To do so, he demolished the fifth bastion of the Fort (on the sea side) and with that debris, he built the wall. This wall served as the first section of the later city wall.

After 1674 the city wall was continued along Waaigat down to St. Annabaai. Fort Oranje Nassau (Fort Orange) was built on the corner of Waaigat and St. Annabaai, and together with Fort Amsterdam, protected Handelskade (one of the quays) where there was no wall. See color drawing, Figure 1. This is a drawing from 1860, of G.W.C. Voorduin. It shows the entrance to the Waaigat with the city wall and part of Fort Orange.

In 1864 the northern city wall was demolished. The wall had no proper role as a defense element and it hindered urban expansion. More importantly, new quays could be built on the site of the northern city wall. Those who put in a bid for the contract to do the demolition were Jacob Abraham Jesurun’s competitors, who held virtually all quays along the St. Annabaai. By demolishing the walls and the construction of new quays on the Waaigat-side of the city, Jesurun’s monopoly was broken. It caused great tension in the Jewish community.

The contract for the demolition of the northern city walls was given to a group of entrepreneurs: S.E.L. Maduro, Abraham Jacob Senior, Jeudah Senior, Elias Jesurun Henriquez, and Abraham Capriles. The new quay, the “Ruyterkade” (nowadays, “Sha Caprileskade”), that was built at the entrance of Waaigat, served as a wharf for the Maduro-group. They also built several warehouses.

The second illustration shows the new wharf. Also in this photo: the van den Brandhof bridge that was inaugurated on 7 July 1883.

The business conflict between the S.E.L. Maduro and the Jesurun groups caused a split in the Jewish community. In 1864 the liberal group around Jacob Abraham Jesurun split from the Mikvé Israel Jewish Congregation, founded the new Emanu-el Congregation and built a new synagogue called “De Tempel” (The Temple). De Tempel was completed on 12 September 1865. The new Liberal Jewish Congregation Emanu-el led by Jacob Abraham Jesurun had 105 members. On 12 May 1865 the Emanu-el congregation was recognized by the Minister of Colonies. The separation between the Reformed Emanu-el congregation and the more conservative Mikvé Israel congregation would last a century.

Jacob Abraham Jesurun died in 1875. Around the turn of the century the Jesurun firm sold the majority of its quays to the Curaçao Trading Company.