Holland

Holland owes much to its founder, Henry Kunz. A German native, Kunz settled in the Holland area when it was a primeval forest. He realized the potential of a general store near the intersection of the area’s two German communities. (The area had mainly been settled by one group of Germans from Ladbergen and another group from Osnabrück.) Kunz’s store became the social and economic center of the growing community, and he realized an official town would enhance his business. On May 20, 1859, Holland was platted. Kunz's store was the anchor of the town for decades and grew to include general merchandise, hardware, a post office, and a photography studio. Kunz died in 1885 and is buried with his wife, Maria, in the Holland Methodist Cemetery. According to the History of Dubois County from Its Primitive Days to 1910, many of the area’s early settlers referred to Holland as “Kunztown.”

How did a town founded by a German settler and located in Dubios County, known for its German heritage, get the name “Holland?” The Holland Community Festival’s website explains:

Farming was the occupation of a large majority of the Germans coming to southwest Dubois County. They left their Fatherland in search of homesteading a farm in the fertile soil of the American West. A challenge for many of these would-be German Americans was raising funds to make the journey to the United States. While jobs were difficult to find in their homeland, Holland, the Netherlands welcomed the farm laborers to work in the bogs and grasslands of the Low Country. Between planting and harvesting many men made their way to Holland in an annual event known as “Holland Gegangen” or Holland Going. The work was strenuous, but the financial reward made it worthwhile. With the economic gain many young men and families could book one way passage to the United States.

As southwest Dubois County became more populated, the need for workers to clear forests and build farms became lucrative to young men arriving from Germany. In neighboring Huntingburg, just like many of them did in Germany, workers found themselves leaving the largest community in the area to find employment in labor intensive fields in the countryside. Understandably, laborers dubbed the area in which they worked Holland. When men returned to Huntingburg and were asked where they were employed many responded with comments such as “We’re downing trees in Holland” (A reference to their years of difficult toil back in Europe). By the mid-1840s German Methodist circuit riders in their official journals referred to the area southwest of Huntingburg as Holland.

Today, Holland has a population of 626. State Road 161 runs along the eastern border of the town. On the north side of town is Lakeside Park. The park includes trails along Holland Lake, sport facilities, playgrounds, a shelter house, and a WINDMILL!

The Windmill Chill is located next to the park and just off SR 161. I highly recommend stopping in Holland and ordering a treat!

References:

• Wilson, G. R. (1910). History of Dubois County from its primitive days to 1910.

• Holland Community Festival. (n.d.). Holland: A German heritage and an American venture. Retrieved from http://www.hollandindiana.org/history/