Book
Catalog Number
2019.1.1306Title
Heinz Holland: A Century of HistoryDescription
A draft of the book, Heinz Holland: A Century of History, written by Randall Vande Water with a forward by Jerry Shoup. The Heinz Company began in Holland in 1897 and celebrated their centennial in 1997. Jerry Shoup had been the plant manager since 1984.History
Randall P. "Randy" Vande Water was a local historian and newspaper editor. He spent 4 decades at the Holland Sentinel working as sports editor, city editor, editorial page editor, and managing editor.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).