Historic Pella - Pella, IA - Iowa Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This state historical marker is located in the northeast corner of South Park. The sign is a dark blue with the seal of the State Historical Society of Iowa is at the top. The text of the marker reads:

HISTORIC PELLA

In the spring of 1847 four sailing
vessels carrying 800 freedom-seeking Hol-
landers landed at Baltimore. They were
met by Dominie Henry Peter Scholte, their
faithful leader, who led them across the
Alleghenies to Pittsburgh and down the
Ohio and up the Mississippi to St. Louis.

At St. Louis a committee, headed by
Dominie Scholte, set out for Iowa, where
they visited the U.S. Land Office at Fair-
field. A Baptist missionary guided Scholte.
to a site in Marion County deemed suitable
for a Dutch settlement and 18,000 acres
were purchased. Dominie Scholte called the
site "Pella," meaning "City of Refuge."

When the Hollanders arrived at Pella
in August of 1847 they found the 50 cabins
they had contracted for were not built.
With characteristic Dutch zeal, they set
to work erecting makeshift cabins, sod-
houses, and lean-tos with thatched roofs.
They planted crops but lost almost all
their stock in the hard winter of 1848-1849.
New Dutch immigrants arrived in the nick
of time with money. Their arrival, coupled
with sales to the Forty-Niners, brought
prosperity to Pella.
(over)

The decade of the 1850's was an ex-
citing one for the Dutch. The fame of their
butter and cheese insured future prosperity.
When Iowa City lost the seat of government,
the Hollanders offered to donate a tract
of land to have Pella made the capital ~~
but Des Moines was chosen.

The town of New Amsterdam was laid out
on the Des Moines River to serve as a port
for Pella. The flood of 1851 dashed all
hopes for New Amsterdam. The Western
Stage Coach served Pella until the arrival
of the railroad in 1865.

Central University, established by the
Baptists in 1853, has been operated by
the Dutch Reformed Church since 1916.
During the Civil War the entire student
body, 122, enlisted in the Union Army.

The Pella colony numbered almost 2,000
by 1870 and Dutchmen had spilled over
into Mahaska and Jasper counties. Balked
by high land prices, Henry Hospers led
65 families to Sioux County in 1870 where
they established Orange City.

Since its beginning in 1936, the Pella
Tulip Festival has become one of Iowa's
outstanding historical attractions.

Erected by The State Historical Society of Iowa
and the Pella Historical Society

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