Reclamation of Land
In 1622, the lawyer Cornelis Davelaar submitted a plan to Amsterdam's mayor and aldermen to reclaim the turbulent Watergraafs- or Diemermeer lake. The lake was drained in 1629. The area was divided into four by two main axes. Thanks to the planting of elm and lime trees, these axes made the arrangement of the polder clearly visible.

Function change
A rectangle of main watercourses stood in the middle of the polder. Small ditches subdivided the land into sixty rectangular parcels of approximately nine hectares. Initially the polder had an agricultural function, but soon recreational uses appeared. Rich Amsterdam merchants established private country estates along the ring dike and the two main roads. The difference with other country estates of the well-to-do from Amsterdam was its easy accessibility. Many country estates disappeared during the course of the eighteenth century, and the polder was increasingly used for horticulture. Since the late nineteenth century the Watergraafsmeer has been urbanized in phases.

Polder structure
Amsterdam annexed the area in 1921 and the Algemeen Uitbreidingsplan Amsterdam ("General Extension Plan," 1935) by Cornelis van Eesteren elaborated the structure of the polder, which is still apparent. The new residential areas with public gardens, sport fields and a cemetery were inserted comfortably into that structure. Only two railway lines, two trunk roads, an industrial zone and a shunting yard show little regard for the original polder structure.

Theme Urbanization