Civic Center History
The Holland Civic Center was first built in 1954, where it hosted many different events. The most popular events that were held there were athletic events. The very first event held in the Civic Center was a Harlem Globetrotters basketball game, in which 2,700 people showed up to watch the game, even though there was no seating at the time. After that event, many other significant athletic events were held, such as the 'Miracle on 8th Street', a Women's College Basketball game where the women won a National Championship in 1990 after scoring a free-throw buzzer-beater to win the game, after they had been losing by 20 points during the game.
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Going even further back, before the Civic Center had been built, the area used to serve as a tannery. The tannery belonged to the very first ever mayor of Holland, Isaac Cappon, and his partner, John Bertsch. It is found that some of the remains of the tannery are used as decoration for the current Civic
Center building. In fact, the old tannery floor is being used as the background of
the history wall found upstairs, as well as the 'Civic Center' letters on the old
building.
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The Civic Center was recently remodeled in 2018, where the building occupied
a larger amount of space. This included a brand new atrium at the front of the
building and a new wing on the north side which is now used for multiple different events. In today's time, the Holland Civic Center has been hosting events such as weddings and/or receptions, concerts, basketball games, expo's, ceremonies, and much more. Looking back in history, the Civic Center has improved immensely in their variety of different events they can host.
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