Zwolle

It is the centre of the whole northern and eastern canal systems, and on the Zwarte Water[?] and the IJssel rivers.

The Grote Kerk, or St Michael[?] (first half of the 15th century) occupies the site of an earlier church. The church contains a richly carved pulpit, the work of Adam Straes van Weilborch about 1620, and there is besides some good carving and a fine organ (1721).

The Roman Catholic church, also dedicated to St Michael, dates from the end of the 17th century.

The modernized town hall was originally built in 1448.

Mention should also be made of

• the Sassenpoort, one of the old city gates;
• a gild-house (1571);
• the provincial government offices, containing the archives; and
• a museum of antiquities and natural history.

Three miles from Zwolle, on a slight eminence called the Agnietenberg, or hill of St Agnes, once stood the Augustinian convent in which Thomas a Kempis spent the greatest part of his life and died in 1471.

As of 1911, Zwolle had a considerable trade by river, a large fish market, and the most important cattle market in Holland after Rotterdam. The more important industries comprised cotton manufactures, iron works, boat-building, dyeing and bleaching, tanning, rope-making and salt-making.

From an old 1911 encyclopedia

There is also a village Zwolle (mun. Eibergen), and Zwolle, Louisiana.