Discovering Entrepreneurial Leaders From Our Past
Holland 1870; original photo courtesy of the Holland Museum
Presentations on West Michigan’s Entrepreneurial Leaders
“Holland’s Entrepreneurial Heroes, 1840-1870,” presented at the Herrick Library, April 13, 2022
“Holland’s Entrepreneurial Heroes, 1870-1900,” presented at the Herrick Library, Dec 14, 2022
“Holland’s Entrepreneurial Heroes, 1900-1930,” presented at the Herrick Library, Feb 15, 2023
“Zeeland’s Earliest Entrepreneurial Heroes,” presented at the Howard Miller Library for the Zeeland Historical Society, March 15, 2023
“Isaac Cappon: Holland’s First Major Industrialist,“ presented at the Holland Museum, December 7, 2023
“Holland’s First Entrepreneurs,” presented at Holland Historical Society (Pillar Church), June 8, 2024
“Unrecognized Trailblazers: A Sample of Holland’s Female Entrepreneurs from the Anishinaabek to the Present,” presented at the Holland Museum, March 20, 2025
“The Entrepreneurs Behind the Warm Friend Story,” presented at the Resthaven Warm Friend, April 24, 2025
Articles on West Michigan’s 19th Century Entrepreneurial Leaders
Context:
Why Van Raalte, van de Luyster, and the Dutch Left the Netherlands
Why the Dutch were Predisposed toward America
The People Who Arrived in West Michigan Before the Dutch
Why Land in America was Affordable, Part 1
Why Land in America was Affordable, Part 2
First-Person Accounts of the Dutch In West Michigan
Overview of Holland’s Early Entrepreneurial Activity
Overview of Groningen’s Early Entrepreneurial Activity
Overview of Zeeland’s Early Entrepreneurial Activity
Holland’s Early Entrepreneurial Leaders:
The Fairbanks (Agricultural Training, Building [Old Wing Mission])
The Harringtons (Transporting, Land Development, and Coal Distributing [Harrington Coal])
The Keppels (Coal Distributing and Hardware Retailing [Keppel and Sons Hardware])
The Van Raaltes (Ministry, Banking, Investing, and Startups)
Henry Woodruff (Builder [Van Raalte home])
The Van Der Haars (Farming and Gold Mining)
The Binnekants (Boarding, Baking, Building, Printing)
The Slags and Schadderlees (Shipbuilding, Shipping, and Retailing)
The Roosts (Wagon Making, Milling, Stone Quarrying [Waverly Stone], Harbor Making, and Legislating)
Jan Vissers (Baker, Saloon Keeper)
The Pluggers (Milling [Plugger’s Mill], Shipping, and Retailing)
The Pfanstiehls (Shoe Making and Retailing, Tanning, and Hoteling)
The Van Der Veens (Tinsmithing, Hardware Retailing [Van Der Veen Hardware], Manufacturing)
The Cappons (Tanning [Cappon and Bertsch Leather Company] and Mayoring)
The Walshes (Drug Store Ownership [Walsh’s Drug Store] and Real Estate Investing)
The Howards (Lawyering and Insuring)
The Coatsworths (Fruit Growing)
The Bloms (Confectioning and Saloon Keeping [Blom’s Saloon])
The Souters (Agricultural Innovating)
The Berend Scholtens (Farming and Dairying, in Graafschap [Rivulet Hurst Diary])
The Abel Brinks (Banking, in Graafschap)
The Kanters (Ship and Pier Building and Mayoring)
The Visschers (Lawyering, Insuring, and Adminstrating)
The Boones (Dealing Horses [Boone’s Livery] and Hoteling [City Hotel])
The Kleyns (Designing High-end Homes)
The Pessinks (Confectioning and Baking)
The Beaches (Milling [Beach Milling Company], Recruiting, and Mayoring)
The Diekemas (Lawyering [Diekema, Kollen, and Ten Cate] and Governing)
The George Kollens (Lawyering [Diekema, Kollen, and Ten Cate] and Culture Making)
The Hummers (Manufacturing [West Michigan Furniture])
The McBrides (Lawyering and Mayoring)
The Beckers (Milling and Manufacturing [Home Furnace Company])
The Kings (Packaging [C.L. King Basket Company])
The Ver Schures (Investing and Administrating)
The Marsiljes (Insuring and Investing)
Benjamin Scott, Luke Lugers, and Gerrit Schuurman (Lumbering [Scott-Lugers Lumber Company])
The Bastian Steketees (General Store Retailing [Steketee’s])
The Alfred Huntleys (Engineering and Electrifying [Western Electric Light Company])
The James Brouwers (Home Furnishing Retailing [Jas. A. Brouwer])
The Meyers (Music Retailing [Meyer Music House])
The Seifs (Brewing [Holland City Brewing])
The Van Putten Sisters (Grocery Retailing)
Groningen’s Early Entrepreneurial Leaders:
The Rabbers (Milling, Entrepreneuring)
The Kolvoords (Milling, Manufacturing)
The Andries Steketees (Shipping)
The Hendrikus Scholtons (Tavern Keeping; Intermediary)
The Gerrit Boones (Farming and Milling)
The DeRoos (Milling [Walsh-DeRoo Milling], Transporting)
The Veneklasens (Brickmaking [Veneklasen Brick, Zeeland Brick Company])
Zeeland’s Early Entrepreneurial Leaders:
The van de Luysters (Farming, Leading, and Lending)
The Kremers (Farming, Doctoring, Retailing, Investing, Mayoring)
The Steketees (Retailing [Steketee’s])
The DeSpelders (Manufacturing)
The Den Herders (Banking [Zeeland State Bank] and Investing)
The LaHuises (Farming and Retailing [LaHuis Department Store])
The DeKruifs (Farming, Drug Store Ownership [DeKruif’s Drug Store], Farm Implement Retailer)
The Huibert Keppels (Milling [Unity Mills])
The Van Koeverings (Building, Printing, Photographing, and News Dessiminating [The Zeeland Record])
The Klandersmans (General Store Retailing in Borculo)
The Van Loos (Manufacturing [Zeeland Furniture Company] and Governing)
The Wichers (Lumbering [Wichers Lumber] and Banking [State Commercial and Saving Bank])
The Frank Boonstras (Apparel Retailing [F. Boonstra] )
The William DePrees (Hardware Retaling [DePree Hardware])
The Foxes (Hat Making and Gun Selling)
The Sikke Brouwers (Saloon Keeping and Cheese Making [Phenix Cheese Company])
The Van Brees (Drug Store Ownership [Van Bree’s Drugs])
The Van Hovens (Printing [Zeeland Print Shop])
The Dekkers and the Van Kampens (Jewelers [Dekker’s Jewelry]
More stories below…
Articles on West Michigan’s 20th Century Entrepreneurial Leaders
The Kollas, Landwehrs, and Cheffs (Manufacturing [The Holland Furnace Company])
The Entrepreneurs Behind the Warm Friend Tavern
Churchford, the Houstons, and Bartlett (Serving [Holland Rescue Mission, Gateway Mission])
Unrecognized Trailblazers: A History of Some of Holland’s Female Entrepreneurs
The Berghorsts (Wholesale and Retail Plumbing [BJW Berghorst])
The Slighs (Furniture Making [Sligh Furniture])
The Donnellys (Glass Manufacturing [Donnelly Mirror])
The Padnoses (Recycling [Louis Padnos Iron and Metal])
The Vogelzangs (Hardware Retailing [Vogelzang Hardware])
The Meijer’s (Mass Merchandising [Meijer’s])
The Boses (Vending Entrepreneurs [A.D. Bos Vending])
The Jack DeWitts (Feeder System Manufacturing [Big Dutchman])
The Mulders (Door Light Manufacturing [ODL])
The DePrees (Office Furniture Manufacturing and Management Entrepreneurs [Herman Miller])
The Marvin DeWitts (Turkey Processing [Bil-Mar Turkey Farms])
The Van Wierens (Ice and Hardware Retailing [Van Wieren Hardware])
The Bouws (Restauranting [Russ’])
The Story of Borr’s Shoes (Shoe Making and Selling [Holland Shoe Company] [Borr’s Bootery])
The Lokers (Shoe Retailing [Lokers])
The Brooks (Soft Drink Making [Brooks Beverage])
The Grases (Battery and Electric Motor Repairing [John’s Battery and Electric])
The Repcolite Story (Paint Making and Retaling [Repcolite Paints])
The Haworths (Office Furniture Manufacturing [Haworth])
The Slikkers (Boat Building [Slickcraft, S2 Yachts, Tiarra Yachts])
The Houtings (Dry Cleanering [Maplewood Dry Cleaners])
Ed Prince (Automotive Supply Manufacturing [Prince Corporation])
The Zwieps (Flower Growing [Zwiep’s Greenhouse])
Virgil Gulker (Serial Social Entrepreneur)
Lupita Reyes (Serial Social Entrepreneur)
The Thompsons (Deep Draw Metal Stampers [Trans-Matic])
The Heeringas (Office Furniture Manufacturing [Trendway])
Published in the Holland Sentinel :
Con DePree and John Van Zoeren
James DeYoung and Christian Becker
The Arendhorsts and Hekmans (Rusk Industry in Holland)
Progress vs Preservation: LG and The Old Wing Mission
Neighborhood Grocery Stores, Part 1
Neighborhood Grocery Stores, Part 2
Neighborhood Grocery Stores, Part 3
Neighborhood Grocery Stores, Part 4: James Voss
Neighborhood Grocery Stores, Part 5: Diepenhorst and Knoll
The Vannettes (Arthur and Gerry, Jack and Marjorie)
More stories below…
Articles on West Michigan’s 21st Century Entrepreneurial Leaders
Barb Aalderink (Marketing, Videographic Storytelling [Fusion Graphic Consultants])
Luciano Hernandez (Product Designing [Tiger Studio])
Tom Van Dokkumburg (Vending [Dokk’s Firehouse Dogs])
Willie Watt (Serving [Escape Ministries] [Lifeline Ministries])
Barbara Lee Van Horssen (Serving [Momentum Center])
Jenny VanVeen (Apparel Retailing [Frances Jaye])
Kav Luong (Donut Maker [Good Time Donuts])
Matthew Scott (Coffee Shop Entreneuring [Lemonjello’s])
A.J. Westenbroek (Serving [Escape Ministries])