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outstanding and nothing to
show for them. Meeting after meeting was held by the Board but all to no
avail; they would not approve the bonds. So the word was sent to the
settlers in the east and northeast of the county that something had to
be done to bring them to time. The Board having adjourned to meet again
January 22, 1872, some twenty odd teams gathered early on that day at
Orange City and decided to go to Calliope and attend the meeting of the
Honorable Board and beg of them the acceptance of the bonds and place
our people in office whom we had legally elected to the same. As the
train of teams came in sight of the courthouse in Calliope where the
Board was in session, the chairman seeing the string of teams heading
for their place, at one adjourned the meeting and prepared to take
flight for the Dakotas, but he had no sooner hitched his horses when
they were again unhitched by the settlers and placed back in the barn an
he was left in his sled and told that he had no business in the Dakotas
but that he was to attend the meeting, approve the bonds, and place our
men in office, but he still refused. The late Judge Pendleton of Sioux
City was there by request of the people to plead their cause which he
kept up all day, aided by Henry Hospers, while the visitors kept
themselves busy by taking care of their teams and frying bacon and ham
of which there was a good quantity found in a barrel in the courthouse,
evidently belonging to the county, at least no evidence to the contrary
as it was taken by the visitors. We have heard it said that it was the
best ham that was ever had and especially since the weather was very
cold, being several degrees below zero.
The Board refusing to do anything in regard to
the bonds, the Judge threw up his hands and said "Boys, it is all
up," whereupon the visitors at one hitched their teams and took
action by loading all the books of the different officers on sleds and
preparing to start for home. But there was a large safe in the
Treasurer's office which had been overlooked for a while and the
question was raised what should be one with this. "Go it
must," was the reply. But having no tools or tackle, how to get it
out of the building and on to a sled was a question which was soon
answered. A sled was backed up against a corner of the building where
the safe stood, the wall of the building was cut away with an ax. And in
less time than it takes to write this, the safe was put on the sled, the
horses hitched, and off we started for Orange City, with the wind and
snow blowing at the rate of sixty miles an hour. They arrived at Orange
City at about midnight with all their belongings with the exception of
the safe which got stalled on the west branch of the Floyd where it was
left until the following morning and brought to Orange City by Hymen Den
Hartog when great was the rejoicing and a thousand guns were fired in
honor of the occasion. This only lasted for a few days when the sheriff,
Thomas Dunham, came with the necessary documents and several yoke of
cattle and took it all back to Calliope again, the Board having agreed
to approve the bonds and settle the matter.
During the summer a petition was circulated for
the removal of the county seat in a legal manner to Orange City, which
was signed by every inhabitant except those on the west side and the
question was brought before the people at the election and carried, so
the county seat was legally moved to Orange City where it has remained
ever since although it has been contested time and again by other towns
asking for the removal to their place. Also the question of issuing
bonds for a new building having been defeated several times until the
question was raised again and the people were asked to vote bonds for
Sixty Thousand Dollars, Orange City putting up a bonus of Fifteen
Thousand Dollars. The bonds carried and the building was erected at a
cost of One Hundred Thousand Dollars.
CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH, ORANGE
CITY.
The next incident that befell the pioneers was
the grass-hopper siege, which is probably still remembered by a good
many of the old settlers. It was on a Sunday forenoon, we being in the
old schoolhouse where services were being held, it looked as though snow
was falling outside, but when we came out we found it to be nothing but
grass-hoppers. They came so thick and heavy that by Monday morning all
our cops were stripped and gone. They remained with us for only a few
days and moved on northward, coming back in the fall of the year,
depositing their eggs and going on south. The following spring when warm
weather set in, the grass-hoppers were hatched by the millions and
destroyed the crops. The same thing was repeated for two years. The
people did all they could to destroy the hoppers by building large pans
or scrapers of sheet iron, sixteen feet long, three feet wide, and a
back of two feet high, placing some tar and coal oil in the same and
hitching a span of horses to each end would scrape the fields and catch
bushels of grass-hoppers but it did not seem to have any effect on the
amount and on their appetite for destroying crops. We have heard it said
that they were so thick and hungry that they ate a pitchfork handle in
one night although I have not seen it. It is true that a person could
stand and count the hoppers on one side of a corn stalk and could count
three hundred and eight-seven on one stalk. The result of the
grass-hoppers was that a good many of our settlers left us, some of them
selling their lands, others leaving it unsold. In one instance a man got
so disgusted that he sold his eight acres for Two Hundred Twenty-five
Dollars, throwing in a span of mules, wagon, and cow, worth at least Two
Hundred Dollars. But those who withstood the siege and remained on their
farms have never since regretted it as we have raised crops enough to
keep us and to spare, ever since.
People often talk about blizzards. No one who
has not actually seen and been in knows what they are. The sky would be
as clear as could be and you could see a cloud coming from the west and
northwest, and in less than an hour a blinding snow storm would be on
you so that you cold not see six feet ahead of you. It happened at one
time that five teams were on their way fro Le Mars when a snow storm
struck them eight miles south of Orange City at one o'clock at noon,
which lasted and could not see the road or anything else along the
track, for three days. Those five teams made the trip to Orange City
having to depend upon the horses alone, the leaders being a span that
had traveled the road often. The others were tied one behind the other,
the drivers walking along the side, when the horses led up against the
one store that was then in Orange City. Two of the teams got left behind
but made their escape by stopping at A. Van Wechel's who happened to
have a sign right on the road and the horses turned in towards their
barn. There was a barn in town which could comfortably hold ten head of
horses; that night twenty-four were packed in it. The owner of the barn,
an old lady, Mother Mouw as she was called, attempted to go from her
house to the barn, a distance of about sixty feet, with a lamp, to see
that the horses were well provided for. She lost her way and strayed
from the place. As soon as it was found out that the old lady was lost,
some ten or fifteen men turned out and started on a hunt, yelling at the
top of their voices in order to keep within hailing distance. This
lasted fully an hour when the old lady was found not over seventy-five
feet from her residence with her lamp in her hand. Her fingers, ears and
toes were frozen and she would not have lived another hour if she had
not been found. Others did not fare so well; in the north part of the
county several were frozen to death by being lost. Some who were lost
would travel all night in a circle until daylight when they could see
their house or barn, they having strayed away only to feed cattle or do
some errand around the house. Such were the experiences with blizzards
in those days.
THE AMERICAN REFORMED
CHURCH, ORANGE CITY, IOWA.
Rev. J. P. Winter
Although two Holland speaking churches provided Orange City with
religious services, the need of services in the English language for the
benefit of the younger generation of Holland-Americans, and for the sake
of such families in the community as did not understand Dutch, soon
became evident. English services provided by the First Reformed Church
once a month on Sunday evening, did not meet the need, although much
appreciated. Finally the Rev. John A. De Spelder took up the matter and
a petition for an English speaking Reformed Church was circulated and
then presented to the Iowa classis. In the meantime preaching services
were begun, March 7th, 1885, in the County Court House. The classis of
Iowa, through a committee of which the Rev. A. Buursma was chairman,
organized the new church on April 27th, 1885, the charter members
numbering twenty-one. Jacob J. Van Zanten was elected elder and James M.
Oggel, deacon. These officers were installed May 3rd, 1885. The new
organization adopted the name, The American Reformed Church of Orange
City, Iowa.
For some six months, services continued to be
held in the Court House, after which they were held in the building now
know as the Town Hall. A room down stairs was first occupied and later
the increasing congregation met in the larger room on the second floor.
Here the church regularly met for service until some four years after
the organization of the church, when a church edifice was completed,
being dedicated Jan. 20th, 1889. The cost of the building including
furniture, etc., was about $6,000. The Rev. Peter Stryker, D. D.,
preached the dedication sermon. The Rev. John A. De Spelder, principal
of the North Western Classical Academy of Orange City, served as stated,
supply of the church for two years, after which he accepted a call to
become pastor. Seven years later he resigned, March, 1894.
The Rev. Jas. F. Zwemer supplied the pulpit
until November, when the Rev. A. A. Zabriskie became pastor. The pulpit
again became vacant early in 1896 by the resignation of the pastor. The
licentiate John L. De Jong arrived in May and began his labors,
intending to remain only through the summer. He was however called to
become pastor of the church and was ordained to the ministry and
installed as pastor November 1st, 1896.
In the mean time the church building was struck by lightning, June 16th,
during a severe storm, and burned to the ground. Efforts were soon begun
to rebuild, and the new, more beautiful edifice was dedicated April
18th, 1897. Owing to continued illness, the Rev. John L. De Jong
resigned as pastor August 1897,
THE AMERICAN REFORMED CHURCH,
ORANGE CITY
and was succeeded by Mr. James
Sterrenberg, who was ordained and installed September 29th, of that same
year. This pastorate terminated January 1st, 1899. The present pastor,
J. P. Winger, began his work August 13th, 1899, and was installed on
September 17.
During the summer of 1899 a parsonage was
built, various improvements, such as cement walks, etc., have followed,
and during the past year and a half, the balance of the church debt,
$1,800.00, has been paid.
The present membership of the church is 163.
THE FIRST REFORMED CHURCH
OF ORANGE CITY
Rev. E. W. Stapelkamp
The First Reformed Church of Orange City was organized in the early part
of 1871. Mr. T. Heemstra, G. Van de Steeg and M. Verheul were chosen
elders, and S. Sipma, J. Pelmulder and W. Van Rooyen, deacons. The first
pastor of the church was Rev. S. Bolks from 1872 till 1878 when he
became, because of old age, emeritus. Rev. A. Buursma was the second
pastor. He served the congregation from May 1879 to 1889 when he
accepted a call to Grand Rapids, Mich. Then followed Rev. H. Van der
Ploey in 1890. In November of the same year, Rev. M. Kolyn became pastor
and served this congregation till 1898 when he accepted a call to the
principalship of the North Western Classical Academy at Orange City. The
next Pastor of the church was Rev. N. M. Steffens, D. D. He came to this
field in 1899 and served the church till august, 1899. In the fall of
the same year, Rev. E. W. Stapelkamp was called and he began his work in
November. He is still the pastor of the Church.
THE FIRST REFORMED CHURCH OF
ORANGE CITY
The church was organized with 45 families, at present it numbers 216
families, 456 members in full communion and 500 baptismal non
communicants. The first services were held in a school house, now the
congregation worships in a large church building; there is also a large
chapel for the Christian Endeavor Meetings.
The congregation holds preaching services in
the Holland language. Preaching services are held 9.30 A. M. and 1.30 or
2.00 P. M. Sunday school from 3 to 4 P. M. in the winter, and 3.30 to
4.30 in the summer. Christian Endeavor prayer meeting Sunday evening
7.30. On week days and evenings catechetical classes composed of the
children and young people of the church meet for instruction in the
Truth. The congregation meets for prayer Wednesday evening, 7.30.
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