Ulft

Ulft (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʏl(ə)ft]) is a town in Oude IJsselstreek in the Achterhoek area in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. The town has over 10,000 inhabitants and is the biggest town in the municipality Oude IJsselstreek. Until 1 January 2005, Ulft was part of the municipality Gendringen. At the municipal re-ordering in the Achterhoek, the municipalities Gendringen and Wisch joined to form the Oude IJsselstreek. Ulft developed out of three hamlets: Ulft, Oer and De Pol. Oer is the northern part of Ulft and is called Oer because of the iron in the earth, which is called IJzeroer in Dutch. In Ulft an iron foundry called "Diepenbrock en Reigers te Ulft" (DRU) was founded. DRU moved some years ago to Duiven and is now located at Rijksweg A12. The old DRU-building now is the DRU 'Culture Factory' and holds a library, a theatre, a restaurant and an Iron museum.