Dolphia, Enschede — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Dolphia?

The Klooster Dolphia stands beside the church. Franciscans took over the Bernadettekerk in 1935, a year after it was built as a chapel of ease for the parish of Glanerbrug, and the monastery went up next to it in 1936 and 1937 with a monastery church behind. An aviator drew a crowd here in 1910.

Jan Olieslagers gave flying demonstrations on the meadow of De Dommert, and the tram halt opened two years earlier brought the spectators. The tram line closed in 1933. A furniture factory replaced the one that burned at Glanerbrug that year, and after the war it made teak sewing-machine furniture under the Aristo name until a fire closed it in 1970.

What is the history of Dolphia?

Dolphia belonged to the late-medieval marke Eschmarke. It was assigned to the commune of Lonneker when the Napoleonic communes were formed in 1811, and the road from Enschede to Gronau dates from that period. A hotel gave it the name.

Hotel Dolphia is recorded in 1840, and the area is thought to have taken its name from it. The Esmarker commission divided the land. In the second half of the nineteenth century the ground was split into a few large plots, scattered building appeared on the Dommeltweg, and the Lenteweg, Herfstweg and Zomerweg were laid out.

Houses reached the Veltzichtweg early in the twentieth century. Van Heek kept its textile workers employed in the Dolphiabos through the First World War, felling and clearing, and in December 1928 the firm helped found a building company that put up five hundred houses for them, half of them here.

Where is Dolphia?

Dolphia lies in Enschede in the Dutch province of Overijssel, between the city centre and Glanerbrug, on the Gronausestraat toward the German border.