Lost place names: Neerbosch

Nowadays, every resident of Nijmegen knows the Neerbosch district. The village of Neerbosch originated in the 13th century after the draining of the swamps west of Nijmegen. The small village was named 'in den Nederen Bosche' and later became an independent municipality. The elongated village was cut in two by the Maas-Waal Canal and gradually swallowed up by the city of Nijmegen. Only a small church from the 14th century, now a national monument, remains as a reminder of the village.

In 1918, an auxiliary post office was established in Neerbosch. This was announced in the Service Orders of the State Enterprise of the PTT: Announcements No. 776s of January 30, 1918: Effective February 16, 1918, an auxiliary post office is being established in Neerbosch, for which the post office in Hees will serve as the head office. No, not the Nijmegen post office, but the Hees post office, which would later also become a district of Nijmegen. The manager of the auxiliary post office received a date stamp and could use it from February 16, 1918, up to and including June 15, 1925. This was because, due to the cutbacks implemented within the State Postal and Telecommunications (PTT), a large number of auxiliary post offices had to be downgraded to postal stations. Furthermore, the station manager was no longer permitted to stamp letters. So the stamp was handed in. The stamp was kept in The Hague, until better times? After a few years, it turned out to be inconvenient that the station master did not have a date stamp, and therefore the stamp was returned in 1928. An impression of this stamp has been applied to the stamp card, and the interesting thing is that the date recorded is the last day and the last hour that the stamp was in use in 1925. On May 1, 1928, the office master could stamp again to his heart's content!

 

 

The stamp lasted a very long time. The post station was upgraded back to an auxiliary post office, and the postmaster was also careful with the stamp. However, by then an entirely new stamp had been put into use, making it no longer necessary to change the year character every year. It was decided to replace all the old stamps in 1969. Including the Neerbosch stamp. This took place on December 17, 1969. On November 15, 1971, less than two years after the new stamp was put into use, the curtain fell on the auxiliary post office. It was closed down. This was noted on the stamp card. In its place came a city post agency on Dennenstraat. Does that still exist? There are two TNT Post letterboxes, but I haven't been able to find a post office.