photograph
Catalog Number
T88-0110a.5Description
Photograph, aerial view of Heinz Holland plant in 1969.History
Vernon Leonard was the Editor of the Holland Herald, a newsmagazine of the Netherlands. The February Issue of 1972 featured Holland, Michigan.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).