Cruquius is a town in the
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
province of
North HollandNorth Holland is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...
. It is a part of the municipality of
HaarlemmermeerHaarlemmermeer is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water, and the name Haarlemmermeer means Haarlem's Lake, still referring to the body of water from which the region was reclaimed in the 19th century.Its main...
, and lies about 4 km northwest of
HoofddorpHoofddorp is the main town of the Haarlemmermeer municipality in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. In 2007, the population was 70,030...
.
In 2001, the town of Cruquius had 223 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.35 km², and contained 87 residences. The wider statistical area of Cruquius has a population of around 500.
Cruquius gets its name from Nicolaas Kruik (1678-1754), a Dutch land-surveyor and one of many promoters of a plan to pump the
HaarlemmermeerHaarlemmermeer is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water, and the name Haarlemmermeer means Haarlem's Lake, still referring to the body of water from which the region was reclaimed in the 19th century.Its main...
(Haarlem lake) dry.
Cruquius is a town in the
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
province of
North HollandNorth Holland is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...
. It is a part of the municipality of
HaarlemmermeerHaarlemmermeer is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water, and the name Haarlemmermeer means Haarlem's Lake, still referring to the body of water from which the region was reclaimed in the 19th century.Its main...
, and lies about 4 km northwest of
HoofddorpHoofddorp is the main town of the Haarlemmermeer municipality in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. In 2007, the population was 70,030...
.
In 2001, the town of Cruquius had 223 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.35 km², and contained 87 residences. The wider statistical area of Cruquius has a population of around 500.
History
Cruquius gets its name from Nicolaas Kruik (1678-1754), a Dutch land-surveyor and one of many promoters of a plan to pump the
HaarlemmermeerHaarlemmermeer is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water, and the name Haarlemmermeer means Haarlem's Lake, still referring to the body of water from which the region was reclaimed in the 19th century.Its main...
(Haarlem lake) dry. Like many well-educated men of his time, he
latinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
ized his name to Nicolaas Samuel Cruquius. During his lifetime the issue of the Haarlem Lake and how to pump it dry was international news, as the following excerpt from the Virginia Gazette on May 31, 1751 illustrates:
"By a private letter from Rotterdam, we are told, that the Dutch Engineers, in their Plan for draining the lake of Haerlem, proposed to employ 150 mills for three Years, and had computed the Expense at a Million and Half of Florins, but that a German, who had been long employed in the Mines of Hungary and Hartz, had proposed to drain it with 50 machines, in 15 months, at a far less Expense; and that he has been ordered to erect one of those Machines, which, if it shall be found to execute what he has asserted, his Proposal will be immediately accepted."
Even 50 machines proved too expensive, so it wasn't until successful experiments with steam pumping stations, such as at nearby
Groenendaal parkGroenendaal park lies at the center of Heemstede.The park includes the grounds of old Heemstede country estates Bosbeek, and Meer en Berg. Along its western borders are the old Heemstede country estates Hartekamp, Huis te Manpad, and Iepenrode. On the eastern boundary is the city...
in 1781, that serious plans resulted in three steam driven pumping stations, inlcluding the one at Cruquius. As a tribute to former planners, the
pumping stationPumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites.A pumping station...
s of the Haarlemmermeer were named after them. The one at the mouth of the
SpaarneThe Spaarne is a river, in North Holland, the Netherlands. This partially canalized river connects the Ringvaart to a side branch of the North Sea Canal. It runs through Heemstede, Haarlem, and Spaarndam....
river, near
HeemstedeHeemstede is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.-History :Heemstede formed around the Castle Heemstede that was built on the Spaarne River around 1286. Before the year 1296, Floris V, Count of Holland, granted Heemstede as a fiefdom to Reinier of Holy...
, was called Cruquius. To service the mill, the workers who lived there founded the town of the same name. The dike was built in the 1840s, the pump started work in 1850 and in the three years that had been predicted a century before, the Haarlem lake was pumped dry. The pumping station Cruquius continued to work on and off until 1933, when it was made into a museum. The foreman's house was made into a café which it still is today.