Pillar Christian Reformed Church (Old First Reformed Church, Ninth Street Christian Reformed Church)

One of the few buildings to survive the fire of 1871 that destroyed most of Holland, this is Holland's oldest church building. The clapboard frame and six widely spaced columns of the temple-front church are constructed of hand-hewn oak. The Doric order, however, is Palladian, not Greek, and thus typical of many provincial temple-form buildings of the Greek Revival era in which a Palladian or Roman order was used. Also not Greek is the three-stage octagonal arched bell tower with a cupola, which tops the square tower. The church stands on land given to the congregation by the Reverend Albertus C. Van Raalte, founder and first pastor of the Holland colony. It was built to the designs of Schrader (1812–1899) of Holland by local builders Verbeek, Venema, Zalsman, and Slenk, with the assistance of volunteers from the congregation. The present church replaced a log church that was located on the site of Pilgrim Rest Cemetery. In 1884 the majority of the congregation seceded as part of a larger religious movement in the community to the Christian Reformed denomination.