The village of Holland is situated on the south half of 27-7-11, at the junction of highways 2 and 34. According to the Land Titles office, patent was issued for the southeast quarter to John Kirkpatrick on October 9. 1883. The southwest quarter of land was homesteaded by John Barr.
Until 1916 the village was only a surveyed town site but became an Unincorporated village in March of that year.
In 1884 the railroad had reached a point about 1 mile east of the present site and a village began there, but the location was too swampy. When the C. P. R. station was built , the village naturally became permanently established in the new location. At first in 1885 a village of tents sprang up, but these were soon replaced by more substantial homes and business places.
The village was named after the first Postmaster, Mr. A. C. Holland, who moved his post office to the village from its original location in his home west of Holland.
An editorial in an 1895 issue of the Holland Observer states, "Holland is constantly lauded as being the garden of Manitoba. There is great diversity of scenery here - hill and dale, woodland and prairie, present contrasts that are exceedingly pleasant to the eye. One sees streets nicely graded, the number of fine residences, the substantial business stands, the profusion of flowers and the neat lawns, all attract the attention of the outsider and are things the citizens ought to be proud of. Everyone takes interest in gunning, in curling, in lacrosse and other sports and the conducting of the town affairs by a town committee chosen by the people shows that this remarkable unity enters into business affairs as well."
Other villages which had begun before the coming of the railway, and which were by-passed by it, became gradually smaller as the business places moved. Norquay, located 10 miles southeast was one of these. It was a settlement boasting a blacksmith's shop and general store, a steam saw, a grist mill, a boarding or stopping house and 3 or 4 residences. The coming of the railway and the building up of the town of Holland ended Norquay. Business declined, the residents moved out and some of the buildings were moved. The mill, its main building was dismantled and in a few years scarcely a trace of a town could be found. Another early village was Littleton, located to the west, between Holland and Cypress River. As early as 1886 the settlement contained a Presbyterian church, a Methodist church, a sawmill, a shingle mill, a school, a blacksmith shop, general store, post office, bakery, hotel and livery stable. There was a doctor, Dr. Gunn and a carpenter also resided in Littleton. Camille, too, was a district that was begun by the pioneers and in early days had a post office and general store; these both disappearing with the advent of Holland. The Camille school existed till 1966 and the church was closed in 1963.
It has been difficult to trace the background of the naming of the Holland Streets. Kirk Street and Patrick Avenue perpetuate the name of one of the original homesteaders of the land and the other original owner is remembered by Barr Avenue. Pentland Avenue was named for Mr. T. H. Pentland, the first storekeeper, while Stewart Avenue was named for Mr. R. J. Stewart, the first reeve of the R. M. of Victoria. Mr. James Holland suggested Mayfair Avenue, after the famous Mayfair Avenue in London,England.
In 1925 a letter to the editor of the Holland Observer was written by Thomas Sanderson, who had been the first homesteader coming here in 1877. It reads, in part, "On my recent visit to Holland in September, I stood on the hill just east of the village and took a survey of the district west, north and east and to my eyes it was a grand sight. The leaves on the numerous bluffs and windbreaks on the farms had changed from green to gold. This scene is one I cannot forget while my memory lasts. Perhaps it appealed to me more strongly that the average person as I realized that I had played a small part in its production as I produced thousands of the trees now standing on the farms, also a large number of those in the village itself. Turning away and looking to the south, east and west, a somewhat different scene appeared in view. Those high elevations known as the Tiger Hills with their crowns of autumn gold, and the rich agricultural lands in the valleys between, all add to the beauty and wealth of this great district with the village of Holland in the center, situated as it is on high sloping ground, visible from all points of the compass. Surely this is a splendid location for a town."
Transportation has always greatly influenced the lives of people and in the early days, as horses were the means of transportation, many village folk had a barn at the rear of their property to stable their horses, or they kept their driving team and rig at the livery stable. Those with lovely horses enjoyed driving around the village and surrounding area for an outing. Early Holland Observer accounts often commented on the beautiful drivers owned by Holland residents and the frequent upsets of sleighs and runaway horses were mentioned in nearly all early issues of the paper.
In 1896 bicycle fever reached the town. One of the first to own a bicycle was F. Dagg who was the happy and proud possessor of an English bicycle and was endeavouring to make everyone, including himself, believe it to be the best in town. In 1896 mention was made in the Observer of H. Mayers returning from a 200 mile bicycle ride to visit his brother who lived north of Gladstone. That same year the following was noted: " Our enterprising lumber merchant, F. H. Dagg, having very carefully borrowed a new wheel, to save his old one, met with a serious accident coming in from Camille. Mr. Hingston deplores the loss of a handle bar. However the bold rider, not to be left in the lurch, cut an oak log, borrowed a bundle of binder twine and fixed the handle for himself. He got home, but the sight was deplorable."
Later a new mode of transportation, the automobile was introduced and following the first unpredictable autos, it gradually came to the point where horse stables have disappeared to be replaced by the garage for the family car.
The C. P. R. passenger train was the means of travelling east and west for some time, but for many years this service has not been available.
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