Smilde is a town in the Netherlands' northern

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

Drenthe Drenthe () is a provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen (province), Groningen to the north, and the G ...

and lies about southwest of the province capital of

Assen Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Sund ...

. Smilde was a separate municipality until 1998, when it became a part of Middenveld. However, that name changed in 2000 and was renamed the municipality of

Midden-Drenthe Midden-Drenthe () is a municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. The municipality was created in 1998, in a merger of the former municipalities of Beilen, Smilde, and Westerbork. Between 1998 and 2000, the name of the municipality was Midden ...

History

The village was first mentioned in 1846 as Smilde. The etymology is unclear. Smilde is a elongated canal village which developed around 1770. Between 1767 and 1780, the was dug to excavate the

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

in the area. The first settlement was called Kloosterveen and was later renamed to Smilde. The Dutch Reformed church was built between 1780 and 1788 in

Louis XVI style Louis XVI style, also called ''Louis Seize'', is a style of architecture, furniture, decoration and art which developed in France during the 19-year reign of Louis XVI (1774–1793), just before the French Revolution. It saw the final phase of t ...

. It was restored in 1963. The former town hall was originally built as a villa in

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

style and was named Villa Maria. In 1931, it became town hall. Smilde was home to 1,675 people in 1840. Smilde was an independent municipality until 1998 when it was merged into Midden-Drenth.

People from Smilde

* Carry van Bruggen-de Haan (1881–1932), writer * Jacob Israël de Haan (1881–1924), anti-Zionist and ultra-Orthodox activist * Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper (1890–2005), oldest person from the Netherlands, aged 115 at the time of her death *

Alwin Kloekhorst Alwin Kloekhorst (born in Smilde, 1978) is a Dutch linguist, Indo-Europeanist and Hittitologist. Biography Kloekhorst received his Ph.D. in 2007 at Leiden University for his thesis on Hittite. In over 1200 pages, his dissertation describe ...

(b. 1978), Indo-Europeanist and Hittitologist at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of L ...

Gallery

File:Overzicht van de brug - Smilde - 20426765 - RCE.jpg, Draw bridge of Smilde File:Tramweg 71 Smilde.jpg, House in Smilde File:Vaartweg 5, Smilde.jpg, Villa in Smilde File:Exterieur overzicht, voorgevel, rechter zijgevel - Smilde - 20322075 - RCE.jpg, Former town hall

References

Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 1998 Former municipalities of Drenthe Populated places in Drenthe Midden-Drenthe {{Drenthe-geo-stub