Tulip City Dispatch

It's been 3 weeks, loyal readers!  It's been a crazy 3 weeks.  I'll spare you the boring details, except to say that I'm officially on a totally new schedule and cannot devote my Mondays and Tuesdays to researching this blog anymore.  I really want to do my best to keep this up and active, as I'm immensely enjoying digging into Holland's seedy underbelly (but no, not really).  I don't feel right writing about racial injustices in Holland or Ottawa County, so I've been avoiding those topics (though I really, really want to see what I can turn up).  I'll get to those when I can fully research them, and when I feel comfortable with the amount of information that I will have absorbed. For now, I want to share some 1973 quadrant maps that I found online, ages ago, from the State of Michigan: The westermost shows Park, Port Sheldon, and Laketown Townships' the Holland State Park area along the lakeshore; the Waukazoo area; and most of Lake Macatawa.  C...

It's not my aim with this blog to make any political statements.  It's my aim to showcase unique bits of history around Holland and West Michigan.  Fact is, we're living through tremendously historical times.  While I'm feeling conflicted over covering current events and news, I also feel like it's important to address events that have happened over the past week: -On May 25, George Floyd was detained by Minneapolis, MN police and was held down with an officer kneeling on his neck until he died.  The officer and his 3 colleagues have been fired, and at least the offending officer has been charged.  This has led to protests and riots across the country, including right here in Grand Rapids, MI.  Most of the people arrested in Grand Rapids were non-residents, which lends credence to the rumor/theories that these protests across the nation were infiltrated by alt-right agent provocateurs with the explicit purpose of stirring up shit.  Journalistic note:...