Grand Rapids is famed in the U. S. for its cheap, machine-made furniture. Less well-known is the fact that Grand Rapids contains more Dutch-blooded Americans than any other U. S. city. In 1846, when Dr. Albertus Christiaan van Raalte, reformer of the Dutch Reformed Church, was looking for a likely settling place, he picked the flat country near the east shore of Lake Michigan, founded the town of Holland. When hard times later hit Pastor van Raalte's flock, it moved inland to neighboring Grand Rapids, where its members' woodcarving talents found jobs in...
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