Tulip City Dispatch

Being a conservative conclave, Holland, Michigan, has rarely been known as a party town. Social drinking was frowned upon by the Christian Reformed populace, and while there's always been demande for beer, most of it was consumed in private as opposed to in public taprooms, pubs, and saloons. In this entry, we'll begin taking a look at Holland's history of beer, starting in the 1860's, and culminating in the modern day. Before Prohibition, Holland only operated 2 breweries: Aling's Brewing Company, and the Holland City Brewery. Neither operated concurrently, due to another interesting bit of history in the Holland Fire of 1871 (but that's another entry). In 1863, John Aling opened the first brewery in Holland. According to Dr. Robert Swierenga's book, Aling's brewery was destroyed in 1871, during the Holland Fire of 1871. This was the first brewery noted in public records, and was located on the west side of River Street, at the site which would later be...

A dual project done in collaboration with  https://shopmonkey.wordpress.com/ Now, skateboarding is mostly a West Coast thing that spilled across the country, and took root in major metropolitan centers across the country.  I'm a history nerd, obviously, with huge amounts of skate nerd thrown in.  I'm the kind of guy who would ride my boards around college parking lots with pockets full of bushings and various other pieces of hardware, just to feel the tangible differences between each one.  It goes without saying that the nerdery runs deep. This post is not intended to be a full article, but more of a gauge of interest, and a collection of thoughts - there are a lot of small things to cover, and I'd love to exercise the connections I've made over the years to find out more. First up, the Astro Speedway.  I graduated from Jenison High School in Jenison, Michigan.  There was always an urban legend of a skating rink hidden under the floors of Field's ...

100 years ago today, our feature here on Tulip City Dispatch when I've run out of ideas or short on research topics, where I do a deep dive into the Holland City News archive because the dates from 1920 match up to 2020, and it's incredibly cool to have a little look into the exact date that a newspaper was published, but precisely 100 years ago. There's a story on Page 1 about the West Michigan Pike - what grew to be known as US-31.  This little article has a bit of personal importance to me because my grandfather would tell stories about riding with his father from Manistee down US-31 into Holland, and on through all the way to Chicago.  The story talks about how the City Aldermen are promising to not let the West Michigan Pike cross or intersect First Avenue.  I cannot for the life of me find out where this might be - there are two First Avenues currently in the Holland City Limits; one on the north side in the 49424 ZIP code, slightly west of where Wal-Mart and Sam'...

‘The klansman has taken your flag, your Bible and your Constitution and subverted them to the task of maintaining white supremacy and wage slavery. And the most effective ways of drying up this well-spring of hatred is the publicity and ridicule poured on the klan by newspapers and pulpits," - Kenneth Allen, 1949  In a 1949 Holland City News article, entitled  Klan Subverts U.S. Tradition, the quote above showcases the inequity sought by white supremacists and white nationalists.  I stumbled upon that article while, once again, perusing the Holland City News archive hosted by Hope College Digital Commons.  I wasn't sure what I'd find, but I'm glad I found what I did. Between August 1923 and January 1924, there was Klan activity ranging from Holland all the way north to Muskegon: The August 30, 1923 issue tells of "further proof" of Klan activity in Holland, phrased in such a way as to indicate that there were incidents prior to this.  There was a cross burnin...