The grain silos in the port of Assen, Hekmans Boô in Schoonebeek, the artwork Broken Circle/Spiral Hill in a sand excavation near Emmen, the Holthersluis near Beilen, the polder pumping station at Peize, De Berk at Barger-compass and the first radio-elcope near Dwingeloo. What do they have in common? They are all new protected provincial monument status. Every Sunday we put one in the spotlight.
There are two grain silos in the Asser Havenkwartier. A high (1956) and a low (1964). The high was already a monument but the two belong together. They were built for the grain processing industry and the agricultural cooperatives that were characteristic of the province of Drenthe. In the grain silos, grain of the farmers who were affiliated with the Asser Silostichter (CAS) and foreign grains that were needed in the mixing companies of the Malerijen was stored.
The agricultural industry united at the end of the 19th century in product cooperatives. That was a way to get a joint credit facility, to sell the agricultural products, to process it and later also to purchase company resources.
The system that brought farmers their own renovated grain to the local miller for processing changed by the population increase and scaling up in agriculture. There were more mouths to fill. The Netherlands started importing a lot of grain. On the other hand, the proceeds from agriculture rose and farmers needed storage space, both for their products and the animal feed.
After the Second World War, mergers and acquisitions made a number of cooperatives bigger, making it totally smaller. Purpose: invest more and save more costs. At the place where the Havenkwartier is now, there was no industry at the time. But Assen expanded to the east. A business park was created between the Noord-Willemskanaal and the railway lines to Groningen and Gieten.
The high silo was built in 1956, based on LW de Koning of the Central Bureau of the National Cooperative Purchasing and Sales Association for Agriculture. Come again with such a name today. In 1964 the Technical Service of Cebeco (the successor of the Central Bureau) designed the Lage Silo. The high silo has a concrete skeleton and the walls in between are made of brick. The low silo has a steel skeleton with brickwork in between.
Well, you can discuss whether these are beautiful buildings, especially in the current state. Bernd Otter of the Asser Historical Association while he strolls along the silos on the Havenkade: “They have not been beautiful but very important for the development of Drenthe and Assen. Imagine that we once in Assen the Graanpakhuis van de Waard on the Vaart Had we could never have told that history again.
Around 1970 the Noord-Willemskanaal was diverted, so that it did not go through, but around Assen, and the old course of the canal through the city was named Havenkanaal. This harbor channel received a swingom for turning ships at both silos.
Many tubes, bins and at the bottom of funo -shaped silos. In the high building there are 21 silocelles for grains and mixing food. The high and low silo are connected to each other by a chain conveyor and a fall pipe. In the low silo there are eight silocelles and at the front there is an extension for the machines to get and process the grains in the shed, including a Jakobsladder and two pneumatic pistons.
In 2010, Agrifirm decided to switch to one central storage place in Meppel and Silos on the Havenkade will be sold to the municipality of Assen. The low silo is empty and the high silo is partly used as an office for starting entrepreneurs.
Otter: “The indication of the Provincial Monument gives more clarity about the future. The silos will continue to exist but must be refurbished. There must be something with culture. It will become part of the total developments in the Havenkwartier.”