Maarssen Village

Maarssen originated on the banks of the Vecht. The name Maarssen is probably derived from the Marsna, a tributary of the Vecht. From 975 this region belonged to the bishop of Utrecht. His fiefs built fortified houses, the later castles. Farmers, fishermen and craftsmen settled at these houses. In the twelfth century the Castle in Maarssen was built and a church, of which the tower still exists. In the fourteenth century, the construction of Bolenstein began.
The peat marshes around Maarssen were cleared for agricultural land, creating Maarssenbroek and Maarsseveen. Later, this ground clinked in and became more soggy. Farmers then switched to cattle breeding, thus creating the still partially existing pasture area.
Around 1600, wealthy merchants bought clay soil along the Vecht for stone and pan manufacturing. After excavating that land, they built large country houses. Joan Huydecoper (1599-1661) was the best known of them. He lived at Goudestein in the summer. In 1754 the current Goudestein was built, which has been used as a town hall since 1961.
Around 1650, the contiguous buildings along the Langegracht and the Schippersgracht also arose. Tailors, bakers and other craftsmen settled here. A beer brewery stood on the site of the present presbytery of the Roman Catholic Church. They earned their money partly thanks to the country houses and the intensive shipping on the Vecht. In the disastrous year 1672, many houses, including the Castle in Maarssen, fell prey to arson and looting by the French troops. Huis ter Meer was later built on the site of the Castle, which was demolished in 1903.
In the economic boom period of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the population of Maarssen expanded steadily. Many Portuguese Jews also settled in houses along the Vecht. The buildings along the Herengracht were built. After 1800, the decline of many country estates began.
Due to the commissioning of the Merwede canal in 1892, a lot of shipping disappeared from the village. In 1952 the canal was modified and renamed the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal.

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