Overview
On 18 February 1873 the ‘Vereeniging tot bevordering van gezellig verkeer’ (Association for the Promotion of Sociable Intercourse) was founded in Aalten. Its aim was to ‘establish within the village of Aalten a building with the necessary grounds for use by social clubs, reading and agricultural meetings, dramatic, choral and musical societies, or other gatherings intended to promote social refinement through convivial association’. That same year a society building was erected on Het Blik, at the corner of Hofstraat and Herenstraat.
Besides weddings and parties, the Society hosted all kinds of activities. Floralia, for example, held exhibitions there. Cuttings were distributed for people to grow into plants, after which an expert jury decided who had raised the finest specimen.
Floralia was not the only regular guest at the Soos, as the Society was popularly known. Symphonia, a choral society, also used the building. Christmas celebrations of Broekhof School Aalten-Zuid were well attended, and several shooting clubs were active at the Soos. One regular patron was Nico Berkelaar, a French teacher at the Christian HBS, who later taught at HAVO and VWO level.
The managers of the Soos included Mr and Mrs Kunnen from 1906 to 1916. They were succeeded by G. Kempink. In later years Mr Walvoort managed the building. Its final owner was Theo Vultink.
The building was demolished around 2002 to make way for an office building with flats above it.
Address History
Address Directory 1934
Hofstraat 13
Society
Address Directory 1967
Hofstraat 13
Owners
This overview is incomplete.
| Year | Plot | Owner | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1874 | I-3201 I-3202 | Vereeniging tot bevordering van gezellig verkeer | 90 m² house 140 m² society building |
| 1899 | I-4856 | Vereeniging tot bevordering van gezellig verkeer | 2,950 m² society building, house & yard |
| 1934 | I-6521 | Vereeniging tot bevordering van gezellig verkeer | 2,900 m² association building, house & yard |
| 1961 | I-8523 | Vereeniging tot bevordering van gezellig verkeer | 2,760 m² society building, house, garden |
| 1971 | I-9957 | Vereeniging tot bevordering van gezellig verkeer | 2,700 m² society building, house, garden |
| 1987 | I-9957 | Th. Vultink, café proprietor | 2,700 m² society building, house, garden |
Newspaper Reports
Images
