1860 - 1900 The factory was founded in 1860 by Mr. De Naeyer.
In 1863 the paper pulp factory was in full operation. A sort of porridge was made from straw and lime milk, which was used to make paper. The initial production was eight tonnes per day, 10 years later this increased to forty tonnes. During the Franco-German war in 1870 the straw was scarce and De Naeyer was forced to test other raw materials such as reed, alpha grass and wood.
In 1871, twelve new boilers were made to make paper dough and the factory was the first in Belgium to make paper dough from needle hold.
In 1874 the factory actually started their own paper production, this was done on one machine and the production amounted to approximately 5 tons. In 1888 they eventually worked with four machines and the 5th was already under construction. The factory also received more and more staff and lived in the houses built by Mr. De Naeyer.
In 1914 the factory had to stop all its activities due to a lack of resources and the occupation by soldiers. The company was ultimately so damaged that it was totally impossible to continue the work. The factory was restored in 1920 and it was not until 1929 that the factory was running at full capacity. Unfortunately it was hit by the crisis that came over from America and it took until 1935 before any improvement could be observed. In 1939 the factory was shut down due to a shortage of employees due to the second world war that started a year later.
Between 1940 and 1945 the factory was heavily damaged by bombing, which caused the large fires in the paper and wood supplies. At the end of the war, only 1 machine was left to be able to use it, but a law passed in October 1942 meant that companies where the damage was higher than 25 percent had to stay still. In fact, the company never really went very well after that time. In the 1960s the factory existed for 100 years and this was celebrated generously, but at the end of 1974 a general crisis arose that hit the factory hard. Competition from Italy caused prices to fall sharply, which led to a reorganisation on 1977 and 260 layoffs.
Despite everything turned out to be better and the company also started working together with Van Gelder, the company had to close its doors definitively on 26 April 2004.
The construction activity from the beginning of 2017 is noticeable on the historic site De Naeyer. A large part of the old factory was demolished, the soil was remediated and a new subdivision is gradually taking shape. Attention is given to the protected water tower around which a central square will be provided. The old office building will be renovated and both will take an important place in the whole.
