In Zwolle, until the postal services in the Netherlands were declared national, there was no central Post Office. Various offices were established for the aforementioned rides, comparable with "head stations", which exchanged the letters among themselves and even partly had the same postmasters. The mail coaches departed from various inns, such as "De Witte Wan" (to Amersfoort) and "De Zeven Provinciën" (to Groningen). The latter not to be confused with the lodge "De Zeven Provinciën" at the present Harm Smeengekade corner Hoogstraat, from where also mail coaches would have left for Katerveer.
Lodge "De Zeven Provinciën"
On 16 May 1795, a peace treaty between France and the Batavian Republic came into being. It was determined that 25.000 French soldiers were stationed in the Batavian Republic. Zwolle became one of the three places (next to Middelburg and The Hague) where a staff quarter of a division was located. That meant a central role for the French fieldpost.
In January 1799 all postal activities were declared national. After that it had to be worked out. It was not until 1803 that revenues and costs were centrally recognized in the Batavian Republic and the national Post Office was appointed under the leadership of Mr J.G.H. Hahn.
The country was divided into seven departments. As Commissioner of the Batavian Postal Services in the seventh department (Overijssel, Groningen and Friesland) Mr A.H. Cramer in Zwolle appointed.
During this nationalization, many cities and postmasters were compensated for the proceeds of their Post Office between 15 January 1799 and 1 January 1803 in connection with the termination of their services.
The three existing Post Offices in Zwolle were therefore dissolved in 1803. In place was a general Post Office, situated on the Blijmarkt.
Pieter van Hoboken received a compensation of NLG 1.000 per annum with effect from 1 January 1803, provided he continued to observe the postal services properly. The committee wanted to place it at the new general Post oOffice at the Blijmarkt. He was, however, dismissed in 1807 at his request as a postmaster of Zwolle, whereby the annual compensation was reduced to NLG 700.
In connection with the removal of the Post Office in The Hague, Zwolle received a compensation of NLG 3.218, to be reduced annually by NLG 128.
The Hamburg Post Office in Zwolle was found to be an "adherence" to the Dutch ride between Amersfoort and Lingen. The post-ownership could be terminated according to the contract. In the nationalization of 1799, no compensation was granted for the cancellation of this office.
The new general Post Office was established in 1803 as the main Post Office with Kampen as its offices and as branch offices in Assen, Hasselt, Heerenveen, Meppel, Smilde, Sneek, Steenwijk and Zwartsluis.
In December 1807 the 53-year-old Zwolle lawyer and patriot Mr. W. Queysen became director of the postal services of the Kingdom of Holland for a year.
With the first statutory regulation of our national postal system, the Postal Act of 1807, uniform postal rates were set, calculated by distance and weight.
In 1808 the number of arrondissements was reduced to five. Later, there were six again. Zwolle fell in the fifth arrondissement. Zwolle, Deventer, Leeuwarden and Groningen were given offices of the first class. The aforementioned Cramer was appointed inspector of the fifth arrondissement. In 1809 he became a member of the Legislative Body. He was therefore allowed to appoint a deputy inspector from the King. This became Mr. R.S. in April 1810. van der Gronden, son of the mayor of Zwolle.
On 28 September 1809, the Paardenposterij (horse stables post) was established within the boundaries of our Kingdom (decree 28-09-1809, nr 10 and KB 22-2-1810, nr 2) with which the mail from Amsterdam to various destinations could be transported. In Zwolle a Post Office was stationed for the mail route from Amsterdam to Groningen and East Friesland for the post route from Almelo to Zwolle.
On 9 July 1810, the Kingdom of Holland was incorporated into the French Empire. The area was divided into French departments. Zwolle became the capital of the 120th department of France, founded on 1 January 1811, "Bouches de l'Issel" (estuary of the river IJssel). Préfet were Piet Hofstede (13 December 1810 to 12 March 1813) and Karel Gerard Hultmann (13 March 1813-1814). The Post Office was completely replaced by the French. From 1 April 1811, the French postal laws and rates became applicable.
Part of a map of the French Empire from 1810 with the Dutch "départements conquis",
including the 120th department "Bouches de l'Yssel" with its capital Zwolle.
After the departure of the French, Zwolle became provisionally Noordsch Grenskantoor, Border Post Office on 1 March 1814 for correspondence from and, to Bremen with all Dutch post offices, except for those in Twente, for which Almelo was the Border Post Office. See circular 14 van 28-2-1814. From 20 May 1814 it will be for the mail to and from Hanover.
As early as 20 August 1814, this Noordsch grenskantoor (Nordic border office) was temporarily moved to Deventer.
The post office was located in the Bitterstraat until the end of April 1815. On 29 April 1815 it is temporarily in the Kromme Jak.
Announcement in the Overijsselsche Courant, 28-4-1815 of the move of the Post Offoce to the Kromme Jak in Zwolle.
Then they moved to the Blijmarkt, until it had to make way for the expansion of the Odeon City Theater. The post office was moved to Melkmarkt 39 in 1874, next to the current Stedelijk Museum Zwolle. The Melkmarkt building was demolished in the 1960s to make room for expansion of the Stedelijk Museum Zwolle.
The Post Office building at Melkmarkt 39 is on the left of this postcard.
There is still a mailbox in front of the building.
In 1910 the Post Office moved to Nieuwe Markt 1. This building was designed by architect C.H. Peters. In 1930 Nieuwe Markt 1 branch was relegated to a Sub Post Office. The main Post Office was now near the Railway Station.
The Post Office from 1910 at the Nieuwe Markt.
On 29 June 2009, the Post Office in Zwolle was closed.
The Post Office next to the railway
Another Post Office was located at Westerlaan 5, near the Railway Station. Mid-December 1834 this new Railway Station Post Office was taken into use. The telephony department went to the Parkstraat in 1935, where a new, automated telephone exchange came.
In 1971, a large district post office was built at Westerlaan 51, which took over many of the tasks of the Nieuwe Markt branch. Around 1999 a sorting centre was built on the Marslanden industrial estate. From then on, transport was done by road. They no longer wanted to be dependent on the strict timetable of the railways, where the last train always had to be caught.
Last update 16.09.2024 6:35 PM
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G.L. van Welie FRPSL
Secretary of the Nederlandse Academie voor Filatelie
Representative of the Royal Philatelic Society London for the Netherlands
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