Smilde is a town in the Netherlands' northern

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

Drenthe Drenthe () is a 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 to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

and lies about southwest of the province capital of

Assen Assen () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in ...

. 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.

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 is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

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 (1774–1792), 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 of ...

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-Drenthe.

Education

There are two primary schools, De Schutkampen and Prinses Margriet (

Princess Margriet of the Netherlands Princess Margriet of the Netherlands (Margriet Francisca; born 19 January 1943) is the third daughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. As an aunt of the reigning monarch, King Willem-Alexander, she is a member of the Dutch Royal House a ...

People from Smilde

* Jan Beijert (1928-2007), politician * Jaap Berghuis (1945-2005), painter * Carry van Bruggen-de Haan (1881–1932), writer * Jacob Israël de Haan (1881–1924), anti-Zionist and ultra-Orthodox activist *

Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper (; born Hendrikje Schipper; 29 June 1890 – 30 August 2005) was a Dutch supercentenarian who lived to the age of 115 years, 62 days. She is the oldest person ever from the Netherlands, breaking the previous r ...

(1890–2005), oldest person from the Netherlands, aged 115 at the time of her death *

Alwin Kloekhorst Alwin Kloekhorst (born 4 March 1978) is a Dutch linguist, Indo-Europeanist and Hittitologist. He was appointed a full professor in Anatolian Linguistics at Leiden University in November 2023. Biography Kloekhorst received his Ph.D. in 2007 at ...

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

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

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