The story of the mill

THE DIKKERT - The Fatty - is the name of this 300 years old mill, that used to be a watermill situated in the province of North Holland. It is not known exactly which year it started operating in Zaandam, a village near Amsterdam. The first written document about the mill is from May 12, 1672. The next document was an insurance contract in 1683. It shows that the value of the mill was 2500 guilders. Besides that, it also tells us that the mill was formerly a woodcutting mill.

In the course of many years the mill changed owners, and every time a new insurance contract was made. In a contract from 1809 we find the first evidence of the mill's present use. It stipulated that all meetings between the collective owners would be followed by a meal.

In 1896, the mill was sold again and the new owners moved the mill to its present location. Here it continued it's work until 1929, with the wind as the only source of energy. But from then on it was driven by steam and later by electricity.

In the thirties, the mill began to deteriorate, but was restored in 1940. The deterioration started again and in 1957 the condition of the mill was so bad that the sails had to be taken off to prevent a disaster. Plans to demolish the mill aroused a lot of protests by the local people. The town council had to give in and the mill had a new future. On the 12th of August 1966, De Dikkert reopened its doors, completely restored, as a restaurent.

In 1993 the mill started once more a new life. Still a restaurant but yet different. That is why the restaurant is now called DE JONGE DIKKERT, "The Young Fatty". Young, because we want it to be a restaurant of this time. Still The Fatty because the mill looks back to a rich and tumultuous history.