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Holland
History Timeline
(1846 - 1860)
Larry J. Wagenaar,
Associate Professor
The Joint Archives of Holland
Hope College
c. 1997 The Joint Archives of Holland
All Rights Reserved
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September, 1846
A group of Dutch emigrants, led by Dr. Albertus C. Van Raalte, left
Rotterdam aboard the ship Southerner. The voyage took seven
weeks and included a major storm early in the journey. During the
passage there were three deaths including a young wife and a two
year old child. |
Winter, 1846-47
After travelling through Albany and Rochester, New York, the Dutch
pioneers wintered in Detroit, Michigan. Van Raalte had planned
to move on to Wisconsin and was lobbied heavily to consider land
in Michigan for the new Dutch settlement. Van Raalte visited the
Black Lake (now Lake Macatawa) in early January, 1847. |
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February 9, 1847
Van Raalte arrived via ox cart on the shores of Black Lake with eight
other colonists: Egbert Frederiks, Bernardus and Janna Grootenhuis,
Hermanus Lankheet, Willem Notting and his wife, and Evert Zagers.
Isaac Fairbanks, a government Indian agent working with the Native
Americans of the area, and missionary George N. Smith helped the
new immigrants and provided temporary shelter. |
Summer, 1847
Difficult conditions existed for the 700-800 immigrants who arrived
at the new settlement. They encountered swamps, heavy forest, makeshift
housing, inadequate food supply, and smallpox.
1848
Nearly 4,000 Dutch citizens had emigrated to the Holland, Michigan
area. |
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1849-50
Ottawa Indians, led by Chief Waukazoo and Rev. George Smith, relocated
to Northport, Michigan, after cultural clashes with the new Dutch
residents. |
1850
Van Raalte's church joined with the Reformed Church in America (RCA),
at that time known as the Dutch Reformed Church. "Besides his role
in ministering to the spiritual and also to the physical needs
of his people, Albertus Van Raalte was, for the first years of
the colony, its financial mainstay and its political leader and
guide." From the book Albertus C. Van Raalte: Dutch Leader and
American Patriot by Jeanne Jacobson, Elton Bruins, and Larry Wagenaar. |
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1852
Holland sported seven stores, two hotels, a bakery, tinner, tailor,
jewelry shop, and various machine wagon and blacksmith shops. The
General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church gave permission to establish
the Holland Academy, the forerunner of Hope College, Holland Public,
and Holland Christian Schools. |
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1857
Pillar (First Reformed Church) is constructed. Schism in the local "kolonie" churches
caused the formation of what would later be called the Christian
Reformed Church (CRC). The CRC did not grow significantly until the
1880s when the issue of Masonry (Secret Society) membership surfaced
as a major issue. The cause of the split in 1857 and the 1880s was
over the pace of Americanization of the Dutch immigrants. The first
CRC churches were outside of the principal Holland settlement (see
1865). Pillar did not become CRC until 1882. |
1850s
The original channel between Lake Michigan and Black Lake was dug by
hand. Development of the harbor was a key economic development on which
the community depended.
Additional Sections:
c. 1997 The Joint Archives of Holland - Hope College |
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