Lekkerkerk is a town and former municipality on the Lek River

Lek River

The Lek is a river in the western Netherlands of some 60 km in length. It is the continuation of the Nederrijn after the Kromme Rijn branches off at the town of Wijk bij Duurstede. The main westbound waterway is hereafter called the Lek River...

, now part of the municipality Nederlek

Nederlek

Nederlek is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of 14,831 in 2004, and covers an area of 31.44 km² . It was formed on January 1, 1985, by the amalgamation of the municipalities Krimpen aan de Lek and Lekkerkerk...

, South Holland

South Holland

South Holland is a province situated on the North Sea in the western part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is The Hague and its largest city is Rotterdam.South Holland is one of the most densely populated and industrialised areas in the world...

 province, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. Since 1 January 1985 Lekkerkerk is no longer is an independent municipality.

Lekkerkerk is mostly an agricultural community with its housing, including attractive 17th, 18th, and 19th century farms, stretched out on the dike along the Lek River. Near the Reformed Church (Johanneskerk), the development is denser and forms the town centre.

History

The oldest evidence of habitation in the Krimpenerwaard

Krimpenerwaard

The Krimpenerwaard, located in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands, is the rural area just south of Gouda and just east of the Rotterdam conurbation...

 is no older than the 10th century. It is assumed that systematic cultivation only began in the 11th and early 12th century, with the river levees functioning as the base.

Initially the name of the village and its surroundings was "Leckelant". The name "Leckerkercke" was used for the first time in 1276 when a village centre formed around the new church and across the Lek River Nieuw Leckelant

Nieuw-Lekkerland

Nieuw-Lekkerland is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is situated on the southern shores of the Lek River, in the north-western part of the Alblasserwaard...

began to develop. In 1342 Lekkerkerk was a county with the subordinate fiefdoms of Krimpen (Krimpen aan de Lek

Krimpen aan de Lek

Krimpen aan de Lek is a town on the Lek River in the municipality Nederlek, province South Holland, the Netherlands. It has 6607 inhabitants in 2008.The name Krimpen comes from the archaic word "Krempener", meaning "river crossing"...

 and Krimpen aan den IJssel

Krimpen aan den IJssel

Krimpen aan den IJssel is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of 28800 in 2006, and covers an area of 8.93 km² of which 1.10 km² is water....

), Stormpolder, Ouderkerk aan den IJssel

Ouderkerk aan den IJssel

Ouderkerk aan den IJssel is a village in the Krimpenerwaard polder, in the province South Holland, the Netherlands. It is situated along the river Hollandse IJssel and has over 4000 inhabitants....

 and Zuidbroek

Zuidbroek

Zuidbroek may refer to two places in the Netherlands:* Zuidbroek , in Menterwolde* Zuidbroek , in Bergambacht...

.

The first real significant growth of the village started in 1900 when several alleys were built perpendicular to the river dike. After 1950 the growth accelerated. Especially after the inauguration of the Algera Bridge at Krimpen aan den IJssel, the Krimpenerwaard became a popular location for commuters to Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

.

In 1980 and 1981 Lekkerkerk gained national notoriety when it was found that the soil underneath the new neighbourhood west of the Kerkweg (Church Road) was very polluted. The cost for removal and clean-up was 188 million Dutch Guilders.

On 1 January 1985, the municipalities of Lekkerkerk and Krimpen aan de Lek merged to form the new municipality of Nederlek.

Economy

For centuries the economy of Lekkerkerk has been agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, shipping

Shipping

Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...

, and ship building.

Like so many other peat areas in Holland and Utrecht, agriculture in the Krimpenerwaard was characterized by crop cultivation in the higher lands and the lower areas used for cattle grazing. The primary crop was grain, but hops

Hop (plant)

Humulus, Hop, is a small genus of flowering plants native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The female flowers of H. lupulus are known as hops, and are used as a culinary flavoring and stabilizer, especially in the brewing of beer...

 and cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...

 were also cultivated with some orchard

Orchard

An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...

s and even vineyard

Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

s present as well.

As a result of the important fishing industries along the river, wood and ship building industries developed, as well as rope

Rope

A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...

making. Ropemakers used to use hemp

Hemp

Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...

for ropes. So hemp has been cultivated on a large scale in the Krimpenerwaard since around 1600. Circa 1930, the Opperduit area still consisted almost exclusively of hemp growers but today the whole Krimpenerwaard is used for cattle grazing.

During the 1980s legal cases were filed against city workers after they were found to have participated in the local pollution scandals. These city workers were eventually not convicted for their role in the pollution scandal. The former mayor of the city has also repeatedly expressed that no city workers should be held responsible for misconduct. This has led to the notion that Lekkerkerk has become synonymous with lack of accountability of government employees for misconduct.