Holland, MI Summer Camps

About Holland, MI

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 . The city spans the Ottawa / Allegan county line, with 9.08 square miles in Ottawa and the remaining 8.13 square miles 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 of Holland, MI

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 and their resulting failure to thrive under the economic and agricultural conditions of the time in their homeland . Van Raalte took the land due to its proximity to the Black River where it streamed to Black Lake 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, MI City Statistics: