Attention Stone - Gold Mine

Gold Mine (1862-1968)

In 1862, bricklayer Adrianus van Rooij built 11 workers' houses in his garden (Grotestraat 231); these houses were called "Gold Mine." Van Rooij had lived in Australia and had prospered there. This money he invested in workers' houses, the proceeds of the rent was called a "gold mine." This dam was the first to be called a "mine." A "dam" is the connecting road from public road to the back part of the plot. Since then, other rows of dam houses also received the typical Waalwijk designation "mine." In 1885, the east side of the dam was built on. The "Gold Mine" housed a large number of home-based shoemakers. The west side was demolished in 1912, between 1965-1968 the east side and the three rear hovels were demolished for the construction of a telephone exchange. A prominent resident and local celebrity was shoemaker Okke "the spider" from Delft, who had a candy store there.