The first lighthouse at Holland Harbor was a small, square wooden structure erected in 1872. In 1880 the lighthouse service installed a new light atop a metal pole in a protective cage, and the oil lantern was lowered by pulleys for service. At the turn of the century a steel tower was built for the light, and in 1907 the present structure was erected. Named the Holland Harbor South Pierhead Lighthouse, it has a gabled roof reflecting Dutch influence in the area. Popularly called Big Red, it was automated in 1932. When the U. S. Coast Guard recommended abandoning it in 1970, citizens circulated petitions to rescue it, and the Holland Harbor Lighthouse Historical Commission was organized to preserve and restore it. Holland Harbor itself grew from the efforts of Reverend A. C. Van Raalte, who in 1847 saw Black Lake, or Lake Macatawa, as a potential harbor for his Netherlands emigrant followers. The lake's outlet to Lake Michigan was blocked by sandbars and silt, and although the channel was surveyed in 1849, it was not successfully opened because appropriations were inadequate. The Dutch settlers then dug the channel themselves, and on July 1, 1859, the small steamboat Huron entered port. In 1886 the government established the harbor's first lifesaving station, and by 1899 the channel had been relocated and harbor work completed, helping spur business and resort expansion. In 1900 more than 1,095 schooners, steamers, and barges used the harbor.