HARLINGEN — Did you know there is a small city on the North Sea named Harlingen?
Pier and Rita Van Der Plaats know because they live there.
And for the second time in the past 10 years they have traveled from their hometown in the Netherlands.
The Van Der Plaats recently made their second trip back to Harlingen, and they said it wouldn’t be their last.
They visited their friends, Bruce and Catherine Snider, to visit South Padre Island and the Mexico border towns.
This time they spent four days enjoying the warm weather, bird watching and barbecuing in the backyard with their Texas friends.
“The people here are real, they are friendly, the hospitality is great and I love the Mexican food,” Rita said.
This time around they didn’t spend their time traveling the Valley sightseeing like last time. This time they enjoyed the activities Harlingen has to offer.
They said the downtown Harlingen mural tour was an excellent tourist activity.
“We were able to relax, and spend time in town enjoying Harlingen,” Pier said.
And they didn’t leave out foreign relations and diplomacy between the two cities.
Their Harlingen, Mayor Roel Sluiter, sent them with a gift.
On Monday, Pier and Rita visited Harlingen, Texas, Mayor Chris Boswell and delivered him a handcrafted porcelain square plate from their mayor. The plate has a drawing of the city and shield of the European town Harlingen, Texas, was named after.
Local history states the founder of Harlingen, Lon C. Hill, named the town after the Netherlands town for its canal system and planned for Harlingen, Texas, to one day become a booming port city similar to the one in the Netherlands.
And with a twist of fate the two Harlingen couples from different sides of the ocean would meet while visiting another country.
Coincidentally, Pier and Rita met Bruce and Catherine while traveling on a ferry boat in Canada.
The two wives, Rita and Catherine, discovered while sitting on the boat their hometowns shared the same name.
Pier had always wanted to visit Harlingen, Texas. He said he had read about it in a book years ago.
And after staying in touch with their Harlingen, Texas, friends by email, they helped plan Pier and Rita’s two trips to Harlingen.
“It was a very happy moment having them visit,” Catherine said. “We were very thrilled to have them here.”
City founder Lon C. Hill, in providing the background for the naming of the town, may have slightly slanted the story. In August 1927, Hill may have taken the opportunity to promote the establishment of a port for the city. At that time he attributed the name selection to two coincidental factors.
Hill stated that because the area was crossed by canals and would one day be served by a port connected to the ocean by a canal, he had thought of Holland and its cities with canals. He found Van Harlingen with its canals on a map and finding no other town with that name in the state dropped the Van and went with Harlingen.
He went on to add that the railroad builder to the Valley, Uriah Lott, was of Dutch ancestry and, when asked by Hill about the proposed name, indicated that his ancestors from that city were Van Harlingens, so the use of the name would be suitable.
Country
* The Netherlands
United States
Founded
* 1234
1904
Known for
* Fishing & Shipping
Farming
Population
* 15,444
65,665
City size
* 9.6 square miles
40.3 square miles
