Marchena

The Jewish Quarter

The edge of the north-western shore of the Schottegat was still known in the 19th century as "het Joode Quartier", the Jewish Quarter. Landhuis Habaai is the only remaining plantation dwelling in this area, which ran from the West India Company plantation Rooi Canarie to the plantation Welgelegen (Habaai). Today it is known as Schottegatweg-West. After 1492 Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal and settled in Amsterdam. In 1630 North Brazil became Dutch territory and a group of Sephardic Jews from Amsterdam settled in the Pernambuco region, which remained under Dutch rule for 24 years. When this area was reconquered by the Portuguese in 1654, the Jews fled to Curaçao and around 1659 were assigned a strip of two miles along the north-western shore of the Schottegat up to the Seru Pretu, where they were allowed to farm. They had their own house of prayer, cemetery (Beth Haim) and legal system here.

Country residences

The most important plantations in the Jewish Quarter were, from east to west: Valentijn, De Hoop (alias Judiu, Vreugdenberg), Bleinheim (Bleijheijm, Beth Haïm, Bloemfontein), Rozentak, Heintje Kool (Heinchi or Nooyt Gedagt), Roosendaal, Gasparitu (Cattenbergh or Ma Retraite), Marchena (alias Goede Hoop, Buena Esperança, Rust en Vrede, Vrijheid) and Habaai (Welgelegen). They were mostly small plantations where tobacco and sugar, among other things, were grown, but Valentijn, De Hoop, Bleinheim, Heintje Kool and Gasparito were known above all as water suppliers to the city and to steamships. As the Jews became more involved in business and went to live closer to the city, the houses in the Jewish Quarter were used more as country residences. But around 1915 most plantations, including the landhuizen in this area, disappeared to make way for the oil refinery. Only the landhuis of Habaai still stands.

Ozinga mentions that the neighbourhood Marchena undoubtedly owes its name to the first Jewish family Marchena, which settled on Curaçao from 1659. This name does not occur, however, in Els Langenfeld's inventory list of the owners of plantations and knoekjes on Curaçao, and it further appears that the Jewish family De Marchena came from Bonaire. So how the name Marchena became attached to this plantation is not entirely clear. Be that as it may: on a bare hill stood, since 1657, an older house, which was remodelled into a typical 19th-century two-storey landhuis. The yellow house was described as "the great fine building Marchena or Buena Esperança". The plantation also included a tree-rich valley and was used above all as a country house. Unlike other small plantations close to the city it was not sold often, and for three generations, from 1807 to 1863, it was in the name of the merchant Theodorus Jutting and his widow. In 1844 Jutting illegally added the garden Goed gezicht to Marchena, but later did pay tax on it. He also owned the adjoining garden Haai, or Vrijheid, where a dwelling house stood. This was demolished and the grounds were added to Marchena.

Shell

With the establishment of the oil industry the glory of Marchena soon faded. Because of its location close to the oil installations Marchena was interesting to the refinery, and in 1924 it "bought" smaller parcels of Marchena: thanks to its enormous land holdings the oil giant could swap three parcels of its terrain at Muizenberg for one parcel of Marchena. In 1946 it again bought a part of the former plantation. A striking detail was that in 1951 the landhuis still stood there, housing the De Castro tile factory. In 1955 the landhuis near the present Nijlweg was demolished; oil installations or industrial buildings were never built here, however. The little hill on which the landhuis stood also disappeared, to fill in part of the Schottegat. In 2014 the Werkgroep Archeologie traced the location of landhuis Marchena in the present so-called Marchena Yard: the undeveloped north-west corner of the refinery terrain on the Nijlweg (see photo). Apart from some artefacts from before 1915 and a sizeable old but renewed dam, nothing was left of plantation Marchena. All that remains is the name, which still lives on in the elongated neighbourhood between Wishi and the refinery on the Nijlweg.

Rivers

The Nijlweg runs straight through the former plantation Marchena and refers, like the other streets in Marchena, to great rivers such as the Amazone-, Missouri-, Parana-, Hudson-, Colorado-, Cauca-, La Plata-, Yukon-, Orinoco- and the Apureweg. "After heavy rainfall a lot of water from Seru Pretu flowed via Marchena and the Nijlweg to the Schottegat and turned the whole neighbourhood into a veritable river," says the anthropologist Dr Stella Pieters Kwiers, who worked for many years for UNESCO. She was born and raised in Marchena and is the daughter of the prominent NVP figure Papa Kwiers. "Marchena was one of the first neighbourhoods on Curaçao where street names were introduced. The neighbourhood is divided in two: from the toko di famia (family shop) Cas Cora of Manuel*, on the Schottegatweg in the direction of Habaai, it is called Marchena Ariba. From Cas Cora in the direction of Palu Blanku and Santa Maria is Marchena Abou, with mainly English- and Spanish-speaking residents."

Surinamese families

The above-mentioned residents and also the many Surinamese workers — not employees — in Marchena Ariba settled here in connection with employment at the refinery, which in this way also left its mark on the formation of the residential neighbourhood Marchena. Well-known surnames in Marchena are Knoppel, Bosnie, Valpoort, Kibbelaar, Hanze, Kusters, Hooten, Meulens, Daflaar, Kelie, Monte, Martijn, Elassais, Silvano, Pieters Kwiers, Kastaneer Ricardo, Bernadina, Rozal, Royer and Halabi. "There was a feeling of harmony in the neighbourhood, everyone knew each other. We grew up with a lot of discipline, parents encouraged their offspring to study and achieve, as a result of which Marchena has produced various psychologists, businessmen, an anthropologist, a sociologist, lawyers, teachers, doctors and specialists, department heads, island council and Staten members, a pharmacist, customs officers, engineers, a judge, an economist, an architect, musicians, a police inspector, police officers, nurses, trade-union leaders and athletes. Former governor Frits Goedgedrag also grew up in Marchena," says Etzel "Payá" Rosenda (81).

Commuter town

Rosenda grew up in the Apurestraat and was later head Receiver and Inspector of taxes and department head at Customs. He says: "Marchena was a commuter town. There was a jetty here where a ferry moored at 7.15 a.m. to take workers to the refinery. They were residents of Marchena, Wishi and Seru Pretu, but from the neighbouring Santa Helena too they came cycling. At exactly 20 past 7 the first signal sounded to indicate that the working day at Shell had begun, and at half past 7 the second signal sounded." Frank Hanze, former teacher and clerk of the parliament, also grew up in Marchena: "The Nijlweg consisted of many goat paths, the terrain was still hilly and Shell's fence did not yet reach as far as the Nijlweg. At the level of the Nijlweg lay a big grass field, with real grass, Vèlt di Shon Kai, named after Kai Sambo, who worked as gatekeeper at the refinery and let his cows graze here." Rosenda: "Kai had a big truck and provided the school transport in the neighbourhood. It was our football field, but horses came to graze too; we made our own reins and held horse races."

Hofjes

Bordering the Vèlt di Kai lay the Hòfi di Bosemanchi with many coconut trees, where the owner lived for a long time. Nowadays some six houses have been built here. In the same fertile strip close to the Nijlweg lie various other hofjes, named after the former owners such as Pietersz, Lito, Kelie, Kessie, Angel, Mundu Leito and that of the Partido Nashonal. The latter was very popular in the neighbourhood because of the various sports fields that had been laid out there. But also because the neighbourhood gatherings of the Nationale Partij were organised there.

Papa Kwiers

Hanze: "That was a folkloric event: the leader of the party, Doctor Frumencio da Costa Gomez, arrived with his committee at the hofje and gave his speech, in which at a certain moment he praised the 'mucha di Marchena' (child of Marchena) Hendrik Pieters Kwiers (1903–2003). He was already sitting, neatly in a suit, on the balcony of his house at that moment, waiting. He then went, followed by a crowd of family, residents and party comrades, to the hofje, where he was greeted by the doctor with a brotherly embrace. Shon Didi, as Pietersz Kwiers was also called, was always number 2 on the list and, besides island council and Staten member, was also deputy (gedeputeerde) for the NVP," says Hanze. "It gave my father satisfaction to cooperate in the process of bringing old Curaçao out of the era of colonialism into modern times. He represented social control in the neighbourhood; parents visited him on the balcony at our home with questions about, for example, upbringing, and his advice was always followed. He was once honoured as the oldest resident of Marchena, and for his contribution to the community the square where Marchena, Wishi, Kas Chikitu and Palu Blanku meet was christened 'Plasa Hendrik Pieters Kwiers'. And a few years later the sports field in the neighbourhood also got a new name, namely Vèlt di Deporte Hendrik Pieters Kwiers," says Stella.

Sportsmen

Hanze: "Young people in the neighbourhood met at Hòfi Nashonal. Boxing matches were organised here, for example, and the later inspector of taxes, Etzel — Payá — Rosenda made a name here as a boxer. But on the sports fields between Wishi and Kas Chikí, named after Shon Ki Nicasia, many young people were also trained, and Marchena Braves and Wishi Tigers were among the best baseball teams on the island. Another popular meeting place for young people was the large inspection well of the LVV in the Orinocoweg, where the water supply of the neighbourhood was regulated. But the young people observed a certain social code: if you were younger than 17, 18, you were not allowed to show yourself on the Kaya Grandi (Schottegatweg West). The older boys would send you back," says Hanze.

Panaderia Nini

Next to the big mast in the Paranaweg, called Marconia by young people, stood one of the most popular panaderias (bakeries) on Curaçao. People came from far around to Marchena to buy pan franses and pan buskuchi at Panaderia Nini. The building now stands there forlorn; only the chimney recalls the days of old.

Sisters' houses

In the border area between Marchena Ariba and Habaai, in the Amazoneweg, stand some houses that were formerly inhabited by the sisters of Habaai. They were built in the same style as adjoining houses on the grounds of the care home Huize Welgelegen and some former sisters' houses in Baraltwijk. In Marchena Ariba there are nowadays soundly maintained (stone) houses. In sharp contrast with Marchena Abou, where many badly neglected wooden houses still stand, as well as various nameless and unasphalted streets. Marchena is partly private and ground-lease terrain.

Bario Bruá

Young people from Marchena regarded the neighbouring district Wishi as "bruá" (rough/wild): unlike Marchena there are no streets and the houses are built higgledy-piggledy, so that yards run into each other. Young people from Marchena went to Niewindt College, opposite the KAE, or to the lower years of the Thomascollege in Otrobanda, versus young people from Wishi who attended the free schools, "skol pòrnada": the Alouisiusschool and the Piusschool, both situated behind the church of Wishi. The houses in Wishi still stand higgledy-piggledy, but are nowadays often renovated and many new dwellings have also arisen.

Klein Marchena

Besides the universally known Marchena, Brenneker also mentions Klein Marchena, which is said to lie north-west of Buena Vista, west of the road to Santa Maria. Els Langenfeld also refers in her inventory of plantations and knoekjes on Curaçao to (Klein) Marchena, described as a "piece of land in the middle division" and with mention of various deeds of purchase between 1792 and 1866.

*There is no official division between Marchena Ariba and Abou. Other residents indicate the Paranaweg as the dividing line between the two halves of the neighbourhood.