Steve VanderVeen: John Roost and his love of business, politics – HollandSentinel.com
John Roost loved business; but he loved politics more.
He was born in 1823 in the city of Harderwijk, in the province of Gelderland, The Netherlands. In 1847, he immigrated to Holland but continued to Grand Rapids where he found work as a wheelwright.
In 1849, he opened a wagon-making and blacksmith business in Grandville. In 1854, he moved back to Holland and, with Ame Venema, opened a wagon factory named Roost and Venema.
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In 1856, he and John Van Dyke became co-owners of Howard’s Saw Mill, located on the north side of Black Lake. In 1858, he was elected Holland Township Supervisor, a position he held for three years. He was also elected as highway commissioner.
While in office, Roost was asked to negotiate a loan to build a channel and breakwater between Black Lake and Lake Michigan, and purchase and resell swamp land from the state of Michigan to help finance it.
In the midst of his work, Roost, a staunch Republican, almost lost his political positions when a group of Democrats tried to unseat and replace him with Henry Post. Apparently, they had convinced the sheriff of Grand Haven County to arrest him on charges of embezzlement. But the charges were false and the ruse didn’t stick.
Still in office, Roost headed to New York to raise money by selling bonds to wealthy members of the Reformed Church of America. He didn’t succeed, however, partly because Albertus Van Raalte had gotten there first. Van Raalte was simultaneously raising funds for his Holland Academy (the forerunner of Hope College). Van Raalte did help Roost acquire acreage and resell it.
In 1860, Roost co-founded De Grondwet (“The Constitution”), a local Republican newspaper. He was also appointed Holland’s postmaster by Republican Abraham Lincoln, unseating Henry Post.
In 1861, Roost was elected County Treasurer. In 1862, he was appointed U.S. Enrolling Office and Assistant Country Assessor — however, he was removed from his postmaster role when Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, became president after Lincoln’s assassination.
In 1867, Roost, while serving as Holland City Supervisor, sold De Grondwet to Johannes Hoogesteger and Leendert Mulder. He then purchased the Waverly Stone Quarry from Henry Post, correctly foreseeing the potential of mining deeper and using the newfound stone for constructing the breakwaters of the Holland, Saugatuck and Grand Haven harbors.
He hired his son-in-law, Fillmore Bird, to manage the quarry. By that time, Roost also owned Holland’s Grand Haven Hotel, which sat on the southwest corner of Sixth Street and River Avenue.
In 1870, Roost served in the Michigan Legislature. In 1871, he not only lost his hotel to the Great Holland Fire, but also his fruit trees and cranberry marsh. In 1872, he served as Holland City Attorney.
In 1873, in response to the fire and a national economic depression, Roost and other members of Holland’s political and economic elite formed the Citizen’s Association of Holland to encourage immigration, manufacturing and “praiseworthy” enterprise.
In 1874, despite his losses, Roost, along with John Coatsworth, were two of the Holland area’s largest peach growers.
In 1877, Roost and a man named Klassen from Grand Rapids formed a brick works at the head of Black Lake; by 1878, they had 15 employees producing 15,000 red and cream-colored bricks a day. But they couldn’t compete with Berend Veneklasen’s Zeeland Brick Company and eventually closed the business.
In 1878, Roost served as Holland City Clerk. Coincidentally, De Grondwet became the city’s printer.
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In 1879, Roost sold his interest in Howard’s Saw Mill to his son-in-law, Fillmore Bird. In 1885, he sold Bird his interest in Waverly Stone. In 1887, Bird sold the quarry back to Henry Post and other investors, including Post’s son, John C. Post, and William Garrod.
The quarry then experienced a third resurgence as the stone became fashionable and prominently used in Holland’s Clock Tower Building, Castle Park, Graves Hall and other buildings and residences built by James Huntley. In the 1890s, it’s likely Roost also gave up peach-growing, as bountiful harvests depressed peach prices.
Then Roost had a political and spiritual change of heart. Possibly due to his declining business fortune, as well as the scandals of the Ulysses S. Grant administration (1869-1877), Roost joined the Democrat party. He also joined Grace Episcopal Church. Then, in 1881, he ran for Holland mayor and won. In 1882, he was elected to the state senate.
He died in 1885.
Information for this article comes from Robert Swierenga’s “Holland, Michigan,” migenweb.org/ottawa/holland/history, htc.holland.mi.us, and mdoe.state.mi.us.
— Steve VanderVeen is a resident of Holland. You can reach him and see his stories at start-upacademeinc.com.
