The story of Heerlen, part 3: Mining
Until the end of the 19th century, Heerlen, like the rest of southern Limburg, was a farming community. Scattered over the hills are small farms that often struggle to keep their heads above water. Families are large, yields low. Industrial progress reaches this region around 1890 when it becomes clear that there is black gold in the ground. The impact is enormous. At lightning speed, the farming village of Heerlen transforms into a modern industrial city.
The black gold
Around 1890, it is large, international entrepreneurs such as Henri Sarolea, who start buying up land in Heerlen. This is because there is coal in the ground, which is valuable for the production of electricity, iron and steel. And a lot of that is needed for industrial progress. The black gold changes everything. Engineers and workers come to Heerlen and in a short time an industrial landscape with cooling towers and shaft buildings grows. The farming village becomes a modern city where all these new people can store and go out to their hearts' content.
What does Heerlen look like?
Between 1898 and 1926, 10 mines open in Heerlen and the surrounding area. The mines shape the city. Because the mine managements not only build power plants, briquette factories and workshops near the shafts; they also want all the new workers they bring to Heerlen to live near "their" mine. To this end, they build entire residential neighborhoods around the shafts with their own stores and facilities, such as a school, a café with a dance hall, parks and sports fields. The mines become the central points around which the city grows.
Boomtown
The mine managements spare no expense to make the workers comfortable - also because many more people are needed. The news that in Heerlen and its surroundings there are opportunities for a good living is spreading. People are coming here from all over the country. The city is bursting at the seams. The center is also changing, with one store after another opening its doors. Heerlen gets a theater. With the Glass Palace, the city gets the first modern department store in the country. There are cafes, ice cream parlors and dance halls, sports clubs, a large hospital and office buildings. A streetcar even runs through the city. At least until World War II breaks out, Heerlen is a real boomtown with metropolitan allure; the growth cannot be kept up.
On the road to the 'golden sixties'
During the war, the mines and Heerlen were largely left alone. The reason is obvious: the Limburg black gold is of strategic importance to the Germans. Strangely enough, labor productivity does drop sharply in those years; a silent resistance of miners due to absenteeism and illness.
After the war, the city changes again. Production is increased in all mines to provide energy for the reconstruction of the Netherlands. Because almost no miner can be found in the Netherlands anymore, the new workers again come from abroad. Political offenders are also employed in the mines. Heerlen is 'booming' again until the 'golden sixties'; between the old miners' neighborhoods in Heerlen-North the large and modern district Vrieheide is built. Throughout the city, architects are given space to live up to Heerlen's reputation as an innovative city. In 1958, about 58,000 people are working in or for the mines. Heerlen is a big city. However, while the iconic Lange Jan and Lange Lies still define the cityscape at that time, new developments are already playing out in the background that will change Heerlen again: coal from abroad and petroleum are becoming cheaper and a gas bubble is discovered in Groningen...
Mining Museum and Shaft
The Dutch Mining Museum is showcasing Holland's coal mining past. The main location of the museum is in the "Pand Kneepkens," one of the department stores from the heyday of the mining industry. Just outside the center, a second location of the museum is housed in the original shaft and retrieval machine building of the Oranje-Nassau Mine I. At this site, thousands of people descended to a depth of 420 meters and were brought back to the surface every day between 1898 and 1974. The Shaft has been opened as a mining monument. Here you will discover the black stories about the underground work of the cowherds and the technology of the mine.
Show off
The fable is that in Heerlen the most fur coats walked through town. But of course that cannot be proved. It is known, however, that at some time you could buy a fur coat in as many as five places in town. Such an expensive coat was obviously not for miners' wives. Because Heerlen was also the headquarters of both the four State Mines and the four Orange Nassau Mines, there was plenty for directors' and engineers' wives to show off in the shopping streets.
Forgotten overhead occupations
Shaft II of the Oranje-Nassau Mine I went to a depth of 470 meters. The deepest floor mined was 420 meters deep. How hard the underground work was is well known. But the pressure was also great above ground. One of the "forgotten occupations" in the mining industry is that of a haulage driver. When changing shifts, he brought down 18 miners every minute, at the same time he brought up 18 miners in the same cage. Per shift change, he ensured that some 300 to 600 people were moved. That required supreme concentration.
Cougar mentality
In the mines, it was all about working together. If one link in a shift didn't cooperate or went wrong, it could have major consequences for the entire company. Everyone knew that. You had to be able to count on each other, otherwise things would not work out. This cowboy mentality was also felt in the city. There was a great sense of solidarity in sports clubs, brass bands and marching bands. A lot was done together.