Historical and Business Compedium of Ottawa Country, Michigan

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1892 Excerpt: ... The only living Loyal Templars Legion now in the county is at Lisbon, under the indefatigable leadership of Mrs. M. A. Frarey, by whom it was organized, March 12, 1890, with thirteen members, and has since increased to twenty-eight. They hold their meetings regularly, winter and summer, and draw full houses to their frequent concerts. Ottawra white ribboners are increasing and lifting their banners higher for God and Home and Native Land. THE BURNING OF HOLLAND, OCTOBER Q, 1871. BY GERRIT VAN SCHELVEN. A day of devastation and of woe, ever memorable in the annals of Holland, and never to be forgotten by those who passed through its fiery ordeal. And while the rebuilt city of to-day has nearly obliterated every reminiscence of that fearful catastrophe twenty years ago, and energy and thrift have doubly replaced what was then swept away, yet, our present growth and prosperity cannot be more appreciatively enjoyed than by those who, at the dawn of that fatal day, cast their mournful eye over that desolated plain. The southern tiers of townships in Ottawa county constituting, with a part of Allegan county, the Holland colony, with the city of Holland as its commercial, social and educational center, were on the eve of celebrating the first quartercentennial of their settlement. During that period of nearly twenty-five years they had enjoyed comparatively, a continuous prosperity, marked not so much by the accumulation of capital and wealth as by a steady, healthy growth of both the agricultural districts and of Holland City as their natural market. A variety of resources, a diversity of soil, and a growing manufacturing interest with shipping facilities by both water and rail, had combined in making Holland a prosperous and flourishing little city of about 2,40...