Also the Genneper water mill (before 1249) has survived the history of Eindhoven. It is also famous because it has been painted by van Gogh!

2) The moment that a light bulb became a light city
And then there was a little light bulb… Eindhoven wouldn’t be the same if Gerard Philips didn’t open his first lamp factory in 1891. After the first difficult years, he decided to hire his younger brother Anton. With Anton’s arrival the business began to expand rapidly. Especially after the First World War there was a high demand for light bulbs. Philips needed people from all over the country. They had to live somewhere, but Eindhoven wasn’t big enough. No problem would Anton Philips probably have thought: we just build an entirely new quarter with everything our employees need for their living. So this was the beginning of for example Philipsdorp and Drents Dorp with i.a. a Philips school, a Philips library and of course a Philips Sport Vereniging (PSV). Philips also arranged high education for his employees and for their employees’ children! Nowadays Philips is one of the biggest multinational electronic companies. There aren’t many public places in Eindhoven that don't have their origins in Philips.

Not only Philips, but also DAF (a Dutch truck company) had initiated the development of the city. Eindhoven has developed into one of the leading cities in Europe in the field of high tech, knowledge and design. Therefore, many technical companies are settled in Eindhoven, but also the Technical University, the Fontys Hogescholen and the Design academy. So it isn’t that unpredictable that Eindhoven uses the slogan ‘leading in technology’.

3) The moment of freedom in Eindhoven
Eindhoven has suffered a lot in World War II. Between 1942 and 1943 there were three bombardements on Eindhoven. On september 18th 1944 the Allies liberated Eindhoven as one of the first cities in the Netherlands.The square ’18 septemberplein’is named after this event.

 

4) The moment that a sport became a culture
Eindhoven is not only known world wide as the light city, but also as the home base of the soccer club Eindhoven. Founded in 1912 by Philips, PSV has become famous by winning the UEFA Cup (1978) and the European Cup (1988). PSV belongs to the Big Tree in the Netherlands (along with Ajax and Feyenoord). The club has won the national league 21 times, the national cup eight times and the Johan Cruijf Schaal also eight times. They are often nicknamed as Boeren in reference to their origins as a provincial city club.

5) The moments of fame of Eindhoven Airport
In terms of numbers of served passengers, Eindhoven Airport is the second largest airport in the Netherlands. In 1932, the airport was founded under the name Welschap. During World War II, it was extensively bombed. Many of these bombs were found years after the war during the construction of the new district Meerhoven. (I remember that once I had a day off from school, because one of these bombs had to be dismantled!)
Eindhoven Airport became world wide news, when the Hercules aircraft crashed here in 1996. This disaster took the lives of 34 passengers. This amount could have been less if the air control hadn’t failed in informing the Chief Fire officer about the number of passengers. The fire fighters assumed that only the crew was on board. Therefore, they started with extinguishing the fire instead of rescuing passengers.
Fortunately, Eindhoven airport was also positive in the news. For example when the Pope arrived at the airport in 1985. This was the first Pope, since the 11th century, who visited the Netherlands. But also hundreds of thousands spectators visited Eindhoven Airport, when the Netherlands national football team arrived, after becoming European Champions in 1988. This was one of the biggest events on Eindhoven Airport.