Attention stone - Roman Catholic Boys' School

The purpose of these attention stones is to make visitors reflect on (lost) heritage. The stones were made possible with financial support from 'Platform Langstraat' and the municipality of Waalwijk. Heemkundekring 'Op 't Goede Spoor' received a donation from the 'Industriële Club Waspik' as a contribution for the stones and also contributes an amount of its own.

Roman Catholic Boys' School (1903-1968)
The community of Waspik built a public school on Schoolstraat (formerly: Kerkpad and Bovenpad) in 1903. Some of the girls who attended the school were of Protestant persuasion. The Catholic girls could be educated at the nuns in Kerkstraat. In 1920, St. Bartholomew Parish became the owner and changed the public school to a Catholic boys' school. The sale included the school, schoolhouse, yard, playground and "privies," these toilets were located outside the building under the attached porch. The 1920 Primary Education Act put special education on an equal footing (financially) with public education, giving the parish sufficient funds to take over the school. The Protestant children were given their own school on 't Vaartje.

Catholic education
In 1921 the school had five classes and ten years later another expansion followed. The number of students per class was much larger in the early 20th century than it is today. Classes of 45 children were no exception, nor were the relationships of authority at all comparable to today. The "master" determined the course of events. The regime was strict and there was hardly any room for creativity and certainly not for participation. Very few children went on to further education. Until that time, there was no mixed education in the Catholic community. After the old girls' school in Kerkstraat was replaced by the 'Jacinta' school around 1960 and the new mixed elementary school 'De Hooght' was opened in Waspik-Boven around 1968, the way was clear to merge the boys' and girls' school in Waspik Beneden. That became the 'Jacinta' school. With that, after more than sixty years, the educational function of this school building came to an end.

Den Bolder
As agreed upon at the time of the sale, the school came back into the possession of the municipality of Waspik in 1968. The "Stichting Jeugdbelangen" indicated that there was a need among the youth to organize regular social evenings and also game afternoons for children of a slightly younger age. The former school turned out to be a suitable location for this. On April 16, 1971, Mayor H.C. Welling officially opened the youth center 'Den Bolder' and in the same period the playgroup 'Holder den Bolder' was founded and housed in this building. Den Bolder was used more and more intensively, so that in 1978 another renovation was needed to meet the demand. Twenty years later, that renovation proved inadequate, and the building served for three decades as youth center "Den Bolder.
After the municipal redivision, the Waalwijk City Council gave permission in 2000 for the construction of an entirely new multipurpose building, the 'Social Cultural Center Den Bolder'. The architect was Wijnen Architectuur. The old school was demolished, so that a striking building disappeared from the streetscape. The name "Den Bolder" was retained because the symbol of a bollard - mooring place for ships - was metaphorically apt, especially in view of Waspik's past connection with shipping.