Most of Holland Township was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1929 on, and the census since 1870.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
New Groningen
1872–1901
Noordeloos
1880–1904
East Holland
1886–1902
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BeechwoodLakeview Mobile ParkLeisure Estates Mobile Home ParkNew HollandNoordeloosOaklawn BeechwoodPine CreekWaverlyWaverly Shores Village Mobile Home ParkWindmill Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
East Holland Post Officepost officeNew Groningen Post Officepost officeNoordeloos Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Holland Township
New GroningenNoordeloosNorth Holland
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Holland Township, 1847 to 1930
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Ottawa County was originally populated by Ottawa Indians. In 1846, Reverend George Smith established the Old Wing Mission as an outreach to the native population. The Ottawa living here were primarily practicing Catholics, but Smith tried converting them to Protestantism. While generally unsuccessful in converting the Native population, the two groups worked together relatively closely for a short time. This attempt to work and live together was not valued by the next group who arrived.
Holland was settled in 1847 by Dutch Calvinist separatists, under the leadership of Dr. Albertus van Raalte. Dire economic conditions in the Netherlands compelled them to emigrate.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Holland Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1929Holland sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Holland Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewAll wooden shoes, Holland's wooden shoe factory, Dutch Novelty Shop, Box 210, Holland, Michigan (90009), c. 1930
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Holland Township’s page.
In 1847, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Holland Township’s post office opened in 1872, and the census of 1870 counted 2,319 people here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikidata (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
c. 1930
c. 1930
c. 1930
c. 1930
c. 1930
c. 1930
