Oranjestraat

The "Gemene weg naar Viana" (Common road to Viana) was the original name of what we know today as the Oranjestraat. Huize Vianen now lies at the end of the Penstraat. But the original manor house of that name lay closer to the Oranjestraat in the present Cher Asile, namely in the Velpstraat.* The Oranjestraat begins from the east at the church of Steenrijk and then runs towards the city, starting on the left with "den Bònt": some fifty compact little houses, neat and cheerful in a row. They were built between 1936 and 1944 by the Stichting Katholieke Volkshuisvesting, better known as the Volksbond. The first stone-laying on 11 March 1936 is of historic significance: the "Bonthuizen" are one of the first public-housing projects on Curaçao. Earlier the Volksbond had already built houses in Otrobanda, west of the Santa Famia church and bordering the Catholic cemetery on the Roodeweg. Between the houses, parallel to the Oranjestraat, runs the P.L. Jansenstraat, named after Ludovicus Jansen, once the universally beloved pastor of Pietermaai and initiator of the Volksbond. Jansen was born in Schiedam in 1845 and arrived on Curaçao in 1875. He stood up for the poor and concerned himself with recreation for young people in the neighbourhood. He was always surrounded by children and young people who, after his death in 1920, collected money for a bust that can be seen to the right in front of the cathedral of Pietermaai.

The cold store

Notable in the Oranjestraat was the Koelhuis (cold store), where foodstuffs were sold that had to be kept in the refrigerator, such as butter, ice, etc. The former cold store stood near the Ebenezer Church. Also well known in the street was the service station of AD Capriles, where one could bring cars for minor and major services. Still characteristic of the Oranjestraat are the typical Caribbean wooden workers' houses that define the face of the street and the neighbourhoods behind it. The Oranjestraat is the dividing line between Nieuw Nederland on the one side and on the other side the neighbourhoods Chėr Asile, Monte Verde and Coronet, or Còrnèt, which are often mentioned in one breath with Nieuw Nederland.

Kelubank

West of Monte Verde and behind the former Oranjeschool lies Cornet or Coronet. It was formerly also called Altena or (Baha i) Kinipí: "let down and pinch". Women walking from the outlying districts to the city let their skirts down here before they entered the city. The skirts were lifted because people had to walk through the mondi to the city. And on the way back home they would pinch, to taste, a little piece out of the treats they had brought with them. At Coronet, right behind the former Oranjeschool and next to the former lemonade factory, lies the bowling alley, popularly called Kerubank or Kelubank. Other older names near the Oranjestraat are the Schuine steeg (Diagonal alley), Kleisteeg (Clay alley) and Kruisweg (Cross road), all from 1919. The Rotsweg (Rock road) also lay near the Oranjestraat, as did Soledad, a district south of the road, where the Helenastraat now runs, and finally Sabana, a small district north of Oranjestraat and south of Coronet.

Protestant cemetery

At the end of the Oranjestraat, at the foot of Berg Altena and opposite Radio Hoyer, lies the Protestant cemetery Altena. This came about as a result of the last will of a former owner who wanted to be buried on his estate. His daughter subsequently engaged the notary to record that she and her three children too would be buried on that spot. This cemetery later also became the last resting place of the founder of the first printing house on Curaçao, William Lee, who was born in Scotland in 1786, stayed in Venezuela during the struggle against Spanish domination and then — reportedly — fled to Curaçao with his printing press under his arm. He was the first Curaçao journalist, editor, designer and printer, and from his hand on 11 December 1812 appeared the first newspaper on the island: The Curaçao Gazette and Commercial Advertiser, forerunner of the Curaçaosche Courant. For years, and also after his death, this remained the official newspaper for government announcements. Close to the Diamond Bakery in Nieuw Nederland the warehouse of the Curaçaosche Courant once stood, and the later director of the paper, Pim Elisabeth, also came from this neighbourhood. Lee died on 5 August 1823 at the age of 37 and is buried in the south-east corner of the Protestant cemetery.

*See Chèr Asil