The Anna House - Raalte

The Anna House is a meeting place for Raalten residents. It is a multifunctional building with meeting rooms, a film and theatre hall with a grandstand and a Soup Café. But Het Annahuis is especially special for its history.

Annetta Catharina Sandberg (Anna), born in Zwolle in 1811, was the daughter of a squire. She grew up in a wealthy family. She married Derk baron Bentinck, lord of Schoonheten, in 1838. As was common among the nobility, they spent their summers in country houses in outlying areas. For Derk and Anna, this was Schoonheten estate.

Anna and Derk were very involved in their immediate surroundings and the Plaskerk. They often provided a lot of money for the maintenance of the church. They also always gave a ‘krats’ to every beggar at the gate and the disabled son of the carpenter on the estate was allowed to learn the tailor's trade at their expense. They donated to the institute for the blind and deaf and dumb in Groningen. When the gamekeeper's wife fell ill for a long time, they paid the care expenses. For the coachman, who sometimes had to rob out of necessity, they paid some fines.

It was Anna who in 1865 had a sewing and knitting school built for the residents of Raalte at her expense. The school soon became a custodial school (forerunner of the kindergarten) for small children. Until her death in 1888, she bore the cost of this school.