Nijverdal () is a town of approximately 25,000 inhabitants in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is the commercial centre of the municipality Hellendoorn. Nijverdal (which means Industrious Valley) was founded in 1836 on the territory of the hamlet Noetsele. It was here that the industrial revolution in the Netherlands took root. Thomas Ainsworth (1795–1841) was one of its founding fathers. Textile production was the focus of industrial activity in Nijverdal, as it was for the rest of the Twente region. Some of the traditional factory buildings in the Art Deco or Jugendstil style still remain. A river called the Regge runs through the town, and is the historical border between the two regions Twente and Salland, and the border of two Dutch dialects, which are Twents and Sallaands, respectively. Every native inhabitant of Nijverdal used to speak either one or both regional dialects but since the 1970's dialect is in decline. Very few inhabitants younger than 30 use any dialect anymore. History Before World War II, Nijverdal had a small Jewish community. The municipal seat of the area, Hellendoorn, had a small synagogue and Jewish cemetery. The synagogue still exists as a storage shed behind one of the houses in the village, and the cemetery is no longer in use. It has about 20 graves, most from the nineteenth century and early 20th century. The municipality maintains the cemetery and protects it from vandalism. The Jewish community was essentially erased by the Holocaust. Most of its members were murdered in Sobibor or Auschwitz. On 22 March 1945, Nijverdal was severely bombed by allied bombers who were going after the German Reichskommissar of Austrian origin Arthur Seyss-Inquart. Seyss-Inquart was fleeing the advancing Allied forces and had set up his temporary headquarters in the Reformed School in Nijverdal, but had already left town at the time of the bombing. Over 73 people were killed, mainly at the Grotestraat. In 1955, part of the municipality of Wierden was annexed (Eversberg, Konijnenbelt, Slettenhaar and Lochter) which is the only part of the municipality located on originally Twente soil. In the late 70's the quarter of 'Groot Lochter' arose here. Transportation Railway station: Nijverdal Since 31 March 2013, Nijverdal has a new railway station, due to major improvements to the railway connection between Zwolle and Enschede. This new station is part of the building of the Salland-Twente tunnel, a new 'combination'-tunnel connection which leads