area of the Vechtdal, from Hasselt to Coevorden, is indicated as 't Veen (the Peat Moor) on a map by Abraham Goos from the early seventeenth century. The area where Nieuwleusen now lies is called the Ommer moer (Moor of Ommen) on the same map. The Luessener Compagnie On 8 January 1631, the Luessener Compagnie was established by inhabitants of Zwolle and Kampen to cultivate the area north of Leusen, which belonged to the Marke van Leusen (the local association of land owners). It was mainly pioneers from Leusen who made the land arable. The first farms of the new settlement stood along the Pad (Path), today the Oosterveen road. Hence, Nieuwleusen got its early name of Oosterveen, as seen on the earliest area maps. Once the settlement got its name of Nieuwleusen (New Leusen), the original Leusen got to be called Oudleusen or Old Leusen (Low Saxon: Oldlusen). It is believed that leusen in these names means lo-essen, approximately 'wooded fields' - which would have been descriptive of the (Old) Leusen area and carried over into the name of Nieuwleusen. Between 1640 and 1646, the nobleman Zweer van Haersolte built the havezathe (country house typical of Overijssel) Oosterveen here. It was demolished in 1862; a scale model is on view at the town's historical museum (see below). In 1655, a house for a schoolteacher was built on the Oosterveen. The baptismal register of Nieuwleusen was kept from 1659. The first Reformed ministers were called from Zwolle, Dalfsen and Ommen. The first minister was Reverend Van Bercum, who arrived in 1663. The Dedemsvaart In 1809, Nieuwleusen-born nobleman and politician Baron Willem Jan van Dedem started construction of the Dedemsvaart canal through northern Overijssel, meant to facilitate the transportation of peat, which was being dug on a large scale in this part of the Netherlands. The canal would eventually stretch from the Zwarte Water in Hasselt to the Vecht at Gramsbergen, cutting horizontally through the north of the province. In 1811, the canal went as far as Balkbrug (past Nieuwleusen). Just north of Nieuwleusen, as at other points where there were locks and bridges, the Dedemsvaart stimulated settlement alongside the canal. It encouraged the growth of the hamlet of Den Hulst (known locally as Nulst), first mentioned in the early eighteenth century. From Den Hulst, the Ommerdiek road (now the main road Burg. J.P. Backxlaan) led down to Nieuwleusen. Den Hulst