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The Belgian Revolution, which was mostly caused by differences in religion and the influence of religion in government (Belgian Catholics and Dutch Protestants), led to the secession of Belgium from The Netherlands in 1830. The Dutch economy plummeted, and many people migrated out of the country, for both financial and religious reasons.

- Emma Louise Svinicki

Sources: The Council of Europe; The European Union. (n.d.). ON THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS. European Route of Industrial Heritage. https://www.erih.net/how-it-started/industrial-history-of-european-countries/the-netherlands

The Manchester Guardian. (1830). POSTSCRIPT: London, Thursday, October 7 [Newspaper Article]. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2020/oct/07/birth-of-belgium-october-1830-archive

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The land of Holland was surveyed. The lake on which Holland sat was connected to Lake Michigan through a shallow stream. The shallow stream zigzagged from the north to the west. With this information, they knew they needed to create a better canal for boats and ships to be able to easily come into the harbor.
- Lilah Fiebing
Source: Dale Wyngarden |Monday, February 27, and Sponsored By. “Holland History: ‘Black Lake’ and the Harbor.” The Lakeshore, www.secondwavemedia.com/lakeshore/features/holland-history-black-lake-6.aspx. Accessed 18 Oct. 2023.

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Chief Wakazoo had gathered his band under a missionary couple, the Rev. George Smith and his wife Arvilla, Yankees from Vermont, and founded the Old Wing Mission

https://hollandmuseum.org/tours/virtual-tours/pilgrim-home-cemetery-virtual-tour-2/hollands-founding-fathers-and-mothers/the-old-wing-mission/
Jess

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Settled by Dutch Calvinist separatists, under the leadership of Dr. Albertus van Raalte. Van Raalte established a congregation of the Reformed Church in America, which would later be called the First Reformed Church of Holland.
https://www.migenweb.org/ottawa/churches/reformed/Holl1stRef.html
Jess

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Van Raalte wrote a letter to the Federal Government asking for finical assistance in building a proper channel. He wrote that 5,000 immigrants recently settled in the area and agrue that a harbor was critical for a prosperous future
Lauren Baird

Source: Holland history: "Black Lake" and the harbor (secondwavemedia.com)

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The first commercial pier was built on Lake Michigan

Lauren Baird

Source: Holland history: "Black Lake" and the harbor (secondwavemedia.com)

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Holland was incorporated as a city with Isaac Cappon being the city's first mayor.
Jess

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Federal appropriation of $55,600 was passed and helped to straighten the channel and build more durable breakwaters.

Lauren Baird

Source: Holland history: "Black Lake" and the harbor (secondwavemedia.com)

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([Ruins of the Cappon & Bertsch Leather Co. after the 1871 fire], 1871)

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After a year of high temperatures, and a drought that swept through the Midwest, in October of 1871 Holland caught fire. The fire completely devastated the community, leaving two-hundred and forty-three families homeless, as well as destroying seventy-six businesses, five warehouses, three hotels, five churches, and forty-five other buildings. Only one person perished in the fire.

-Emma Louise Svinicki

Sources: Hardy, M. (n.d.). The Great Fires of 1871 – The Burning Great Lakes. Thumbwind. https://thumbwind.com/2021/10/06/great-lakes-fire-1871/

Muyskens, C. (2021, October 8). 150 Years Ago, “A Sea of Fire” Devastated Holland. The Holland Sentinel. https://www.hollandsentinel.com/story/news/history/2021/10/08/150-years-ago-fire-devastated-holland-great-chicago-fire-burned/6049609001/

[Ruins of the Cappon & Bertsch Leather Co. after the 1871 fire]. (1871). Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, MI, United States.

https://www.hollandsentinel.com/story/news/history/2021/10/08/150-years-ago-fire-devastated-holland-great-chicago-fire-burned/6049609001/

reat-chicago-fire-burned/6049609001/

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Once back on its feet, Holland introduced many conveniences to its residents, including the city’s first telephone system, public water system, electrical service, and free mail delivery. And at the end of the 19th century, Holland’s excellent transportation facilities spurred much economic growth, including new furniture and other manufacturing plants, lumber-related industries, and a thriving agricultural market.

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(Military Training Camps Association, 1917)

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The United States entered The Great War on April 4, 1917, and soon after the men of Holland began leaving the city for training in Fort Sheridan to join the Army Reserve Corps. In less than a month, in May of 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which authorized the draft. Starting in June 1917, conscripts who refused to bear arms would be court-martialed, often sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

-Emma Louise Svinicki

Source: Military Training Camps Association. (1917, April 26). Join The First 10,000 [Advertisement]. Holland City News, 46(17) p. 6. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/hcn_1917/17/.

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([A photograph of the living Holland Polar Bears], 1942)

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In September of 1918, the United States government sent 12,950 American soldiers to Russia as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. Of those 12,950 men, the majority were from Michigan; the government believed that Michiganders could better handle the bitter cold of Arkhangelsk, Northern Russia, and Vladivostok, Siberia. They served in the American Expeditionary Forces, nicknamed the “Polar Bear Club”. Many Hollanders recall arriving in Arkhangelsk and Siberia to find that their units were almost entirely comprised of other Hollanders. The surviving Holland Polar Bears held their reunions at Hope College, their alma mater.

-Emma Louise Svinicki

Sources: Trickey, E. (2019, February 12). The Forgotten Story of the American Troops Who Got Caught Up in the Russian Civil War. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-doughboys-who-died-fighting-russian-civil-war-180971470/

Holser, R. A. (n.d.). The American Intervention in North Russia, 1918-1919. The Army Historical Foundation. https://armyhistory.org/the-american-intervention-in-north-russia-1918-1919/

O’Connor, A. (2018, May 29). Carry On: Memories of Holland in World War I. Hope College Blog Network - History Department. https://blogs.hope.edu/history/faculty/carry-on-memories-of-holland-in-world-war-i/

[A photograph of the living Holland Polar Bears]. (1942). Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, MI, United States. https://blogs.hope.edu/history/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2018/05/Holland-Polar-Club.jpg

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Holland’s economy boomed in the late 1800s through the early 1900s, with tourism really taking off. The Macatawa Park and Ottawa Beach Resorts attracted thousands of tourists during the 1920s.

-Emma Louise Svinicki

Sources: Kaczmarczyk, J. (2015, October 23). Forget Disney, Vintage Postcards Show Michigan Had Best Vacation Spot in Late 1800s. MLIVE. https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/2015/10/lake_michigan_summer_resorts_o.html

Detroit Photographic Company. (n.d.). Ottawa Beach Hotel, Ottawa Beach, Mich. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://media.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/photo/2015/10/22/macatawa-bay-resort-history-d66724d1ffed2097.jpg.

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The city took what Lida Rogers a biology teacher from Holland High School suggested the year before about planting flowers as a community beautification project. The city imported tulip bulbs from the Netherlands and planted them in the parks and along the streets. 1928 started a tulip tradition that is still going on today.

Lilah Fiebing

Source: History, Holland. “Our History.” Holland.Org, 10 May 2019,        www.holland.org/our-history.

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The first advertisement for Tulip Time was in 1930.  The first tulip time festival brought in a total of 50,000 visitors to Holland. The following year that number increased to 175,000 visitors who came to Holland.
- Lilah Fiebing
Source: History, Holland. “Our History.” Holland.Org, 10 May 2019, www.holland.org/our-history.

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The history of Holland includes the suffering caused by the Great Depression. Holland even had its own infamous “Bonnie and Clyde” style bank robbery on September 29, 1932. Despite the hard times, many area farmers earned a good living through hard work and cooperation, and many failed businesses were succeeded by new enterprises that sustained the local economy.

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The end of World War II came on September 2, 1945, but not all Hollanders would be coming home. One-hundred and sixty-six men and women from Ottawa County, Michigan who served their country were designated as killed or missing in 1946, with fifty-six of these people from the city of Holland. These are their names.

-Emma Louise Svinicki

Sources: The Adjutant General’s Office, World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel from Michigan, 1946 (1946). Retrieved from https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/army-casualties/michigan.html.

MIGenWeb. (n.d.). WWII Servicemen’s Deaths For Holland and Vicinity (Holland Sentinel - as of 19 February 1945). https://www.migenweb.org/ottawa/military/WWIIHollandDeaths.html

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The industrial revolution that had kept Holland’s economy vital for nearly a century carried into the post-war era. During the post-war era, Hope College saw enrollment grow 800 + students, this was due to the rush of veterans capitalizing on the GI Bill.

-Lilah Fiebing

Source: History, Holland. “Our History.” Holland.Org, 10 May 2019, www.holland.org/our-history.

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As late as the 1950’s, Holland still boasted of its ethnically homogeneous population, with ninety percent Dutch heritage.

Lauren Baird

Source: Holland, Michigan Visitors Bureau | Travel & Tourism Information

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Holland businessman Carter Brown, after prolonged negotiations with Dutch officials, authorized 450,000 in revenue bonds. Brown gained permission to remove and bring an ancient windmill from the Netherlands and relocate it to Holland, the new resting place of the windmill is known as Windmill Island.

- Lilah Fiebing
Source: History, Holland. “Our History.” Holland.Org, 10 May 2019, www.holland.org/our-history.

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During the Vietnam era, the city that had successfully retained its traditional atmosphere also found itself a community in transition. New industries creating a building boom within the city. Traditions, such as closing the shops on Wednesday afternoons, upheld. There was influx of Latinos and Southeast Asian refugees coming.

Lauren Baird

Source: Holland, Michigan Visitors Bureau | Travel & Tourism Information