Middenmeer is a village in the
Dutch province of
North Holland
North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...
. It is part of the municipality of
Hollands Kroon, and lies about 23 km north of
Hoorn
Hoorn () is a city and municipality in the northwest of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the largest town and the traditional capital of the region of West Friesland. Hoorn is located on the Markermeer, 20 kilometers ( ...
.
Middenmeer was established in 1932 under the name of Sluis III. Nearby the village was a military airfield Middenmeer in WO II used by the Ie Verkenningsgroep of the
Royal Netherlands Air Force
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march = ''Parade March of the Royal Netherlands Air Force''
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, equipment ...
. Now Middenmeer has an airfield for light and ultra light airplanes,
Middenmeer Aerodrome
Middenmeer Aerodrome ( nl, Vliegveld Middenmeer) is a small airfield in the town of Middenmeer, Netherlands. It is located southeast of Den Helder.
During the beginning of the Second World War a military airstrip existed in the area, from which ...
.
On 1 July 1941, the Wieringermeer became a municipality and its first mayor was ir. S. Smeding.
On 17 April 1945, the dikes of the Wieringermeer
polder
A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are:
# Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed
# Flood plains s ...
were blown up by the German occupying forces and the
Wieringermeer was inundated. Middenmeer as well as neighboring villages had to be evacuated.
On 11 December 1945 the polder was dry again.
Moedermavo
In 1975 the first Moedermavo (
English: School for mothers) of the Netherlands was started in Middenmeer. The moedermavo was an initiative of Anton Remmers, director of the local school, the Ariënsmavo. The school was a
MAVO, a Dutch
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
, aimed at adult women wanting to finish their education. At the time there were many women who had not received education after
primary school or 'huishoudschool' (English: housekeeping school). In the first year 130 women would attend. Adult students would mingle with teenaged students in between classes, but received classes separately. At the time, the moedermavo was considered a novel and revolutionary idea, but it proved successful. Within a year and a half there were already 41 moedermavos spread across
The Netherlands.
People
Sicco Mansholt was mayor in 1945 for some weeks.
In 2001, the town of Middenmeer had 2805 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.82 km
2, and contained 1193 residences.
[Statistics Netherlands (CBS), ''Bevolkingskernen in Nederland 2001']
Statistics are for the continuous built-up area. The wider statistical area of Middenmeer has a population of around 3210.
[Statistics Netherlands (CBS), ''Gemeente Op Maat 2004: Wieringermeer']
Industry
Microsoft is building a major new datacenter in the Wieringermeer polder near Middenmeer.
[Jan Verbeek: "Microsoft maakt haast met datacenter in de polder"; Het Financieele Dagblad, 9 Aug. 2016.] Long-term employment may exceed 300 people.
References
{{Authority control
Populated places in North Holland
Hollands Kroon