With trees everywhere and sawmills operating nearby, many settlers build simple wood frame houses. Many settlers from the Netherlands remembered brick homes as being more lasting and permanent. As the Klanderman family prospered, they replaced the log cabin with a stately brick home. This home was later known as a Veneklasen brick home.
When we hear the term Veneklasen brick, we are reminded of an early Zeeland family, a brick company they founded, and a unique nineteenth century Dutch architectural movement in Michigan using decorative brick work.
The Jan H. Veneklasen family immigrated to Zeeland, Michigan in 1847 from the Netherlands. Jan Veneklasen and his 19 year old son Berend started making bricks one year later in 1848. The clay pits were located west of Zeeland. The first settlers in the area used the bricks for chimneys, foundations, walls, and well cisterns. Very few people at this time had the means to build a brick home.
The early bricks that the Veneklasens produced ranged in color from maroon to red and from orange to white. The color depended on the clay pit and how long they were baked in the kilns.
In the early days the clay was dug from the pits with a pick and shovel. It was then dumped into a cart pulled by horses or mules. The clay was ground up and sand was added at the brick factory. This mixture was shaped in wooden molds. In later years this was done by brick making machinery. After being molded the bricks were left out in the sun for 3 weeks and then baked in kiln at around 1000 degrees Celcius.
At first brick production was small. They started making 100,000 bricks the first season. It took 20 years before they made 1 million bricks a year. In the peak year of the Zeeland Brick Company’s operation they produced 20 million bricks. This was the year Berend Veneklasen retired and left the operation of the business to his 8 sons, all of whom were involved in administrative duties at the time. The company operated brickyards in Michigan for 75 years, finally closing in 1923.
Over the years there were many skilled brick masons who used Veneklasen brick to create the decorative patterned brickwork on over 300 brick homes from the 1860’s to about 1910. Each mason often left his own unique legacy to the custom brick artwork he designed over the windows and under the eves. The masons used polychromatic (multi-colored Veneklasen bricks for these homes.
A listing of the location of these homes mostly in Allegan and Ottawa Counties can be found in a book called Veneklasen Brick by Michael J. Douma which also gives the history.
There were 4 Veneklasen brick homes built in Borculo. Three are located just south of Borculo, and the other one is ½ mile east. They were known as the Geert Moeke-Alvin Huisinga home at 6297 96th Ave, the John Ten Broek-Lavern Aalderink home at 6231 96th Ave., the Jacobus Klanderman-Martin Essenburg home at 6091 96th Ave, and the Albert Marlink-Albert Bosch home at 9194 Port Sheldon Street.