Hattem 725 year
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In 2024 the city of Hattem is 725 years old, even though it was already founded as a small settlement in the eighth century on the so-called Godsberg (mountain of God) in the county of Gelre, near Hattem.
At the time it was not a city in the current sense of the word with city walls or of any economic importance, but in the twelfth century the Godsberg had its own parish church, a guest house, jurisdiction and royal dinners on the Sunday after Pentecost (Whitsun), at which inhabitants of Hattem were also welcome. This was the reason that Reinoud I, Count of Gelre granted the Godsberg (and thus Hattem) city rights in 1299.
For a long time, brick kilns (factories) were important for Hattem. There were several of these kilns in which bricks were made of IJssel river clay . The bricks were, among other places, taken to Amsterdam to be used there. Of the Altena brick factory only remains are left. These were on display during an open monument day and it would be great if they could be considered for restoration. It would be an addition to the history of the Hanseatic city.
Because Hattem was poor, buildings in the city centre were not restored, because there was little money to replace them. Thus they were preserved in their old state, which later turned out to be an advantage. The Stichting Stadskern (City Centre Foundation) was established in the 1960s. Over the years the foundation has acquired many buildings and subsequently had them restored. A few decades ago the choice was made to house the archives of Hattem, together with those of the municipalities of Heerde and Epe, in a regional archive in Epe. Heemkunde Hattem (organization for local history) thinks it is a shame that not all archives stayed in Hattem, even though they have their own archive that they are working hard to make accessible. After all, you can have a lot of information, but if it isn’t accessible it is not of much use.
The Gelderland municipality of Hattem is located on the border with Overijssel and on the northern edge of the Veluwe. Hattem now has more than 12,500 inhabitants and covers an area of 24.28 km2, of which 0.93 km2 is water.