The administrative map around Aalten changed radically during the French period. From 1811, Aalten and Bredevoort formed part of the new system of mairies. After the French withdrew, they initially remained separate municipalities. That ended on 1 January 1818, when Bredevoort was incorporated into the municipality of Aalten.
1811: from district to mairie
The old administrative unit of the District of Bredevoort disappeared under French rule. From 1811 the area was divided into separate mairies for Aalten, Bredevoort, Dinxperlo and Winterswijk. A mairie was the French municipal form of government, headed by a maire.
The change involved more than a new name. During the same period civil registration was introduced and local government became part of a much more centralised state. Old offices and administrative structures dating from the period of the lordship thereby lost their role for good.
After 1813
When French rule ended in 1813, the local municipal organisation was not abolished again. Aalten and Bredevoort remained separate municipalities, although official terminology changed and local government was incorporated into the new Kingdom of the Netherlands.
1 January 1818: Bredevoort joins Aalten
On 1 January 1818, the independent municipality of Bredevoort was abolished and incorporated into Aalten. From then on, the town of Aalten, Bredevoort and Aalten’s rural districts formed a single municipality. Dinxperlo and Winterswijk remained independent municipalities.
This gave the municipality of Aalten broadly the shape it would retain for almost two centuries. Municipal administration gradually became concentrated in Aalten. From 1826, the mansion at Markt 7 was used as the town hall; in 1843 the municipality purchased the building and had it converted into a permanent municipal hall.
A new administrative centre
The merger of 1818 marks a clear break with the older administration centred on Bredevoort. For centuries, Aalten and Bredevoort had belonged to the same lordship and later district, with Bredevoort as the administrative centre. From 1818, the centre of gravity lay definitively with the municipality of Aalten.
That municipal arrangement remained in place until 1 January 2005. On that date the municipalities of Aalten and Dinxperlo were merged to form the present municipality of Aalten.