Nieuwleusen came into existence in the first half of the seventeenth century. At the time, most of the area between Leusen, a village on the Vecht, and the Reest on the border with the province of
Drenthe consisted of inaccessible peat moors. The entire area of the Vechtdal, from Hasselt to Coevorden, is indicated as '
t Veen (the Peat Moor) on a map by Abraham Goos from the early seventeenth century. The area where Nieuwleusen now lies is called the
Ommer moer (Moor of
Ommen) on the same map.
The Luessener Compagnie On 8 January 1631, the Luessener Compagnie was established by inhabitants of Zwolle and
Kampen to cultivate the area north of Leusen, which belonged to the Marke van Leusen (the local association of land owners). It was mainly pioneers from Leusen who made the land arable. The first farms of the new settlement stood along the Pad (Path), today the Oosterveen road. Hence, Nieuwleusen got its early name of Oosterveen, as seen on the earliest area maps. Once the settlement got its name of Nieuwleusen (New Leusen), the original Leusen got to be called
Oudleusen or Old Leusen (Low Saxon: Oldlusen). It is believed that
leusen in these names means
lo-essen, approximately 'wooded fields' - which would have been descriptive of the (Old) Leusen area and carried over into the name of Nieuwleusen. Between 1640 and 1646, the nobleman Zweer van Haersolte built the
havezathe (country house typical of Overijssel) Oosterveen here. It was demolished in 1862; a scale model is on view at the town's historical museum (see below). In 1655, a house for a schoolteacher was built on the Oosterveen. The baptismal register of Nieuwleusen was kept from 1659. The first Reformed ministers were called from Zwolle, Dalfsen and
Ommen. The first minister was Reverend Van Bercum, who arrived in 1663.
The Dedemsvaart In 1809, Nieuwleusen-born nobleman and politician Baron
Willem Jan van Dedem started construction of the Dedemsvaart canal through northern Overijssel, meant to facilitate the transportation of peat, which was being dug on a large scale in this part of the Netherlands. The canal would eventually stretch from the
Zwarte Water in Hasselt to the Vecht at
Gramsbergen, cutting horizontally through the north of the province. In 1811, the canal went as far as
Balkbrug (past Nieuwleusen). Just north of Nieuwleusen, as at other points where there were locks and bridges, the Dedemsvaart stimulated settlement alongside the canal. It encouraged the growth of the hamlet of Den Hulst (known locally as
Nulst), first mentioned in the early eighteenth century. From Den Hulst, the Ommerdiek road (now the main road Burg. J.P. Backxlaan) led down to Nieuwleusen. Den Hulst would evolve into the northern part of Nieuwleusen. A track for a
tram engine was laid alongside the Dedemsvaart in 1885; the tram engine was run by the Dedemsvaartsche Stoomtramweg Maatschappij until cars and bus services made it obsolete. The canal having lost its economic importance by the mid-twentieth century, parts of it were drained, including (in 1969) the part that ran through Den Hulst. At the height of De Meele to the west, the Dedemsvaart still exists, as it does in other parts of the province. Provincial road N377 was constructed on the site of the canal and alongside the preserved parts.
The municipality of Nieuwleusen At the start of the eighteenth century, Nieuwleusen formed a single municipality with the hamlet of
Avereest. On 1 July 1818, the municipal budgets were separated and Nieuwleusen became an independent municipality. However, it was in a 'personal union' with Avereest until 1833, sharing a mayor. Nieuwleusen had no municipal coat of arms until 1899. Like many municipalities, it applied for one in that year on the occasion of the construction of a new meeting hall for the Provincial States of Overijssel. The coat of arms was designed on the basis of those of Dalfsen (because the Marke van Leusen had been part of the legal district of Dalfsen) and the then municipality of Zwollekerspel (because part of Zwollekerspel had been incorporated into the municipality of Nieuwleusen). The crossed scythes in the lower part of the coat of arms symbolise agriculture. In 1954, Nieuwleusen applied for and was granted a crown atop its coat of arms. The municipality existed until 31 December 2000. The former municipal coat of arms is now the official 'town coat of arms'.
De Rollecate In 1913, the first state college for female teachers of husbandry and housekeeping, called De Rollecate, was opened in Den Hulst. Baron Van Dedem had made his country estate of the same name available to this end. The house De Rollecate, where the courses were taught, had been built around 1654–1655 in
Vollenhove, and dismantled in 1821 by Van Dedem to be rebuilt on the bank of his Dedemsvaart canal. The college was run by Ms Theda Mansholt and later by Ms Greta Smit. Rural women, prospective teachers, were trained in housekeeping, farming and market gardening. In 1930, the college moved to
Deventer and the house was demolished.
Union A bicycle factory called Union was set up in Den Hulst in 1904. The factory, which went on to produce famous Dutch bicycles throughout the twentieth century, was an important factor of employment in Nieuwleusen. In 1979, the old Union building was lost in a fire, the cause of which was never established. The factory was in persistent financial and managerial trouble in the last decades of its existence. Union was bankrupted in 2001, was placed in receivership with Larcom from Ommen and was sold in 2005 to Dutch Bicycle Group from
Schiedam. Some production remains in Nieuwleusen. Various companies are now housed in the former factory building. ==Industry==