Hoven van plaisantie, some of these still exist even today: Klaverblad, Schoonselhof, Ieperman, Steytelinck, Middelheim, De Brandt, Hof Ter Beke. Others didn't survive: Jezuietenhof, Ooievaarsnest (Oversnes), Hoonsnest (Hondsnest of Hof van Van Dael), Groenenborgerhof, Elsdonkhof, Standonk, Korenbloem. But their names still remain in the consciousness of the people living in Wilrijk through names of streets and neighbourhoods. On November 30, 1589 the village was completely burned by some Geuzen coming from Bergen op Zoom. It took Wilrijk 20 years to start rebuilding the houses, and in that time the population had to live in poor wooden huts. In the middle of the 18th century an important road was built between Antwerp and Boom. Because of the expansion of Antwerp some suburbs (Kiel and Beerschot) that were a large source of food products for Antwerp, started to get too crowded. Their function was taken over by the farmers in Wilrijk and they started delivering milk, vegetables and flowers to Antwerp. On October 6, 1819 Wilrijk received its own coat of arms from King William I of the Netherlands and the Hoge Raad van Adel. It consists of a picture of Saint Bavo as a knight on a blue background, with a falcon in his left hand and a sword in his right; the right corner contains an image of the Saint Bavo church in Wilrijk. In the second half of the 19th century the town started to change because of the construction of two forts in the neighbourhood of Wilrijk (Fort 6 and 7) (1859–1865). These were part of a whole array of 8 forts protecting the city of Antwerp. At the same time some important connections were built between these fortifications, leading to new roads and railroads in Wilrijk and even a railway station. Mayor M. Willems(1863–1870) started the planning of a new town hall. The architect of the province of Antwerp Eugeen Gife was given the task to design this new building, but it was the next mayor Jules Moretus (1870–1874) who would see the actual start of the construction. The town hall was finished in 1873, some changes were made to it in 1920, 1936, 1952, 1963, 1970 and 1977. Since 1994 it is officially protected as a monument. Until the 19th century Wilrijk had stayed a rural, quite poor community independent of Antwerp. From then on many of the inhabitants started to search for work in the