De Zoeker (The Seeker)

Oil mill on the Kalverringdijk (Zaanse Schans) in Zaandam

De Zoeker is the mill which formed the basis for the establishment of  the Society of Zaan Mills.  The mill however was not then located on its present site along the Kalverringdijk in Zaandam. De Zoeker was situated in the Westerzijderveld in Zaandijk, where it was built in 1672. De Zoeker spent much of its working life as an oil mill before being converted in 1891 into a dye mill. The oil works were re-installed 10 years later to process vegetable oil from different kinds of oil seed such as linseed and rapeseed.

In the early 1950’s the Zaandijk municipality guaranteed the future of De Zoeker by buying the mill. By 1958 De Zoeker was again doing what it had done for three centuries, operating as an oil mill.

World news
A decade later the mill made world news.  In a spectacular operation it was moved from the Westzijderveld over a railway line and through the village to the other side of the River Zaan on the Zaanse Schans. Later that same year the mill was ready to resume work and the Zaandijk municipality handed over this unique monument to the Society of Zaan Mills.

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