Hope CollegeDigital Commons @ Hope College

Class Projects Oral History Interviews

9-28-1977

Brouwer, Ann Oral History Interview: ClassProjectsLinda Waterman

Neil Knutsen

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Recommended CitationRepository citation: Waterman, Linda and Knutsen, Neil, "Brouwer, Ann Oral History Interview: Class Projects" (1977). ClassProjects. Paper 29.http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/class_projects/29Published in: English 113 Oral History Interviews (1977) (H90-1096), September 28, 1977. Copyright © 1977 Hope College,Holland, MI.

Intervic' ee: Mrs. Ann 3r8W'erA

Intervie" ers: Lind" (.j'3tenn"n and Neil «nuts",n

D~te: Selternber 26, 1977

'lnce: 52 .... 14 h Street

;ubject:

rime: 3 ; 30

i>llCe No.:

F, cd nd coal bu!':in~ss.............. I"E'e.ctric C"l.r .......••........•••.... ::::lflrouwer F\lrniture••.••••...•.•••••.•.•• 2• B' •r9. • s :"rden•...•..•...•.••..•....•• 3r B• rOUt"er ••••••..•••....••••.•••••••.• 5

1'hp. Church••....••.••..•••.••.•.••••..•• 5Grandna )·['ouwer• • •••••••••••••••••••••••• I)

f3rouwer Furni.ture (c(\nt.) •.•••.••.•.•.•• 7~ra•.....•......••••.•.........•.....••8V~ews of Hope r.olle&e ••.•.•..••••••••••• 9rlllip Fcc:tival ••••.•..•••••.•••..••••••• 9Electric Car.... .. . ...••....•.•....•...• 10ilrouwpr l?urniture (cnnt.) •••..•......•• l1

1\ r .... thp. Fr!.~ch C:u')nly r)',. is nnu on R.iver venue.

Brouwer

';'It rman nd Knuteen

P ge I

Interview

Neil Knuteen: Wh t ty~c of wnrk wa!'l he dnin~ in the' coal busines'l? '..Jhf't ty~)e of work

did he do?

Brouwer: Jurt sold ~ecds ~nrl fe~d nrl coal from ri~ht Qn.

Lind, atennan: W~~ he in bU'linps~ fnr himself?

B: It'l-hll'ln.

L: nh yc-".

~: That'~ whe e th store was.(MUmble) ~ee it w, s built ( umble).

N: lie ,.,ld oc>th seed nd conI?

13: '{eR.

L: lio you h ve liv'.d in Boll n'

3: Ye~, two blnck~.

11 your life?

L: {c lly?

IJ: Ch t block nrl thie: one. (Pointin~ to l, ft md ieht)

1: Oh my ~ondn~ss. On Fnurtpp.nth nnd Tw. lfth?

1\: '0, Fourteenth. Between Coller;e ilnd ¥lmn.

L: Oh my.

B: 'I11 t i~ bet"'" en r "ntr<ll. I h 've,,'t lived v,'r:y far.

1 . kill n~ i r nice comnunity. I wouldn't ind ~ta· ing h~re.

'ith til tTPe~ on tho> cam!>us, a nice CBr.'\nus.li: It is v y b"£utiflll.

B: I think so too.

(Pause)

N; e unrlen-tnnd thnt your husb:mu's father hi'd an ehctric car?

9: Y $.

N: "e were wander in!" hnw he at it, and what kind it was t

Brouwer

Waterman md Knutsen

Page!

8: See, I looked for that "ieture. He's standine: alnne s~e of it, but

I c·.n't find it n'""l:.... :fe hnd a ~evorlC't once and, ah , h\.' went dOM'

17th ~t e·t nd r~ u? on the curb iu~o a tree, but didn't do much

damage. He broUUht it right back an then he w~ht this electric.

L: Oh \.JOwl

B: Ilis h md~ c:""'I.e cross like thi~, y('\u know, that he u!':ed for •• ,

(motions with hands).

L: Steering?

3: So he used the lackard to t ke my mom to work.{Puuse Used to take the

'filaily around, you tenoH,

N: How bie w,",s the car? I've nev r ~een an dectric c r before. 1{OW

m ny ~eople c n it into it?

B: Just four,

N: Four?

rl: Pacing each other.

L: Pacing e,lch other?

B: Db I just wish I had a picture of it.

L: Oil maybe wtlll come bac:~ someday.

B: I just can't find the pictures (laugh) and be started the store. The

store, that is B

town.

r8, the business is 105 years old. The oldest in

L: We heard about llJ1 award.

B: Pardon.

L: An award that"s coming up for the business. We heard about some 8\"ard

that is being given to :he business.

Brouwer

Waterman and Knutsen

Page 2.5

B: I can't hear you too well.

L: Ob, is he getting an mlard for being thc oldest business in town?

B: I don't think so.

L: No. we had heard something about SOntc such award.

B: I don ~t remember that. And he was 97 "'hen he. passed away in '50 and

he worked there every day up until three days before he died of a

stroke. Nin~';y seven. he was 97.

N: How was his business established? Where w s thc business at first?

Was it still on Riverl

B: l'leU Myra told me, we have(murmer) the history (murmcr). She said that

he started the business at the Park Theatre but I don't remember that.

Shc wouldn't neither, but I'm older than she is. But anyway. then they

went very soon over to River Avenu..... It was an undertak· ng store and a

furniture store. And Brouwer made all the furniture too. They worked

long hours in those days.

All laugh

B: He was a real tall man.

N: Do you remember the date that i~ was first got started up? You said 105

years.

B: I would just say that it is lOS years old. (murmer,

8: Pirst. YO\l know wherc it is. It is on Ilivcr and Nineth. That was the

hardware store before that and they were the next. And therewere other

stores (undistinguishable, mentions Dan Oberlain)

L: Dan was the father?

B: He was ay father. (points to picture on wall) He uas in the business

since he was 18 years old. (Jicture i~ of her hus~and)

Brouwer

Waterman and Knutsen

Page 3

L: Was he? We were wondering about that. (laughing)

8: He died ten years ago. And now my daughter Myra's husband is in the

business, Ken Soberlain.

L: Did they make their own-I know that probably your father-in-law made '1".

some of the furniture, but how about your husband? Was he still making

it? (shnuld hwe said f other, not f ther-in-law)

B: No, no.

L: Machinery?

B: 'l1le undertaking business thc.y dropped quite soon. They have a music

store in their ~~. And that's the Meyer Music store on 8th Street.

N: 'l1tat moved out of the Brouwc.r Furniture Store?

B: Yes, Mr. Meyer llI\d Brouwer were together for a few years. And then

Meyer went into that store which I think is 75 or a little more ~ears

old.

Pause (laughing)

L: tie heard that you'r~ an avid gardfter.

B: Oh, not much. (laughing)

L: Do you hao'e your own garden here?

B: Oh, I got a &ma 11 one. I try. (laughing)

S: That's iaportant.

B: I love flowers.

L: Oh, is it mainly flowers', not vegetables1

B: Oh yes, not many vegetables.

N: ~/h.:lt type of flowc.rs do you grow?

B: That I grow? Oh, just about every kind.

N: Jell, what kinds?

Brom"er

Waterman and Knutsen

Page 4

L: can .you name. a couple?

B: Roses, nathaniels, snapdragons, and locks and ••• can't think of um,and

astors. But that isn't anything very important.

L: No tul i:-os?

B: Oh, yes. Have tulips and narcissus and a few more dragons and a few

hyacinths.

N: You have a wide variety, there. Do you grow any of your feowers durinz

the wintertime in a grec.nhouse or something?

B: No.

N: They just bloom, you know, intthe summer then?

B: I'd enjoy this conversdbbon alot more if you weren't t~ping this.

(AU laughing)

L: I know it makes peo;>le nervous. It makes us nervoue, too. t:e uish

we didn't have to.

P: It's our resonsibility to do this.

B: You keep whato:you 'W3f\t to and take what you want t02

N: Yea, Well this doesn't necessarily mean that it's goine to ~o in the

magazine.

s: It doesn It go in the magazinet

N: VeIl, it doesn't necessarily oean~that. Sec \lhat ~~'re doing is just

going on an interview to cct practice and the material might be used

in the magazine. It doesn It necessarily mean that it's going into the

magazine.

L: t:c maYibe back to ask more questions.

N: Yes.

L: Ue'd kind of like to find out a little bit more about you.

Brouwer

uaterman and Knutsen

Pae;e 5

B: I would iike to have this thing (tape recorder) off.

L: Hell, don!t worry about it. It's not rgoing to be used.

B: Shut it off. (laughing) That Hill be on there too. (lauehing)

L: You've lived in Hollan~ all your life. Did you meet, is your husband

from Holland, too?

B: Yes.

N: How did you meet eaeh other? Was it at Hope?

B: No, \..e were really at a church. The 14th Street Church,Reformed Church,

on the corner here. That's really where we met.

L: Did you knm.. ea~ other as children?

B: ~.

L: Tuat's pretty neat.

B: I'm a Charter member at the 14th Street Church, that just celcbrnted

their 75th anniversary and there's three of us left, three Charter

members.

L: Exactly what is a Charter member?

B: '£hey have built this church from 9th Street, the ~illar €hurch. And

then my folks were the first ones that went there. I was just a little

girl then. So that makes me a Charter member. My mother and father

passed aw@y and my sister a nd brothers went to other churches. ~

husband came from Central Avenue on Van Lier's. Hc wa8~'t a Charter

member. He ,,,"auld have to be there when they built the church the very

first. ..0 .)

L: So for 75 years you've been attending that church.

B: Yes

N: That's impres8ive.

Brouucr

Waterman and Knutsen

paec 6

L: tIe heard you~re having your 84th birthday soon.

B: Where did you get all this information?

L: Oh, ue hear allnectts of things. Probably from your daughter.

B: Probably from ~ra.

L: Yea, things get aroqnd Holland.

e: Ut.J.rmer) lie have two daughters.

L: And what is your other daughter doing now?

B: Ch, he's with Chrystler.

N: A1nice place to be.

B: Larry moved and ah well this is a joke we 'have in our family: Love,

honor, obey, and live in Holland. Jo.nd they wouldn't do it. (Iauehing)

L: Your parents came here, then 'Where did they come from? \-lhere were they

before?

B: Un, my father came llcross from the J,Jetherlands when he was six years

old. And my mother w~s born on 24th Street.

L: So she lived in Holland also?

B: I have to really l~k at the history of Grandpa Brouwer. I havn't reall y

been able to do it. I don't -no~ven whether he w~s born here or not •

.J\1st Porget.

L: .1e'll have to come back agaiiui

B: Off ~hc record, Bill's father was tall and real stately looking. P.e

always wore a stiff- bosomed shirt tucked, with a diamond stud. Until

he died in 30, so in about '28 he couldn't get those stiff-bosomed shirts

anymore. He had to go to what everyone else was wearing. He tried all

over to send for them, y 11 knOl,j', he couldn't get them. He was used to

wearing that kind of a shirt.

Brouvler

H'aterman and Knutsen

P"lle 7

L: They didn't make them anymore.

B: No, they didn't make them anymore.

L: But you s.lid "that he worked until he lUIS 97?

B: Until he was 97 years old. Of course, he let up 0fittle, you know,

when you get older. But then he was in the store anyway. He'd come

everyday with that electric. Every Wednesday he went up from the hos­

pital in that electric to visit people there.

L: Ch, he electric car w~s still around until he was older.

B: Oh yes. We'd tell him, you know, oh Grandpa don't go, like Tulip time

It's too busy. But he would always go. Of course in those days they'd

always stop when they saw that electric coming, but now days that wouldn't

work very well. It'd only go 22 miles per hour. you couldn't use it

out of town, you know.

L: I ,~uld expect that they'd just stop in awe to see it.

B: They sold it for $125 after he passed away to a man in Flint. An antique

place, you know. The cost of it w~s the charging the batteries. The

batteries were quitten on them. They really needed new ones with $800"!

that was in the garage. The place where Proflessor Green lives. (Murmer)

Proftessor Green on 12th Street. Right back here(Points). That's whbre

they lived. They had the generator in the (doorbell). Excuse me.

N; You said that BroU\<1er Furniture, when the Tulip time c~e around that you

didn't wane him to go to the store. Uas there really alot of business

then?

B: Traffic, traffic. No not business, traffic.

N: It didn't surge, the business, get higher or anything, with all those

':(1urists coming in? Or was there any tille when there was considerable

Brouwer

Waterman and Knutsen

Pa[,e 8

amount of business?

B: No.

L: Does he mainly sell just to the people of the cOOIIl.unity?

B: (Shakes head,yes)

L: Is the furniture that's in here now from Brouwer Furniture?

B: HnD, Nothing new though.

N: It looks very unique.

L: Do you knOt.,! the style of this furniture?

B: No, no.

L: Did he work with any particular style?

B: No~

L: Early .American?

B: No, no,

Pause

L: So one of your daughters-one or both of your daughters lives in Holland?

B: One does and one doesn't.

L: So one is teaching and the other is a housewife?

B: Yes, ~~ra is in teacher's placement.

L: Teacher placement. What does that Illean?

B: It is in VanRaalte down in the basement.

L: Oh I see, she places the teacher's that come in.

B: Haven't you met her?

N: No we haven't, but we will.

B: Are YO\l freshmen?

Nand L: Yes

B: on well, that's the reason.

Brouwer

Waterman am Knutsen

Page 9

B: She was supposed to speak to a bunch of seniors today at an orientation

meeting just for seniors. Of course, she speaks to mostly seniors because

that's her job, trying to place them somewhere.

L: Oh'lshe 'laces the students.

B: For ten years already.

L: Does she take care of placing teachers at Hope? Newcoming teachers?

B: I suppose, if there would be an opening. (Details of Career Night)

L: Have you seen Hope grow at all? Hope vas here before you were. Correct?

B: That's right.

L: W11at do you first remember of Hope College? How was it?

B: Not W}~A$ Cha~el, the other one w"s here.

Nand L: Dimmentl

B: Maurice Hall. Of course, going ''''ay way back (murmered a 031ne.)

L: Do you still like the campus now even Hith the new buildings?

B: eh yeB~

L: Did it retain it's acauty?

B: Yes. That new building is going to be finished soon.

N: Phys-Ed building?

L: How long has Tulip time been going on?

B: Many years.

L: Uhen do you first remember it? When you were little did they have it?

B: No, later on. You read about it , you know, but you just forget how

long ago. The teachers at high school started it.

N: t~at is the festival like? Yhat do they do?

Brouwer

waterman and Knutsen

pogo 10

B: \Jell formerly they had it for over the weekend. TheIe would be. so many

people here. They had it for about ten d~'s, but now they just have it

starting on Uednesday's til Saturday when there is a big parade. H'e

have A. par:lue on Uednesday's with f oats aod they scrub streets. We

have Hooden shoes and Dutch costumes. Anyonc who wants to do it. Men

running in with pails and they scrub it with these big poles and that's

what they do before the parade. Every school has a different idea that

they make, em Thursday's chilreo's parade. Then on Friday it is a day

people can do uhntevcr they l ..i~h. There. nrc ~ro~r8ID.s ~oinu on different

places. Saturday is the bie; pD.rade uith all the bands.

L: Nas the electric car ever in one of those parodes1

B: No.

L: No, ~Je thought it wau d be.

g: You mean the electric?

L: Yes the elec~ric car?

B: Po, they never had it in there.

L: No ..

B: They didn't, I don't know why, but they didn't. I J_d finish that about

that they bought that for $125. That Inan from Flint called me about

4 years ago.. 'He uanted to knmJ the history. But you see, I Houldn't

know as much about all that as much my husband 't1ould. I didn't pay that

much attention ..

1.: Did they charge the batteries from an electrical outlet?

B: I don't know how often in the garage.

S: Did they have an elect rical cord coming out of it that you stick in the

wall.

13rom·ler

,/aterman and Knuts<,n

P~e 11

D: I never went in there to look at it. I don't know. 'nlere ~ain a man

would knO\.1 all about it.

L: Did you ever ride in it.

9: I did.

L: Una it uiet?

B: Oh yes,

1.: 1):) you like it better than ridinr; in new c rs1

13: No.

L: Why not, too slow?

B: Oh. I don't know. I mean it's kind of fun to Co in it once.

I.: Does it have a cover on top or vas it open?

B: Cover.

I.: Here there. large wheels?

B: No, not very bie wheels. very small. I'll ~et those pictures froQ

Ken sometime.

I.: We. '11 have to corne back to see them.

B: 'nl.at one picture I wanted to show you had all lace curtains tied back.

There tIllS one of those great big baby buggies, about that big yOll know,

with an l~brella folded. That stands in the window. Really find it a

an intereqting picture. I've always had it, but I couldn't find it.

I.: They made baby buggies at the furniture store?

B: No, they didn't, just decoration •

I.: And who's running the business?

B: Ken Soberlain, ~~ra's husband. ~e's 50 years old today.

L: Oh today.

Broul.ler

.}aterman and Knutsen

p-tge 12

B: He went in ri~ht after col Ieee.

N: Did he major in business?

B: No he didn't. ~, just thought he'd like to do it.

N: It '''as passed (lawn throueh the cenerations then?

D: Yes ..

L: Does he have a son he thinks he'll pass it d~m to.

B: \leU, both their children orc both adopted. Jim just graduated from

Hope. He's not workinz riZht TlO\".. '\let couldn't find a job. I u n't

know, everyone doesn't likc it, you know.

L; Yes, it's unusual that it's gone through the generations.

9: ·c h,'ld a boy and we lost tl at boy. Qthen"".ise that '..auld have been my

son. On~ of our own childrcn would get it. Do you sell this ~azine?

N: Yes, off campus and on campus.

L: He bring it to some of the smaller s!:ores in tOl:n. I think a lot of the

people '~10 come here for Tulip time would be interested in it. It's a

very unusual" m~azine.

B: Well you just stop here anytime you want to and I'll see if 1 can eet

those pictures for you.

L, Okay.

B: And I can also look up a little more h"story.

L: ~:e '11 stO? back again.

Brouwer

Page 13

!lOteS:

The ~t ering of the electric c'r:

<-

H,,'" pi.cture'" of C'1r.

~he will ,et the hi ... tnry.

icture of husband on \Jall.

5-\-\c..k 0"- -4; ,Clor­

~\-CCf'" W\ ~\ \ 0.. c;\

Very hfl;3utifully furnished house. Very rich lookin!....

Brouwer Furniture in house.

In middle nf °nt rvit the doorbell rin ·S. Little irIs "l"k nf,:

to rnke lawn.

~a~. urouwer looks if ~he is in her 5i. tie~t not her eivhtie~.

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