30 November 2018 Farm Collector

Sam’s grandfather and father raised onions in “the Grant

muck” – once a marsh near Grant, Michigan, drained to cre-

ate farmland – for many years using the Grand Haven for

cultivating and other tasks. “Before that, Dad used a Bolens

Huski walk-behind,” Sam says. “He was happy when he got

something he could sit on.”

The small tractor was designed by Ben Poll in 1941. He

and his two brothers owned Holland Transplanter Co.,

Holland, Michigan, where a few tractors were built. Prior

Family Favorite

MICHIGAN FAMILY HOLDS ON

TO GRAND HAVEN GARDEN

TRACTOR FOR 70 YEARS

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n 1948, Albert Scholtens bought a new Grand Haven

Model CC garden tractor (serial No. 910). Seventy years

later, the garden tractor remains in the same family,

although it is now owned by Albert’s son, Sam.

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to World War II, Grand Haven Stamped Products (now

GHSP) bought the rights to the tractor. The Grand Hav-

en, Michigan, metal-stamping plant manufactured about

1,400 of them between 1946 and 1953.

A photo of Albert shows the GH in hi-crop configu-

ration. A “duster” attachment on the rear was used to

spread a powdered insecticide on plants. Dave Mitteer,

an engineer at GHSP, said the company never sold rear

wheels like those shown in the photo.

By Jerry Mattson