History of de harmonie

De Harmonie is een bruin café annex hotel-pension in de binnenstad van Edam.

Watersupply

Until 1680, De Harmonie was a company that supplied ships in the city of Edam with shipping materials and drinking water. For this purpose, there was a well under the rear courtyard of the café. The size of this well, which is still completely intact, is 6x6x5 metres and the well contained 70,000 litres of water. This groundwater was pure enough to serve as drinking water.

Guesthouse

After 1680, the farm became a guesthouse. The French writer Havard, in ‘Les Vlilles Mortes’ in his travelogues, describes the guesthouse, which was run by three elderly ladies. With sadness, he describes that he walked by again a year later and then saw only two ladies sitting at the window having tea. The next year, there was only one.

Pub

From 1850 to 1960, De Harmonie was a pub where workers were paid their wages on Fridays and made up most of it immediately.

monkey wrench

A liquor store was built on the site of the café terrace in 1940, which gave way to the extension of the guest house in 1992. In the 1920s, the then mayor Kalkoen had to clear the café several times, which he did single-handedly with his brass staff. The father of the previous owner also had his own way of keeping order. With an ‘Monkey Wrench’, he kept order when necessary. Hence the nickname ‘The Monkey Wrench’ for the pub. This wrench still passes from owner to owner as a relic of the past.