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Dutch Municipality Hilversum 2006png dn=5223 de=518
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4619 land=4598 water=021
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83,618 population_year=(2006) density=1,807
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EC Bakker
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D66
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is a municipality and a town in the
Netherlands , in the province of
North Holland . Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by
Heathland ,
Wood s,
Meadow s,
Lake s, and smaller
Village s.
Hilversum lies some 30 km south-east of
Amsterdam and 25 km north of
Utrecht .
The town is often called "
Media City " as it is the principal centre for
Radio and
Television Broadcasting in the Netherlands.
Radio Netherlands , heard worldwide via
Shortwave Radio since the
1920s , is based here. Hilversum is home to an extensive complex of audio and television
Studio s belonging to the national broadcast production company NOB, as well as to the studios and offices of all the Dutch public broadcasting organizations and many commercial TV production companies too.
Hilversum is also known for its architecturally important "Raadhuis" or
Town Hall , designed by
Willem Dudok (
1884 -
1974 ).
Hilversum has three libraries (two of which will be closing next year), two swimming pools (Hellemond Sport and De Lieberg), a number of sporting halls and several shopping centres (such as Hilvertshof, Kerkelanden, Riebeeck-Galerij, Severijn, and Chatham). In the region the city centre is known as 'het dorp' which means 'the village'.
Hilversum started out as nothing but a big slab of land used for agriculture. Around 900 it started to form, but it wasn't until 1305 that the first official mention of Hilversum ("Hilfersheem") was made. At this point in time, it was a part of
Naarden , the oldest town in the Gooi area.
Farming, raising sheep and a some wool facturing were the means of life for the Gooi in the Middle Ages. In March 1424, Hilversum received its most coveted official independent status. This made further growth in the town, possible as no longer admission from Naarden was needed for new industrial development. More growth came in the 17th century with the general lift in the Dutch economy and the town got a canal connecting it indirectly to Amsterdam. In 1725 and 1766, big fires destroyed most of the town, levelling parts of the old townhouse and the church next to it. The town overcame this, and the textile industry continued to develop, among others by devising a way to weave cow's hair. In the 19th century a substantial textile and tapistry industry emerged, aided by a railway link to Amsterdam in 1874 and from that time on the town started growing really fast with rich commuters from Amsterdam moving in, building themselves large villas in the wooded surroundings and gradually starting to live in Hilversum permanently.
Development came at the usual price, though, with poverty, underdeveloped children, child labour and alcoholism rampant. These were remedied at a somewhat slower pace than in larger cities with more socialist input, as Hilversum was and still is predomimantly catholic.
Hilversum became a media city when the ''Nederlandse Seintoestellen Fabriek'' (
NSF ) company established a professional transmitter and radio factory there in the early twenties, growing into the largest of its kind in Holland, and in 1948 taken over by
Philips . By then the textile industry had started its decline, and only one factory, Veneta, managed to continue into the sixties, when it had to close too. Another major industry, the chemicals factory IFF, also closed by the end of the sixties. In the mean time, almost all Dutch radio broadcasting organisations (in the fifties followed by television) settled their headquarters in Hilversum and proved to be the continuing growth factor for years to come. In 1964, the inhabitant count reached a record high - over 103,000 people were living there. At the moment it fluctuates around 84,000, brought on by dubious city management, also leading to a loss of the intercity-train link and the regional headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce. Through connections in the tv-world, Hilversum attracted a lot of crime, even international, and has to cope with mounting drugs-related problems in a commmunity with more than average unemployment and not much positive outlook for the local youth, who also encounter an ongoing housing shortage.
Added to that, Hilversum was one of the first towns to have to suffer the setbacks of the reactionary populist movement called 'Leefbaar' ('liveable'). By strange coincidence, in 2002, the most vocal and controversial Dutch Leefbaar-politician
Pim Fortuyn was shot and killed by a leftist at Hilversum Media Park, just after having finished a radio interview. This mainly negatively induced ultra-right-wing movement gained much votes against the backdrop of the declining economic fortunes of Hilversum, not being able to turn them around. But in 2006 they were heavily defeated.
The municipal council of Hilversum in 2006 consists of 37 seats, which are divided as followed:
Hilversum is connected to the Dutch railway network, and contains three stations: Hilversum, Hilversum Noord, and Hilversum Sportpark (hvs, hvsn, and hvsp on
Lines 32 and 40).
