Ye Ole Machine Shop Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

geo's loulog: Due to landscapoing cahe area no longer there

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Hidden : 9/16/2008
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:



The site of the cache is in a “pocket park” that was once the property of a thriving belt and machine driven machine shop known as Western Machine Tool Works.


The substantial brick and glass edifice, with its well-known "Western Machine Tool Works" arch, stood for so long at Ninth and Van Raalte streets, It was a building, though decaying and ragged, that many had come to know and love regardless of the ties to the company it once housed.

This old and tired industrial structure was one that must be recognized for all it meant to Holland. So many people have walked in and out of its doors since it was first built, but it was not just a building that had made an impact on Holland; it was one particular family that had used the building and built the business that became a major Holland industry. That is the family of Nicodemus Bosch.

Nicodemus Bosch began Western Machine Tools Works in 1902. The building was much smaller when he moved his business into it with his partner, John Boda. The original building was built with the cream colored “Chicago Common” brick. However, it would not stay small for long as the company grew. By 1925, the building had been expanded three times before it reached its current size. Bosch had bought out his partner in 1919 and the business was off and running with sales and payroll steadily increasing.

Western Machine Tools Works was an industrial tool producing plant. It made lathes, radial drills, shapers and tappers, some of which were invented at the company. Bosch was soon seen as "an outstanding industrialist" and is credited with helping transform Holland into a strong industrial center.

By 1944, Western Machine Tools Works had more than 300 employees and had been given three Army-Navy E awards, being cited as an exemplary contributor to the "Arsenal of Democracy." In that same year the industry's national journal "Machinery" celebrated Mr. Bosch for his distinguished of 50 years in the mechanical and machinery field.

Those were the best of times for Western Machine Tools Works. It never got any better than that. As the years went on sales declined sharply and steadily. In the mid-'70s the company had few contracts and only 35 employees working.

Nicodemus was president/CEO until his death in 1944. Up until that time he had groomed two of his sons, Randall and Gerald, to keep the company going. They worked alongside their father until he died. At that time Randall took over as president/CEO and Gerald was secretary/treasurer until Randall's death in 1977. Gerald carried on as president/CEO and, keeping with tradition, Gerald's son Charles worked alongside his father as secretary/treasurer. Finally, in 1989, the company officially closed its doors.
However, these two men continued to go to the office at Ninth and Van Raalte each and every day. Charles worked on the books (by hand -- no computers) to get them in order for the impending sale of the property. Gerald, then aged 92, went also, if only to sit at his desk and read the newspaper. Sadly, Charles died at the age of 50 in 1994 and his father followed him in death two years later.

The city purchased the site in 1994 for $430,000 and auctioned off much of the machinery and equipment in 1999. The day of demolition, December 2003, was filled with a nostalgic sense that the past was fading from the city's view as it moved on toward the progress of a 21st century Holland. I still don’t know when this “pocket park” was developed, but it is a nice place to sit and watch the lake.

Thanks to the Holland Museum archives for the pictures provided to me by fellow cachers "Robriki".

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