Another historical landmark is the Borculo Cemetery, four long blocks south of the intersection. Just as the Borculo Christian Reformed Church would be known as a landmark for directions, in this historic Dutch community, the Borculo Cemetery would be known in the same way. Believe it or not, during the work week, Borculo has heavy traffic on 96thAve. passing the cemetery.
The writer was in the US Coast Guard and asked how far one could see? On the ocean surface, one can see ships on the horizon about 12 miles away. The average height of a man standing on the ground can see about 2.9 miles. If the tulip trip is 70 feet or taller, the distance would be 10 to12 miles. The curvature of the earth limits the vision whether on sea or land and in Michigan or not.
One may ask, “How old is this tree?” “Do we have to wait until the tree is cut down and then count the rings to find out?” This would work, but from this process a formula was made to estimate the age of a tree without cutting it and counting the rings. Clifton Park, New York was an early Dutch settlement in the late 1600s (a tidbit thrown in). Since that time, a Tree Age Calculator was developed by the Town of Clifton Park.
What are the characteristics of a tulip tree? What can we note from an arborist? What can we take away that is practical and remember as we drive by the Borculo Cemetery?
What are the characteristics? The following was taken from the website below and downloaded on 10/9/2002: https://www.nps.gov/shen/learn/nature/tuliptree.htm
Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera), leaf and seed pods. Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
Scientific Name: Liriodendron tulipifera Kingdom: Plantae - Plants
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants Class: Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Family: Magnoliaceae - Magnolia family Genus:Liriodendron
Life Cycle: Perennial
The above is the technical information as a botanist would want to know of any perennial plant. Below will be the practical information that we can identify within our world as a non-botanist.
The tulip tree is one of the tallest hardwoods in the North and Eastern parts of America. The trunk is straight to make it highly useable in the wood industry for producing many consumer products. Some of the products have been and are: canoes, furniture, musical instruments, interior finishes, shingles, boats, plywood, fuel, and other smaller wood objects. One wonders how many tulip trees were cut down for the furniture industry started and employed workers of the Dutch immigrants who arrived in west Michigan. Not all the immigrants could be farmers, nor wanted to be. Either way, one must assume the Dutch have been most industrious in Borculo as they have been elsewhere in Michigan.
Other Practical Facts:
The trees reach more than 100 feet tall and can spread out to 50 feet wide. The shape as a young tree is pyramidal, and oval at maturity. The roots and the bark can be used in drinks, food, and found to have multiple uses in medicine.
The bark is thick with deep ridges and furrows. It is like human skin; it keeps out foreign matter and it is essential for the life of the tree. The bark has a slightly rough surface and runs like amaze for the human eye to follow, but it should not be pulled off.
This is a state tree in Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee. Borculo could and should honor this tree as well.
The life span is generally 200 to 250 years. Borculo’s tulip tree has another eight years to go to reach 200 and 58 to reach 250. It would be great to tag this tree for the next generation.
You may ask, “Can you buy and grow a tulip tree in your yard?” The answer is yes, but this is with much forethought. The growth rate is about two feet a year. It provides much shade and is resistant to most tree diseases but would require leaf cleanup every fall!
A retired pastor’s reflections on visiting the Tulip Tree in the Borculo Cemetery:
As the tulip tree ages, the trunk develops a bark with deep ridges and furrows as noted above. The branches grow weaker, and some break off naturally and some from storms. Like humans who pass three score and ten, the human face, arms and legs develop light ridges and weakness overcomes the body naturally and from accidents. Both the tree and humans are a reminder of the cycle and frailty of life. But even in deep maturity, the tulip tree’s blossoms come in late spring each year and the leaves turn a bright sparkling yellow from the dark summer green color to reflect the beauty of the tree. Likewise, for humans, between the wrinkles and the body parts becoming more ridged and brittle, the twinkle in their eyes, the short and maybe lightly defined smile reflect some sense of the beauty of the human race and in one sense, the image of God.
There is hope for the aged tulip tree and for those of us three-score-and-ten or more, but it is looking back and up to the Creator. Written in Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” The NIV might be better used here, but the point is this, all of creation is waiting for the curse of sin to be lifted. The payment has been paid for all sin, but the Christian is waiting for the day of redemption.
The Big Towering Secret of Borculo, MI will go unnoticed by some, but maybe the readers of this article will not be in that number. May they go to the memorable intersection, head south to the Borculo Cemetery, find the Tulip Tree, touch the bark, look straight up from the start of the trunk to the top branches, catch a falling leaf, and experience the reality of a 192-year-old creation of nature. This will not change the chaos across America but will draw one back to sanity and peace as they reflect and acknowledge that the Creator of this magnificent Tulip Tree, in Borculo, Michigan, is still the sovereign God of the universe. Amen!
Kendall Thompson, retired ordained pastor
Bob Essenburg’s reflection on the history of Borculo through the
eyes of the Giant Tulip “Witness” Tree (1838-2020):
In the tradition of the “witness tree” borrowed from the Zeeland Historical Society and the Olive Township Historical Society, I have put together Borculo’s events and changes that have taken place in the 182 years of the tree’s existence as listed below. Some of these have already appeared as stories on the Borculo Blog. (https://borculo.weebly.com/blog).
Age of this tree
Year
Event
1
1838 Ottawa Native Americans living in the area
9
1847 Dutch immigrants start settling colony towns in West Michigan
19
1857 The Christian Reformed Church denomination is organized
26
1864 John Ball purchases over half of the land in Blendon Township for its timber
30
1868 The Jacobus Klanderman family are the first settlers in Borculo
31
1869 Gerrit Klanderman, son of Jacobus, arrives and starts the first grocery store
32
1870 Church services are held at the Klanderman home
36
1874 The Borculo Cemetery has its first burial
38
1876 The first school in Borculo is organized
44
1882 Borculo Post Office opens
45
1883 The Borculo Christian Reformed Church is organized
45
1883 Geert Moeke begins the Moeke sawmill in Borculo
47
1885 The First Borculo CRC church building is built in Olive Township
53
1891 A new and larger church building is built on its present site in Blendon Township
53
1891 The Blendon and Olive drain is dug north of Borculo to the Pigeon River
53
1893 The Klanderman family builds a new Veneklassen brick home
61
1899 The Borculo Cooperative Creamery is organized
64
1902 The first blacksmith shop in Borculo is built by Paul DeGroot
67
1905 Henry Koop purchases the Moeke Grocery Store
70
1908 The present Borculo school building is built
71
1909 Jacob Lokers begins the harness shop in Borculo
75
1913 Roelof Essenburg purchases a new 1913 Model T Ford
78
1916 Paul DeGroot begins the Reliable Poultry Hatchery in Borculo
78
1916 The Borculo Telephone Company begins telephone service
78
1916 Rev. E. Krohne flips his 1916 Model T on the muddy Borculo Hill Road
80
1918 Henry Poskey begins the first Borculo garage
81
1919 Louis and Simon Vollink begin their grocery business in Borculo
82
1920 H.J. Heinz Company builds a pickle receiving station in Borculo
89
1927 Borculo CRC burns during the morning service
90
1928 The Borculo Church Band is organized
91
1929 Gerrit and Herman Bussis purchase the Borculo Garage
95
1933 The 9th and 10th grades are added to the Borculo School
98
1936 The big blizzard and heat wave of 1936
100
1938 Bill and Marve DeWitt start Bilmar Foods with a flock of 17 turkeys
103
1941 Henry Weaver begins the Borculo Feed and Grain and Lumber
103
1941 Vanden Berg Brothers open a DX gas station in the old harness shop
103
1941 Bussis Brothers open MM Dealership and implement business
107
1945 Bussis Brothers build a new implement store in Borculo
107
1045 The big memorial stone is moved to the Soldier’s Plot, using the wrecker from the Borculo Garage
108
1946 Bussis Brothers sell the Borculo Garage to Jerry Por and Elmer Nienhuis
108
1946 Bill and Nelly Austhof open a lunchroom in the old DX gas station
108
1946 The Borculo Body Shop opens
109
1947 Borculo students began planting their Christmas trees on Polk Street
113
1951 Henry Geerts and Chester Grasmid purchase the Borculo Garage
114
1952 George Gahan builds a building to make septic tanks on his farm
114
1952 Jerry and Ann Por begin the Borculo Restaurant in the former body shop
114
1952 Gerrit Talsma operates a barber shop in the old harness shop building
115
1953 Louis Vanden Berg purchases the Borculo Telephone Company
117
1955 “Calamity Kids”, a play, is put on by the young people of Borculo in the Bussis Implement building
117
1955 Borculo Community Center built
117
1955 Clarence DeVries begins the Fairview Dairy in Borculo
117
1955 Gladys and Harriet Bussis are the last tenants to operate the lunchroom
118
1956 Andy Kooinga operates an appliance store in the lunchroom building
119
1957 Borculo Christian School begins classes in Borculo
120
1958 Peter Keyzer operates a body shop in George Gahan’s septic tank building
120
1958 Ten Broeke subdivision platted in Borculo
123
1961 Bill Austhof starts the Crestview Golf Club in Borculo
124
1962 Crestview Ranch Market opens on the hill by Les Ohlman
124
1962 Borculo Barber Shop opened by Joe Vander Kooi
124
1962 Fire destroys the Borculo Garage building
131
1969 Borculo Public School closes and merges with the Zeeland Schools
132
1970 Ottawa Roof and Truss began by Henry Weaver
133
1971 Extensive remodeling of Borculo CRC
139
1977 Hershel and Shirley Weaver begin the Schoolhouse Restaurant in the old schoolhouse
141
1978 Vern and Wanda Bohl purchase the Borculo Restaurant from Jerry Por
146
1984 Borculo Dandelion Festival started by Vern Bohl
146
1984 Fire at BillMar Foods destroys the turkey processing plant
148
1986 Pine crest Estates platted by Gerald Haveman
152
1990 Prairie Ridge Estates platted by Hershel Weaver.
1990 Soft Spot Ice Cream Shop begins business at the Borculo Crossroads
156
1994 Michigan Wood Fibers founded by the Weaver family
156
1994 Borculo Bait and Tackle founded by Russ Hirdes
163
2001 Port Sheldon Street realigned at 96th Avenue
172
2010 Stromboli’s Pizza opens in the Borculo Express
177
2015 District No. 5 Schoolhouse opens as an event center in the old schoolhouse
177
2015 Anew Fuel Center opens on the former site of Borculo Garage
180
2018 Dollar Store opens in Borculo
I have always enjoyed the beauty of trees like the Borculo tulip tree, especially in the fall season of the year. I have gone on many color tours in Michigan and New England over the past 50 years.
As a young man, I always wanted to take a trip to California someday. I wanted to see many of its tourist attractions like Disneyland, but also to see the giant redwoods and sequoias along the California coast. I was able make this trip with my cousin, Gary Essenburg in the summer of 1958. We also visited 10 Western National Parks along the way. Visiting Yosemite National Park and driving the California coastal highway through the redwoods was one trip I have never forgotten.
The most popular tree in the U.S. was the Wawona Tunnel Tree in Yosemite National Park. It was a giant sequoia that was 28 feet in diameter and with a height of 227 feet. The tunnel was cut through the tree in 1881 for stagecoaches to take tourists through it. We also drove our auto through the tree in 1958 with Gary’s 1957 Ford. The tree was 2,100 years old when it finally crashed down in the winter of 1969.