WHAT WE DO
ABOUT THE DUTCH HERITAGE BOOSTERS
The Dutch Heritage Boosters (DHB) is a volunteer group organized in 1986 to promote and maintain the Dutch heritage early settlers of Orange City brought to the town. The group maintains The Little White Store and The Century Home. They also sponsor Sinterklaas Day each December, as well as the Dutch Heritage Walk and parade of flags during Tulip Festival. The volunteer group may best be known for the poffertjes they make and serve from The Little White Store each Tulip Festival and on other special occasions.
HISTORY OF ORANGE CITY
Orange City was founded by first and second-generation Dutch-Americans who sought to settle a new colony in Northwest Iowa. A small group from Pella, Iowa traveled to Sioux County in April of 1869 and found expansive land with rich, fertile soil.
In June of that same year a new committee consisting of Henry Hospers, Leendert Vander Meer, Dirk Vanden Bos, and Hendrick Jan Van De Waa traveled to Sioux County to stake their claim.
Like all Hollanders, the Dutch in the new colony cherished their homeland where many of their families still lived. With patronage to the Dutch royal family, the settlement was called “Orange City,” in honor of the Royal House of Orange.