Dutch Topographic map of Hengelo (city), June 2014
Two of the three large cities in East Overijssel: Almelo and Hengelo
Hengelo is a city in the eastern part of the
Netherlands, in the province of
Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the international
Amsterdam –
Hannover –
Berlin service.
Hengelo is easily reached by train. One can travel from
Hengelo railway station, the main station of Hengelo and get directly and regularly to:
Apeldoorn,
Amersfoort,
Hilversum,
Southern Amsterdam,
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol,
Utrecht,
Gouda,
Rotterdam,
Den Haag,
Zwolle,
Zutphen,
Oldenzaal,
Almelo,
Deventer,
Enschede. There are international trains daily to
Bad Bentheim,
Rheine,
Osnabrück,
Hannover, and
Berlin.
For information on the train services see
Hengelo railway station. One can also plan a journey on the website of
Dutch Railways.
[5] For
Amsterdam, passengers should use the train to
Schiphol and change at Amersfoort, where there are regular trains to
Amsterdam Centraal railway station, which is the nearest station to the city.
Hengelo Oost railway station and
Hengelo Gezondheidspark railway station are also located in Hengelo. Just beside Hengelo Oost railway station is the football club Juliana '32 and the Groot Driene tennis club.
- Within the city limits, the only means of public transport is the bus. Some parts of the route are on bus lanes, specifically built for buses to travel faster.
- The A1/E30 from Amsterdam to Moscow goes right through the city.
- The A35 from Enschede to Wierden goes along the west side of the city.
- Hengelo has a relatively large harbour in the Twentekanaal, a heavily used canal from the Twente region to the IJssel.
The town of Hengelo
Although archeological research indicates the location has been inhabited for thousands of years, the municipality was founded in 1802. At that time it merely consisted of a few hundred farms and agricultural workers' houses.
Hengelo was never granted
city rights as it was only a small village that expanded in the 19th century during the industrial revolution. In the late 19th century it rapidly developed after the construction of an important
railway junction. This attracted industry with a focus on technology:
Stork B.V., Hazemeyer,
N.V. Heemaf (now part of France's
Alstom,
Brush HMA,Brush-Barclay, the United States' Eaton,
Essent, Heemaf BV,
NV Nuon, and
Wabtec), KHZ (now
AkzoNobel), and
Hollandse Signaal Apparaten, now taken over by the
Thales Group. Hengelo was the home town of
Hengelo Bier, a local brewery.
During
World War II, the city was often bombed by the Allies because of the presence of the railways and the war industry activities of local factories. The heart of the town was accidentally destroyed during the Bombing of Hengelo on 6 and 7 October 1944, killing several hundred people.
In addition, after World War II the synagogue that survived the war, an entire block called de Telgen, a monastery at the Thiemsbrug, the farm dating from the 17th century where
Wolter ten Cate was born, and the 19th-century town hall were all demolished. This has also left the city without much of an historical centre.
One of the most prominent buildings is the
Lambertusbasiliek, a Roman
basilica built in 1890 devoted to
Saint Lambert.
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Location in Overijssel
