By the mid-17th century, toward the end of the
Dutch Golden Age, the port city of Hoorn required more space for ships to dock. The dike which later grew into the Visserseiland was constructed in 1662. At first called Westereiland, it became a settlement for fisherman who made their living on the Zuiderzee, and that gave it its current name. The first commercial business buildings are already depicted in a 1675 painting by
Matthias Withoos. Two wind-powered sawmills were on the island at the end of the 19th century: "De Halm" and "De Rob". De Halm burned down in 1904, and De Rob was torn down in 1924. The island also had a
tannery (which treated cotton fishing nets) and
smokehouses; the tannery was moved to the
Zuiderzee Museum in
Enkhuizen in 1980. On the island's south side was a bathhouse between 1882 and 1918, the predecessor of the later "Witte Badhuis", or "white bathhouse". Along the dike a number of sculptures were placed in the 20th century, and it ends with a lighthouse that indicates the entrance to the harbor. The original light was built in 1660, and torn down in 1968; a replica was placed there a few years after. By 1995, plans for large-scale development of the island (including the construction of 152 homes and a 15-storey apartment building) had been developed. These were not executed. ==Sculptures==