Machinale weeffabriek De Hoef | Gemert

Gemert.

It is hard to believe when looking at the row of houses on the right that this building, a municipal monument, was once the nexus of a centuries-old weaving tradition in Gemert. The detail of the side of the outbuilding near the houses may help a bit. Gemert was a very large nucleus around 1800; it had more inhabitants than Helmond. It was also a poor nucleus, consisting mainly of farmers who lived in loose hamlets around the actual village center. Traditionally, those farmers knew a side income, to make ends meet on the poor sandy soil. That was home weaving. In those days, the linen trade was on the upswing, but cotton was on the rise, it was an advantage to set up a textile business in such a village atmosphere. All your workers, working at home, could easily pick up and deliver their supplies and products to you, and you were short in the vicinity of Helmond where there were also many weaving mills. This is also how Johan Theodor Prinzen thought. Weaving became such a big business that even Gemert Castle was used as a textile company for a while. But although the industrial revolution came late, Brabant eventually revolutionized. In the process, Helmond benefited greatly from the Zuid-Willemsvaart for her supply and removal and grew in her industry. 

She also got machine weaving factories. Home working was decreasing more and more. Therefore, also in Gemert, the largest textile company, the Gebr. Prinzen built this factory, in 1881. However, to no avail. Large-scale companies and ever better supply and delivery roads now had the future and most of the textile industry moved to Hengelo. In 1936, this factory was converted into housing.

Sources:

G. van Hooff, Johan Theodor Prinzen (1784-1864) and the Gemert textile industry, 1981,Drukkerij Vos, Gemert