page_title: Ulft
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ulft / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Backside Castle Ulft in 1784 (Netherlands) Nederlands: Achterzijde Slot Ulft 1784
context_page_description: Ulft is a town in Oude IJsselstreek in the Achterhoek area in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands.
  The town has over 10,700 inhabitants and is the biggest town in the municipality Oude IJsselstreek. Until 1 January 2005, Ulft was part of the municipality Gendringen. At the municipal re-ordering in the Achterhoek, the municipalities Gendringen and Wisch joined together to form the Oude IJsselstreek.
  Ulft consists out of three hamlets: Ulft, Oer and De Pol. Oer is the northern part of Ulft and is called Oer because of the iron in the earth, which is called IJzeroer in Dutch. In Ulft the DRU was stationed, an iron foundry. DRU has moved some years ago to Duiven and now has a location at the Rijksweg A12. The old DRU-building now is the DRU 'Culture Factory' and holds a library, a theatre, a restaurant and an Iron museum.
context_section_description: The history of Ulft began in 1236 with a citadel: Slot Ulft that doesn’t exist anymore. The water citadel was located at the “Oude IJssel” and the “AA-strang”. The citadel had a watermill, which was used as cornmill. At the end of the 16th century Ulft began to develop as a town, and began its expansion to its current size.
  Important for the development of Ulft was the presence of the river “Oude IJssel” and the deposits of iron ore (IJzeroer), that were easy to dig. The ore had an adverse effect on the plant growth in the region, which was a major problem for the farming based community at the time. However, in 1753 Mr. Bogel, Mr. Henning, Earl Van Den Bergh and his counselor Roukens signed an agreement to begin an iron forge in the old water tower. With the foundation of the "Ironhut" in 1754, they laid the foundations for one of the first iron plants in the Netherlands, long before the regional arrival of the industrial revolution. Because of the money that was made out of the ore, the village flourished and the farmers where freed of their iron-problem.
  In 1885 “Bellaard, Becking and Bongers” started a second iron forge. This forge was called “The new hut” by the locals. The increasing production of the iron forges also attracted more entrepreneurs, mainly from the metal industry.
  Although all of the iron factories eventually left the town or went bankrupt, the "ironhut" (better known as DRU) only moved out in 1999. In the village there are still numerous references to the company, among which is the cultural heritage that is still largely intact.
caption: Castle of Ulft
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