Hasselt

After the decline of the textile industry, the economy of Hasselt turned to brewing beer and distiling jenever. At some time around 1844 there were 24 distilleries. During the second half of the 19th century this industry grew into an industrial activity and from 1860 the Hasselt jenever was even exported. The construction of the Albert Canal (1930-1939) in the direction of Liège provided as well new impulses.

In 1970 more than 5000 people were employed by Philips in Hasselt, which would become world famous in 1963 with the invention of the Compact cassette, the accompanying cassette recorder and the development and first production of the compact disc player in 1983. The factory ended its activities in 2003.