Joure

Geschiedenis

Joure is a town in the Dutch province of Friesland. With 13,000 inhabitants, it is the largest town in the municipality of De Friese Meren.HistoryJoure used to be an outskirt of a village called Westermeer, but soon grew bigger than the original town.The main reason was Joure's easy accessibility to waterways which allowed national and international trade to flourish. Around 1950, the name "Westermeer" was erased from the map, and annexed by Joure. Until the early 1950s Joure remained a small-scale village, consisting of few streets and waterways. From then on it started expanding, mainly due to industrial development.The town has been renowned since the 18th century for the manufacture of traditional Frisian clocks ('stoelklokken' and 'staartklokken').This was pure home-industry aided by the presence of a local copper-melting facility. As of today, a handful of skilled tradesmen continue to manufacture these clocks. In 1753 Egbert Douwes founded a company selling colonial goods in Joure. Starting in a small store, this venture really began to evolve as an industrial giant during the 1930-1950's. Family heirs renamed the company to Douwe Egberts and made it a world imperium, mainly focusing on coffee, tea and tobacco. As of today many people in this town still have jobs at or related to DE, even though its headquarters moved to the city of Utrecht decades ago. Further typical industries that helped Joure grow are those related to the furniture and graphic sectors.Tourism has always been important and Joure offers a wide variety of uniquely typical Frisian attractions of historical, cultural and recreational significance. Its central location as well its sound transportation system make a visit to "De Flecke" easy and memorable.WindmillsThere are two restored windmills in Joure, De Groene Molen and Penninga's Molen. The base of a third mill, Wielinga-stam also survives.