Lelydorp was a small hamlet, which was known as Kofidjompo because a slave Kofi had to to jump over a creek on the flight to safety in that place.
Then in the early 20th century, the railway was built from Paramaribo to the interior, Kofidjompo became an important stop on the route. And to honor the governor who build the railway (governor Lely, the person who later as a minister in the Netherlands, realized the Zuiderzee dike) they changed the name of the town to Lelydorp.
In order to not let the old name lost in 1983 the square in the center of the village was named “Kofidjompoplein”. The railroad is gone, but Lelydorp has grown into a small town with all the amenities that go with them, such as health center, police station, water supply, primary schools, BBJ schools, and recently even a V.O.S. school, cinema, sports fields and a market.
Lelydorp is named after the Dutch engineer Cornelis Lely and is twinned with the Dutch city of Lelystad.
Train traffic Lelydorp around 1910
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