BREDA AND ENVIRONS. In 1900 Breda and the militairy drill-grounds still fitted within its circle of moats, except the railway station in the north. The expanse around the city belonged to surrounding villages: In the north Terheijden, followed clockwise by Teteringen, Dorst, Ulvenhout, Het Ginneken, Princenhage and Prinsenbeek. Furthermore N.E. the Vrachels Heath and the Forestry of Dorst, S.E. the Ulvenhouts through Chaams Woods, south the Mastbos en west the Liesbos.
It was then that one of the first Dutch building projects started with the construction of the Baronielaan. A consortium of businessmen constructed a wide lane like some Brussels Boulevards on land owned by the then still independent municipalities of Teteringen, Ginneken and Princenhage between Breda city and the Mastbos. The health resorts and hotels around the Mastbos advertising with pure air would become easier accessible by the horse tram in preparation. Building started on the high grounds in the north at the Wilhelminastreet and in the south at the Mastbos. The lane was gradually completed down to the clayey borders of the river Mark at the Count Engelbert Lane.