Profile
- Type
- Business
Hogestraat, Aalten (demolished)
P. Driessen & Son Steam Spinning Mill was founded by Heinrich Driessen in 1849 and is regarded as the first steam-powered spinning mill in the Achterhoek. The building was destroyed by fire in 1859 and was not rebuilt.
In 1849, textile manufacturer Heinrich Driessen established a steam-powered spinning mill on Hogestraat in Aalten, roughly where house numbers 89–95 now stand. It was the first of its kind in the Achterhoek. The mill was soon expanded with several power looms, driven by steam.
During the night of 19 to 20 August 1859, however, the factory was destroyed by fire and was never rebuilt.
Driessen had shifted his attention to Leiden. There, in 1846, together with his nephew Ignatz van Wensen, a soap manufacturer and the son of Driessen’s sister, he had purchased the declining textile-printing and dyeing works De Heyder & Co., later known as the Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij.
The former factory site on Hogestraat in Aalten was subsequently used as arable land for more than seventy years.
Around 1933, a semi-detached house was built on the site, while Derk Jan Winkelhorst established his garage business there.
