Excerpt from “Incidents of the Burning of Holland City,” published in the Hartford-Dayspring News in 1871: “H.D. Post and his family were aroused just in time to wrap their nightclothes around them, leaving their home and fine property, which had required 25 years to accumulate, to the greedy ravenous flames."

H.D. Post was the first postmaster. The fire destroyed Post’s large private library and geological collection. The museum has artifacts in its collection that survived the fire, including a partially burned Bible, a singed dresser, an organ, a cradle, and a toy teapot. A few of these items are on display in the museum galleries; the rest are in storage.

A burned chest and organ that survived the fire now located in the Holland Museum