Overview
Aalten once had its own rusk factory: the ‘Aaltensche Beschuitfabriek E.J. Wijers’. The factory was already being advertised in 1917. On 8 July 1919, the Aaltensche Courant reported that J. Leeser’s large slaughterhouse was to be converted into a cake and rusk factory by E.J. Wijers, together with J.W. Wijers of Doetinchem.
By the early 1930s, the rusk factory had apparently ceased operating. De Graafschapbode of 4 March 1932 reported:
“We learn from a very reliable source that Mr Elsinghorst, stove manufacturer of Bocholt, has rented the former cake and rusk factory of the Wijers firm, with the intention of also manufacturing stoves in Aalten. As this firm is already very well established in this country, production here will save import duties. A storage building is also to be erected beside the factory and a railway siding will probably be laid. A small part of the buildings, in which a clog factory is established, will remain in that use. In these times of unemployment, the establishment of this industry here is very welcome.”
In 1948, De Graafschapper looked back on the Wijers rusk factory:
“Mr Leezer formerly had his slaughterhouse here, after which it was sold to the firm Gebr. Wijers, who converted it into a rusk factory. Later still it passed to the Pothof firm, which promoted it to a clog factory. During the war years it was requisitioned by the German Treppmann, and now the machines of the Pothof firm are running there again.”
Address history
This site — formerly Polstraat 62 and Polstraat 64, later Koopmanstraat 77 — is now occupied by housing. Brederostraat was laid out across the site, and homes were also built along Koopmanstraat.
Several businesses occupied the site during the 20th century:
Joseph Leeser slaughterhouse (1916) → E.J. Wijers Rusk Factory (from 1919) → Pothof Clog Factory (1930s–1940s) → Martin/Agave (1951–2000).
1934 address directory
Aalten D724 > Polstraat 62
Rusk factory
1967 address directory
Polstraat 62
Factory
Owners
This overview is not complete.
| Year | Plot | Owner | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | I-4089 | Joseph Leeser, butcher & merchant | 3,118 m² export slaughterhouse & yard |
| 1918 | I-5754 | Joseph Leeser, butcher & merchant | 10,548 m² export slaughterhouse, stables & grassland |
| 1921 | I-5754 | N.V. “Wijers’ Beschuit- en Koekfabriek” | 10,548 m² factory & grassland |
| 1933 | I-6428 | N.V. “Wijers’ Beschuit- en Koekfabriek” | 10,640 m² factory & grassland |
| 1942 | I-6428 | Gerhard Trepmann, manufacturer | 10,640 m² house, shed, factory & grassland |
| 1952 | I-6428 | N.V. “H. Martin” | 10,640 m² house, shed, factory & grassland |
| 1962 | I-8728 I-8729 | N.V. “H. Martin” N.V. “Aaltense Garenveredeling Agave” | 7,020 m² factory, yard, house, office 3,620 m² factory, yard |
| 1978 1977 | I-8728 I-9207 | Gerrit Johan Kramp, director of a private limited company Garenveredeling Aalten B.V. | 7,020 m² factory, yard, house, office 3,475 m² factory, yard |
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