Pope Leo's Connection To West Michigan

Robert Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, has some interesting connections to West Michigan, and specifically, some content that this very blog has covered! According to Wood TV 8, Pope Leo attended the St. Augustine Seminary in Laketown Township, between Holland and Saugatuck. Where have we heard that name before? Oh yeah, it's Felt Mansion! After inventor Dorr E. Felt passed away, the property was sold to the Archdiocese Of Chicago, where it was converted to a boarding school in 1962, before closing down in 1977 and being sold to the State Of Michigan to become a minimum-security prison complex.

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The Cedar Swamp Village

Holland has only been a settled city for a little over 170 years. But, it's got a dense, unique history. I took an interest in local history during my college years at Northern Michigan University, and was able to take that interest back home after graduation. Recently, I began researching for this blog, and hanging out at the library, poring through the Local History section. I found an old, forboding looking book, entitled Memorials Of The Grand River Valley, flipped open to a seemingly random page, and read the passage "The Indian village, near the southeastern limits of the city,w as also a prominent landing-place. The log-houses, built by the Indians, were of great service to the newly arrived immigrants; and, as it appears, there never has been any trouble between the Red man and the Dutchman." This piqued my interest, as I live near the southeastern limits of Holland. Was there an Indian village in my own neighborhood that history forgot? Memorials ad...

Merry Christmas from Tulip City!

I don't have a full article this week, but here's a little bit of trivia for you: While Holland is a predominantly Christian Reformed city, it was the early Methodists that sprung the Christmas spirit. While an 1867 Sunday School Christmas Program drew nearly 150 youngsters to Hope Church, it was several generations before the Reformed church allowed even Christmas trees into their sanctuaries, as Christmas trees were seen as Pagan symbols. Early Methodists adopted the 19th Century American spirit, and welcomed things like Christmas trees and even Santa Claus into their sanctuaries. I tried to determine exactly how long "several generations" were using Dr. Swierenga's book (and the sources he cites), but could not ascertain the exact time. It's almost certainly somewhere in the vicinity of 50 years (before the Christian Reformed Churches allowed 'pagan' Christmas symbols), which would put their allowing of such things into the early 20th century, but ...

The Myth Of "Free Beer"

Free beer, free beer, that's my favorite brand, sing Da yoopers, if I didn't have to buy it, it's the best beer in the land. So, too, says Your Favorite Uncle At Thanksgiving. Warm, flat, funky, it don't matter to me, the greatest beer in this whole world is the one you buy for me. But then, the side comments set in: "Sam Adams? That tastes like shit." "Founders? Yeah, I worked there when they were brewing. The hops smelled like sewage - they smelled like sewage! I called my guys off because I thought we broke a sewer line!" "Want a Bud? No? You brought your own? You're a beer snob now." "I don't drink that yuppy beer." "I like Busch because Busch Light is too redneck for me" I'd like to posit the idea that Baby Boomers don't really even like beer. By 1910, before Prohibition, there were 1,498 breweries in the United States. By 1979, that number dwindled to fewer than 50. While the quantity...

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