 The decline was halted by the establishment of the first railway connection in 1863, and, some years later, by the building of a substantial number of infantry and cavalry barracks, which were needed to defend the western cities of the Netherlands.After the 1920s growth stalled again, until in 1970 the national government designated Amersfoort, then numbering some 70,000 inhabitants, as a "growth city".During the First World War, the area of Amersfoort with nearby Soesterberg and Zeist was one of the places in The Netherlands where many refugees from Belgium were sheltered.