Steve VanderVeen: Rivulet Hurst Dairy continues to grow
Berend Hendrik and Hendrika Lucas Scholten had a prosperous 120-acre farm near Graafschap. But on Oct. 8, 1871, disaster struck. In less than one day, the Great Fire — which burned most of the city of Holland — also burned much of Laketown and Fillmore townships, including the Scholten farm.
In response, the Scholtens thanked God for sparing their lives. With the help of family and friends, they rebuilt.
First, they constructed a new clapboard two-story house for their growing family, which eventually included 10 children. Then, they built a new barn and outbuildings. They filled the lower level of the barn with cow stalls and used the top level for hay and feed, which shows Hendrik decided to follow Geertje Neerken-Arens’ example:
“Geze” had created a profitable business by walking three miles to supply customers in the Holland colony, including Anna Post, with fresh milk. Because Holland was quickly growing, Scholten sensed an opportunity.
More: Steve VanderVeen: The origins of Rivulet Hurst Dairy
In the early days, milking cows was done twice per day by hand. It was an especially tiring job in the heat of summer, and it required the ability to avoid the cow’s tail, which was constantly swishing at the flies. But there was money in dairying: on Sept. 16, 1876, the Holland City News reported Graafschap Creamery was paying farmers $0.20 for a pound of butter, and in December 1901, $0.32. By then, farm help was so scarce wages were $2.50 per day.
The farm was a self-sustaining operation. The Scholtens grew feed for the animals, mostly hay and grain. As the operation grew, they used silage mixed with scientifically-balanced supplements. The Scholtens also developed their own dairy processing system and distribution network.
In 1949, the Scholten farmstead turned 100 years old. By that time, Hendrik’s grandson, Jim Hendrik Scholten, was farming, processing milk and bottling in glass containers under the brand name Rivulet (“small creek”) Hurst (“hill”), selling milk to the public and the surplus to the Graafschap Creamery.
Upon Jim’s retirement, Hendrik’s great-grandson Harvey took over the dairy business and great-grandson Gerald the farm, which he called Centennial Acres Farm.
In 1961, Harvey Scholten and his family moved the dairy plant and distribution business to Holland. It happened this way: In the fall of 1960, Art Cook, owner of the Elm Valley plant on Lincoln Avenue, approached Harvey about taking over his facility. Cook wanted to sell it because he had previously sold his milk to a farmers’ cooperative which had disbanded.
Scholten wanted to buy Elm Valley because his operation had outgrown both the physical (i.e. roads and utilities) and regulatory limits of the Graafschap farm. So, in late 1960, Harvey’s brothers-in-law Harv and Ray Kleis helped retile the walls and floor of the processing area and make the building operational. On Jan. 16, 1961, they moved the necessary equipment from the farm to 788 Lincoln Ave.
In 1963, the Scholtens expanded their operation by opening a take-out store in front of Lincoln Avenue Dairy to sell milk and ice cream at retail. In 1964, they purchased the Maple Grove Dairy on Michigan Avenue (present-day Donutville and A Reina Supermercado).
In 1965, they incorporated the company, expanded the take-out store, and added a restaurant to serve soups, chili, pig-in-a-blankets, and ice cream dishes. Later they added breakfast, lunch, and dinner fare.
Next, in response to a consolidating dairy industry, the Scholtens folded several other small dairies into Rivulet Hurst: Hill Crest Dairy on Michigan Avenue, FairView Dairy of Borculo (Clarence DeVries), Hudsonville Dairy (Kramer), Community Dairy of Zeeland (Ed Schutema, Otto Bosman, and Clarence Cammenga).
Thus, Rivulet Hurst grew into a large operation, selling its products at both the wholesale and retail levels.
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In 1973, the Scholtens expanded their restaurant, increasing seating capacity to 120 customers and open from 6 a.m.-11 p.m. They added a buffet dinner bar in 1982. In 1985, the Scholtens sold Rivulet Hurst Dairy to the larger Bareman Dairy, where Harvey continued to work.
Gerald Scholten died in 2008. In 2012, Meijer purchased the Bareman Dairy processing facility and property. Prairie Farm bought Bareman Dairy’s distribution network. Harvey Scholten died in 2015. The farm remains in the family.
Information for this story comes from Bill Sytsma.
— Steve VanderVeen is a resident of Holland. You may reach him at skvveen@gmail.com. His book, "The Holland Area's First Entrepreneurs," is available at Reader’s World.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland History: Rivulet Hurst Dairy continues to grow
