Find

Photograph

Catalog Number
2019.1.1213
Description
Black and white photograph that appears to show the Hotel Macatawa. There is 2 cars and one truck parked out front. According to Randall Vande Water's  book "Images of America, Holland The Tulip Town" the Macatawa Hotel was open from 1895 to 1955. It was located on the west end of Lake Macatawa. The hotel was town down in 1956 because of the high operational costs and the necessary structural alterations, the hotel had served 13,000 guest is 115 rooms the previous year. Included in the hotel complex were stores, a post office, a pavilion, and an inclined cog railway that carried spectators to the top of a sand dune overlooking Lake Michigan. Cottages were located around the hotel.
History
The Hotel Macatawa, built on Lake Macatawa (in Macatawa, MI) opened in 1895. Prior to its completion in 1895 there was a smaller hotel nearby that went by the name Macatawa Hotel. This smaller hotel burned ca. 1893.

The Hotel Macatawa changed management in 1945 when Simon Den Uyl purchased the resort property. Den Uyl then had the hotel redecorated.
A May 19, 1948 advertisement from the Holland Sentinel describes the Hotel Macatawa as "a modern hotel service, in a high class community". The ad goes on to say "Hotel Macatawa-is staffed for courteous service to a refined clientele-those who enjoy gracious living.". In 1946, there was room in the hotel for 250 guests.


Joe Bachunas owned the hotel after Simon. The final owner was Dick Den Uyl. It was Dick that made the decision to raze the Hotel Macatawa in 1956. He would later build the Point West Inn on the same location.


Randall P. "Randy" Vande Water was born in Zeeland, MI on 3-5-1930 to Bill and Kathryn (Kitty Van Ry) Vande Water. The Vande Waters moved to Holland in 1937. He graduated from Holland High School in 1948 and Hope College in 1952.

He edited the Fort Bliss, TX News from 1952-1954 during the Korean conflict and announced the Fourth Army Boxing Tournament on the Armed Forces Radio Network. In 1948 he started announcing The Holland Evening Sentinel local news on WHTC, continuing through his college years.

He spent 4 decades at the Holland Sentinel working as sports editor, city editor, editorial page editor, and managing editor. Randy also authored or co-authored several books on Holland area history.

During those years Vande Water gave numerous illustrated lectures to civic, church and college groups on various subjects relating to the area’s history. He authored a four-volume series of Holland Happenings, Heroes and Hot Shots, Millennium Memories, Holland the Tulip Town, Zeeland, A Walk Through Time, 100 Years of Hope College Basketball, A Century of Heinz Holland, Holland Furnace Co. and the Holland American Band.

Randall (Randy) P. Vande Water, age 88, of Holland, passed away Friday, June 22, 2018.