In the spring of 1847, four sailing vessels carrying 800 freedom-seeking Hollanders landed at Baltimore, where they were met by Dominie Henry Peter Scholte, who led them across the Alleghenies to Pittsburgh and by river to St. Louis. There a committee headed by Scholte went on to Iowa, visited the U.S. Land Office at Fairfield, and, with guidance from a Baptist missionary, chose a site in Marion County for a Dutch settlement and purchased 18,000 acres. Scholte named the place Pella, meaning "City of Refuge." When the Hollanders reached Pella in August 1847, the 50 cabins they had contracted for had not been built, so they erected makeshift cabins, sod-houses, and lean-tos with thatched roofs. They planted crops, but in the hard winter of 1848-1849 they lost almost all their stock. New Dutch immigrants then arrived with money, and their coming, together with sales to the Forty-Niners, brought prosperity to Pella. During the 1850's, the Dutch gained a reputation for butter and cheese that helped secure future prosperity. After Iowa City lost the seat of government, the Hollanders offered to donate land to make Pella the capital, but Des Moines was chosen instead. New Amsterdam was laid out on the Des Moines River to serve as Pella's port, but the flood of 1851 ended those hopes. The Western Stage Coach served Pella until the railroad arrived in 1865. Central University, established by the Baptists in 1853, has been operated by the Dutch Reformed Church since 1916. During the Civil War, the entire student body of 122 enlisted in the Union Army. By 1870, the Pella colony numbered almost 2,000, and Dutch settlement had spread into Mahaska and Jasper counties. In 1870, Henry Hospers, frustrated by high land prices, led 65 families to Sioux County, where they established Orange City. Since its beginnings in 1936, the Pella Tulip Festival has become one of Iowa's outstanding historical attractions.