A municipality in the Utrecht province of the Netherlands is called Houten. The municipality's hub is Houten, a commuter town located about 9 kilometers to the southeast of Utrecht. The town's population (municipality) was 50,177 on January 1, 2020. In 2018, there were 20,010 homes in the built-up area, which had a surface area of 5.08 km2 (1.96 sq mi). In 2004, there were around 39,100 people living in the somewhat bigger statistical district of Houten.
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| Houten Netherlands |
In the historic district of Houten, the street layout of a Roman villa has been discovered. On that site formerly stood a Roman villa. The 1950s saw the discovery of this structure. Houten began to take shape as a rural center in the Middle Ages. The so-called 'gerechten' (districts) were used to partition the territory within the municipality of Houten. The names Schonauwen, Wulven, Waijen, and Heemstede are still in use for these regions.
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| Houten Netherlands |
There are several traces of Houten's past around the city today. The Roman Catholic Church (1884) and the Protestant Church (1563) are both prominent in the historic district known as "Het Oude Dorp." The oldest elements of the church are likely from the eleventh century, while the earliest accounts of it date from the ninth century. The 'De Engel' restaurant/café, which was first documented as a tavern in the 16th century, is another notable structure.
The names of former access roads to the old center, including "Odijkseweg" and "Loerikseweg," can still be used to identify them. Few of Houten's many orchards have survived.