Olst Wijhe

History and economic activities

Both of the municipality's main towns, Olst and Wijhe, are old towns. Olst, which is believed to have been founded in the 7th century, is first mentioned in chronicles in 947 (as "Holsto"), Wijhe in 960 (as "Wie"). Traditionally, agriculture (fruit and cereals), cattle, meat processing and the production of bricks in open-air brickworks along river IJssel were the prime sources of income in the area.

Nowadays, Olst and Wijhe are mainly commuter residences for people working in Deventer and Zwolle respectively; both towns have had a railroad station on the Zwolle–Nijmegen main line (route 3600) since 1866. The surrounding land still relies heavily on agriculture. There is some small industry in Olst (machinery manufacturing) and Wijhe (meat processing).

Merger of municipalities

The present municipality was created on 1 January 2001 through the merger of the two former municipalities of Olst and Wijhe as part of a nationwide bid to reduce administrative overhead on the municipal level. The newly merged municipality retained the name of its largest constituent part, Olst, pending approval of a definitive new name. After proposed neutral names containing neither "Olst" nor "Wijhe" met with little enthusiasm, it was decided to simply name the municipality Olst-Wijhe as of 1 January 2003.

A new town hall is being built on the southern outskirts of Wijhe.

Geographical features

Olst-Wijhe is dominated by river IJssel, which partly flows through it and partly forms the border between the provinces Overijssel and Gelderland. Although this border largely runs along river IJssel, there are two left-bank exclaves opposite the towns of Olst and Wijhe, in which the villages of Welsum and Welsumerveld (south exclave) and Marle (north exclave) are situated. There are cable ferries between Olst and Welsum and between Wijhe and Vorchten in the municipality of Heerde (there is no direct connection between Marle and the rest of Overijssel).

Olst-Wijhe is part of the low-lying Salland region. The one metre above mean sea level contour line runs roughly parallel to the river; the municipality's interior is characterised by flat or gently rolling grasslands and woodlands at about 10–15 metres above mean sea level.

Apart from river IJssel, several more streams flow through the municipality's territory. They are called wetering ("drainage waterway") and are amalgamations of natural streams gradually channelised from the 18th century onwards and specifically dug canals . From west to east, these are Zandwetering, Soestwetering, Groote Vloedgraven, Oude Wetering and Nieuwe Wetering. All these streams flow in a south-north direction and come together at one point or other to eventually form the Zwarte Water river near the city of Zwolle. On the left side of river IJssel, near the exclave of Welsum, there are several more wetering streams, all but one of them on the Gelderland side of the border; the exception being the easternmost of these, the Terwoldsche Wetering, which forms the border between Olst-Wijhe and Voorst.

Population centres

The municipality consists of the following statistical areas (2010 population figures with difference from 2009 figures):

Transportation

General: mansions and windmills

The mansion of Nijenhuis (near the border with Raalte) has been converted into an art gallery (a.o. Permeke, Van Gogh) with sculpture garden (a.o. Zadkine). There are windmills at Welsum, Olst (two), Boskamp, Wesepe, Marle and Wijhe (two). Of these, the ones at Welsum, Olst (one), Marle and Wijhe (one) are still fully functional.

Eikelhof

INT JAER UNSES HEREN MCCCC EN XCIII

STIERF HIER JOHAN LUCKENS
BID VOER DE SELE

Fortmond

Olst

Welsum