Emmeloord

Emmeloord is the administrative center of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, Flevoland, Netherlands.

Overview

At the heart of the Noordoostpolder, where the three main drainage canals intersect, is the city of Emmeloord (1943). Emmeloord is in a polder: land reclaimed from the IJsselmeer, which earlier was part of the sea. Planned from the outset to be the first and the only major town of the polder, it is the local governmental and services centre. Ten smaller villages, conceived more as agricultural communities, were planned in a wide circle around Emmeloord, with the distances between them determined to be easily reachable by bicycle. The first settlements were Ens, Marknesse and Kraggenburg (1949), then Bant (1951), then Creil and Rutten (1953), and finally Espel, Tollebeek and Nagele (1956). There is another village called Luttelgeest (located northeast in the Noordoostpolder). From Emmeloord three canals take their water to three pumping stations, the Buma near Lemmer, the Smeenge at Vollenhove and the Vissering on Urk.