The name "Huizen" is Dutch for "houses" and this usage has been linked to the belief that the first stone houses, instead of the more common sod houses at the time, in the region appeared here. Huizen is part of the metropolitan area of Amsterdam.
History
Huizen was originally an agricultural village, nearby the Zuiderzee until 1932. During wintertime the farmers went fishing, which started the development from an agricultural village to a coastal village with a thriving fishing industry, which was stimulated by building the harbour around 1850. After the damming of the Zuiderzee due the making of the Afsluitdijk in 1932, the old sea was degraded to a lake, without any economical activities shifted towards industry and commerce.
In the 1960s the town was designated to build substantially large residential areas, to overcome the housing shortage in the region. From then on, the village took on an influx of people and grew rapidly.
Where the Phohi-flat now stands in Huizen was, before World War II, the site of a large transmitter intended for contacting the Dutch East Indies, some 12.000 km away.
With its population of close to 42,000, Huizen is one of the larger towns without railway connection in the Netherlands. On a national level, it's preceded by Drachten and Oosterhout.
^"Postcodetool for 1276KB". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
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