Odiliapeel is a church village in the municipality of Uden with about 2100 inhabitants. The village was founded in 1922 and originally originated as a mining village where peat from the Peel Region was planted. In the beginning, it still had the name Terraveen.
The reopening of Terraveen in Odiliapeel is a consequence of the church organization of care for the new village. Terravener Bertus Coppens was a good acquaintance of Hannes Donkers of the Hulstheuvel in Uden, and the latter had a brother at the Kruisheren in Uden, Tinusbruur. And so, the care in Terraveen went to the Kruisers. The Kruisians founded a rectorate in Odiliapeel and built a church.
The patron saint of the Kruisers is the holy Odilia of Cologne, and thus became the patron of the new village community. On May 5, 1930, the city council decided that the newly mined area was named Odiliapeel.
The Church of the Holy Crossfire was built in 1959. The first stone was laid in 1958. The Sint Odiliakapel was founded in 1995 by some inhabitants of Odiliapeel and is located in the forest south of the village hall. The War Memorial at the end of the Wolfstraat at the edge of the forest is a brick wall containing memorials containing the names of a number of soldiers killed during World War II.
Odiliapeel is located in the middle of Peelontginningen, which the village also has its origins. Intensive livestock farming is often practiced here. South of the village, however, is a beautiful 130 hectare forest, known as Odiliapeel Forest Complex, owned by the municipality of Uden. It is a mixed mining forest in which one can find a few beech and oak lanterns and a number of walks have been plotted.
