"Hoofddorp the city in between cities " a Hoofddorp Travel Page by martin_nl

Hoofddorp is not known to many people. Not that strange considering that there is hardly anything to see. Haarlemmermeer is the community, Hoofddorp is located in. Other places are Cruquius, Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, Nieuw Vennep and my hometown Zwaanshoek. It is very strategically placed right in between Haarlem, Amsterdam, Aalsmeer which is the centre of the flower industry and one of Europe's biggest airports, Schiphol.

Because of this location many big international companies have big offices in Hoofddorp or the Haarlemmermeer, and even more are coming. Many visitors that spend their time in the Netherlands also stay a night in one of the airport hotels, from which a lot are situated in Hoofddorp.

The year 2002 is the year that Haarlemmermeer is 150 years old, which means that about 150 years ago Haarlemmermeer was a lake, the Lake of Haarlem. Already in 1617 the first plans were made to drain the lake. It wasn't untill 1845 that the first steam pumping station called the Leeghwater started to actually drain the wild water of this big lake. Four years later in 1849 two more of these steam pumping stations (Cruquius and De Lynden)started to work. Finally, in 1852, after 7 years of pumping the bottom of the lake is finally reached. The water is now in a canal called the Ringvaart, which is in between dikes and is surrounding the whole new area Haarlemmermeer.