photograph
Catalog Number
2020.2.4Description
Photograph, black and white, Holland Heinz employees standing on stage at an awards ceremony, 1971.(see attached photo with red numbers) Back row, number 13 is Carl Landis, number 17 is Wilbur Kleis and number 18 is Ed Schierbeek. Middle row, number 26 is Milton Essink. Front row, number 23 is Myrna Voy, number 27 is Walter Van Ry and number 30 is Jimmy Grooms.
History
In 1896 an agent from the H. J. Heinz Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania traveled to west Michigan looking for a place to build a processing factory. Eventually Holland, MI was chosen due to the soil, harbor access and the lobbying of local businessmen (including William Beach, Gerrit J. Diekema, Arend Visscher and Oscar E. Yates).By 1898 a three-story factory went up on west 16th Street on Black Lake (Lake Macatawa) known as branch No. 7 (1903, 1914 city directories). John J. Baxa (1874-1967) was Holland's manager in 1906 through 1914, followed by James A. Hoover (1872-1957) from approximately 1921 to 1940 and Charles B. McCormick (1897-1977) from approximately 1945 to 1961 (Holland city directories).