PRESENTING THE STORY OF HOLLAND, MICHIGAN
Informing the future by telling the stories of the past and present.
Holland, Michigan, grew from frontier swampland into an exceptional community. The award-winning film “Wilderness to World Class” explores its historical bedrock and modern dynamics. It documents the events, personalities, natural resources, and characteristics that shaped the community. It presents to viewers a unique experience that shows how and why this community continues to thrive.
Wilderness to World Class
“Wilderness to World Class” is the story of how Holland came to be a vibrant, diverse and successful community. In it, the voices of historical figures and current residents tell about events, personalities, achievements and even disaster in the context of key community characteristics that shaped Holland’s past and its present.
The Holland Film Group worked for 18 months to produce a 9,000-word script. It spent some 1,000 hours of planning and production. Interviews with 35 community members generated 800 minutes of footage.
The result was “Wilderness to World Class: The Story of Holland Michigan,” a documentary honored by the Historical Society of Michigan with the State History Award.
Our Past
A geography formed from massive geological shifts eons ago supported an economic boom from the beginning of the settlement. Water. Woods. Sand. Land. All helped shape some of the signature industries of the area, and also defined the community as a place for recreation.
Our Present
It’s not just the water. It’s something more. Something woven into the fabric of the community itself. Appreciation of the land and water. A collaborative spirit. A penchant for hard work and innovation. A commitment to philanthropy, rooted in deep faith. And a diversity of people.
Our Future
We’ve got a culture in Holland that’s always looking to the future and not looking just at comparison communities or how we stack up against big cities, but instead looking at how we are leading the charge, at how we are becoming one of those cities because of how we think, how we’re innovative, looking to lead.
“In this feature-length documentary, the story of Holland, Michigan, comes to life through interviews, local footage and historical artifacts in a compelling documentary designed to keep Holland’s past within easy reach for the community’s educational purposes.”
— Historical Society of Michigan
Education