Holland, Michigan

Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River (also known locally as the Black River).

The city spans the Ottawa/Allegan county line, with 9.08 sqmi in Ottawa and the remaining 8.13 sqmi in Allegan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 33,051, with an Urbanized Area population of 109,394.

The city is the largest municipality of the Holland-Grand Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area and the seventh largest metro area in the state of Michigan, with a population of 263,801 as of the 2010 census. Holland was founded by Dutch Americans, and is in an area that has a large percentage of citizens of Dutch American heritage.

It is home to Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, institutions of the Reformed Church in America.

History
Holland was settled in 1847 by Dutch Calvinist separatists, under the leadership of Dr. Albertus van Raalte, who were escaping from persecution in the Netherlands. An alternative explanation for Van Raalte's and his followers' motivation to emigrate is their opposition to scientific and social advances (e.g., contraception, vaccination, insurance, chemical fertilizers) and their resulting failure to thrive under the economic and agricultural conditions of the time in their homeland (Zeeland, Netherlands).

Van Raalte took the land due to its proximity to the Black River where it streamed to Black Lake (now Lake Macatawa) which, in turn, led to Lake Michigan. At the time, the land was inhabited by the Ottawa people who had been on the lake for hundreds of years.

In Holland's early history, Van Raalte was a spiritual leader, as well as overseeing political, educational and financial matters. In 1847 Van Raalte established a congregation of the Reformed Church in America, which would later be called the First Reformed Church of Holland. On March 25, 1867, Holland was incorporated as a city with Isaac Cappon being the city's first mayor. The city suffered a major fire on October 8–9, 1871, the same time as the Great Chicago Fire in Illinois and the very deadly Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin. Manistee and Port Huron, Michigan also burned.

Holland was known as the "City of Churches." There are 170 churches in Holland, many of which are with the Reformed Church in America and Christian Reformed Church in North America denominations. The city is the home to the church that started the trend of the "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets in 1989. In 1987, 23-year-old recent Hope College graduate and City Council member Phil Tanis was elected mayor of Holland, becoming its youngest mayor.

Culture
The city is perhaps best known for its Dutch heritage, which serves not only as a part of the city's cultural identity, but the local economy as well: the Tulip Time Festival in May and various Dutch-themed attractions augment the nearby Lake Michigan shoreline in attracting thousands of tourists annually.

The Holland Museum contains exhibits about the city's history. Another, the Cappon House Museum, was built in 1874 and is a historic museum that once housed the first mayor of Holland, Dutch immigrant Isaac Cappon. The Settlers House Museum, contains furnishings and relics from the 19th Century. Holland's downtown is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The "Snowmelt Project" established pipes transporting warm water from the nearby power plant to travel underneath downtown with the purpose of clearing the streets and sidewalks in the downtown area of any snow. Nearby Holland State Park is a Michigan State Park.

Across the channel is the Holland Harbor Light, known as "Big Red", a lighthouse in Michigan. De Zwaan, an original 250-year-old Dutch windmill, is situated on Windmill Island, a municipal park. Its height is 125 ft with 40 ft sails. Holland boasts an annual Fiesta, organized by Latin Americans United for Progress, usually on the Saturday closest to May 5 (Cinco de Mayo). Holland is also host to the annual Tulipanes Latino Art & Film Festival, which is held to celebrate the Latino contribution to the culture. Holland is home to the world's largest pickle factory. The H.J. Heinz Company has operated the factory at the same location since 1897 and currently processes over 1 million pounds of pickles per day during the green season. Holland was the birthplace of Slashdot, an influential early Internet weblog created by Hope College student Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda. CNN Money named Holland as one of the top five places to retire in 2006.

In 2010, Holland was ranked the 2nd healthiest/happiest town in the United States by the Well-being Index.

Tulip Time Festival
Each May Holland hosts an annual Tulip Time Festival. Tulip planting and the festival began in 1930 when 250,000 tulips were planted for the event. Currently six million tulips are used throughout the city. Tulips are planted along many city streets, in city parks and outside municipal buildings as well as at tourist attractions like Dutch Village, the city-owned Windmill Island Gardens, and at a large tulip farm named Veldheer Tulip Gardens. It is normally held the second week of May, right when the numerous tulips planted around the town are blooming.

About one million tourists visit Tulip Time each year, for which the community finds innovative ways to enhance self-funded projects. It has been ranked as America's third largest town festival and was named Reader's Digest's best small town festival. The Tulip Time Festival has attracted big name acts in recent years such as: Christina Aguilera in 2000, O-Town in 2001, The Verve Pipe in 2004, and Jars of Clay in 2006. Ed McMahon visited Tulip Time in 2007 along with Bobby Vinton.


 * Gallery

Attractions
Holland is on the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa. Scattered along the shoreline are many public beach accesses. The best known are Holland State Park and Tunnel Park. Smaller beaches along Lake Michigan are present but not well marked. Public accesses are frequent along dead-end streets bordering the shoreline.

Riley Trails consists of approximately 10 acre of public land about 3 country blocks west of the Riley St. and Butternut Dr. intersection. Trail maps mark the entrance and features four routes (A, B, C, and V&mdash;V). The park also features a large pond.

Demographics


As of the census of 2005-2007, there were 32,030 people, 29,089 households, and 7,756 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,929.5 per square mile (746.6 per km2). There were 13,059 housing units at an average density of 786.7 per sq mi (304.4 per km2). The racial makeup of the city was 80.1% White, 1.3% African American, 0.7% Native American, 3.0% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 13.6% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22.0% of the population.

There were 11,401 households out of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.2% were married couples living together, 3.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.2% were non-families. 26.6% of all households are made up of individuals, and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.08.

The age distribution of the city is as follows: 23.6% of the population was under the age of 18, 62.6% between the ages of 18 and 65, and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. The distribution of males and females was 51.4% female and 48.6% male.

The median income for a household in the city was $81,111, and the median income for a family was $101,889. Males had a median income of $80,637 versus $48,167 for females. The per capita income for the city was $80,020. About 2.2% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.1% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.

Government
The City of Holland utilizes a council/manager form of government. The day-to-day operations of the city are under the supervision of the City Manager and his/her staff. The City Manager is responsible for selecting all department heads, preparation of the budget and supervision of all employees through his/her appointments. The city manager serves at the direction of the Mayor and city council which are elected position. The current city manager (since 1988) is Soren Wolff, who also served as assistant city manager in the mid 1970s. The current assistant city manager is Greg Robinson.

Holland's city charter requires a mayor and eight city council members. The Mayor serves a two-year term, while two "at large" councilmembers and four "ward" councilmembers each serve four-year terms.

The current Mayor is Kurt D. Dykstra, recently elected in 2009 to replace long-serving mayor, Albert H. McGeehan. Prior to becoming Mayor, Dykstra was a five-year member of the Holland City Council, representing the city's fifth ward. He is a partner at Warner Norcross & Judd LLP, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based law firm. He earned his juris doctorate from Marquette University Law School and received his bachelor's degree from Northwestern College, in Orange City, Iowa, graduating magna cum laude.


 * City council members November 2009 are:
 * At-Large - Jerome Thomas-Kobes
 * At-Large - Nancy deBoer
 * Ward 1 - Myron Trethewey
 * Ward 2 - Jay Peters
 * Ward 3 - Brian Burch
 * Ward 4 - Robert vandeVusse
 * Ward 5 - Todd Whiteman
 * Ward 6 - David Hoekstra

Education

 * Higher level academic institutions
 * Hope College, a private four-year liberal arts college
 * Western Theological Seminary a graduate and professional school
 * Western Michigan University has a branch campus in Holland.
 * Grand Valley State University has a campus in Holland. The land was donated to the GVSU by the Meijer family.
 * Davenport University has a Regional campus in Holland


 * Public schools
 * Holland Public Schools
 * West Ottawa Public Schools, which serve the townships that make up Holland's suburban and rural "north side".
 * Black River Public School, a charter school with kindergarten, elementary, secondary, and high school students.
 * Vanderbilt Charter Academy (K-8).
 * Thompson M-TEC (Adult Training) - a partnership between the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District and Grand Rapids Community College.


 * Private schools
 * Holland Christian Schools
 * Corpus Christi Catholic School
 * Calvary Schools of Holland
 * Holland Seventh-day Adventist School

Transportation
The city is serviced by two public airports, the recreational Park Township Airport, and the larger, corporate and charter jet Tulip City Airport. Neither facility is served by regularly scheduled commercial carriers. The city also is served by regularly scheduled Amtrak service (the Pere Marquette) east to Grand Rapids and west to Chicago with connections to all points east and west.

The city and surrounding area is served by the MAX (Macatawa Area Express) transportation system, which offers both on-demand and fixed-route bus service, linking different parts of the city as well as commercial, medical and government locations outside the city. This service evolved from the former "Dial-A-Ride Transportation" (DART) system.

The city is served by the following highways:
 * [[Image:I-196.svg|31px]] Interstate 196 (Gerald R. Ford Freeway)
 * [[Image:Business Loop 196.svg|31px]] Business Loop I-196
 * [[Image:US 31.svg|25px]] U.S. Highway 31
 * [[Image:M-40.svg|25px]] M-40
 * [[Image:Michigan A-2 Allegan County.svg|25px]] A-2

The channel between Lake Macatawa and Lake Michigan allows pleasure craft and commercial boats, even bulk freighters, to access Holland's docks to unload coal, salt and iron scrap.

Newspapers

 * Holland Sentinel - Holland's local daily newspaper
 * Grand Rapids Press - has maintained a Holland newsroom and circulation office since the 1980s.
 * The Flashes - Serves Ottawa and Allegan counties for the Holland area.
 * Senior Times - Senior Citizen Newspaper

Radio

 * WHTC - Holland's Hometown Station 1450 AM Station
 * WYVN - Holland's Home for Classic Hits 92.7FM
 * WTHS - Hope College Radio Station 89.9FM
 * LakeshoreRadio.net - The Lakeshore's Music Station
 * WTNR - Thunder 94.5 New Country
 * WMAX - ESPN Radio 96.1FM
 * WOOD - News, weather, traffic 1300 AM and 106.9 FM

Television

 * MACTV - Holland Local Television Station

Music

 * Holland Chorale - Holland's auditioned chorus, presenting a full concert season of fine choral music
 * Holland Symphony Orchestra - Professional symphony orchestra conducted by Maestro Johannes Müller-Stosch.

Sister cities

 * [[Image:Flag of Mexico.svg|20px|]] Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico
 * [[Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg|20px|]] Groningen, Netherlands

Notable residents

 * L. Frank Baum (d. 1919), author, wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, while summering in the resort community of Macatawa.
 * Brian D'Amato, American author (Beauty, In the Courts of the Sun) and sculptor
 * Kirk Cousins, current Michigan State University starting quarterback
 * Max DePree, writer; industrialist; former CEO of Herman Miller, Inc.
 * Gerrard Wendell Haworth (d. 2006), founded office furniture manufacturer Haworth Company.
 * Pete Hoekstra, U.S. Congressman from Michigan's 2nd Congressional District, 1993-2011; chairman of House Intelligence Committee, 2004-2007.
 * Alex Koroknay-Palicz, youth rights advocate
 * Paul de Kruif (d. 1971), science writer (Microbe Hunters, etc.) retired to Holland, where he died
 * Rob Malda, founder of Slashdot
 * Lisa McMann, young adult fiction writer
 * James Michael, lead singer (Sixx:AM) and producer; co-wrote Rest In Pieces by Saliva
 * David Myers, psychologist, author
 * Milton J. Nieuwsma, author, Emmy-winning filmwriter-producer
 * Erik Prince, founded Blackwater USA
 * Ron Schipper (d. 2006), college football coach; member of College Football Hall of Fame
 * Herman Stegeman (d. 1939), varsity coach and athletics director at the University of Georgia at Athens (UGA)
 * Sufjan Stevens, singer-songwriter; attended Hope College, details the city in the song "Holland" on his 2003 concept album, Michigan
 * Charles Symmonds, U.S. Army general
 * Matt Urban (d. 1995), U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, WWII - received 29 combat decorations and the Medal of Honor
 * Mary Jeanne van Appledorn, composer, pianist, and educator
 * Andy Van Hekken, professional baseball player
 * Brian Vander Ark, lead singer (The Verve Pipe)

Feature films filmed in Holland area

 * 2011: Touchback Coopersville area, Holland area [Holland location disputed - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1628055/locations]
 * 2010: What's Wrong With Virginia Holland/Zeeland
 * 2009: Tug Holland area''
 * 2006: Come On Over, Children's TV Series
 * 2002: Road to Perdition Holland Township just north of Holland near West Olive