Steve VanderVeen: The first woman to run a large commercial organization in Holland
Dena Muller was the first woman to run a large commercial organization in Holland.
Her mother, Martha Vandenberg, was born in 1860. She married Iete Muller in 1878. Together, they had nine children, including Dena, born in 1884 — plus Margaret, Martha, Cornelius, Reendert and John.
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The couple owned a prosperous farm in Illinois. As a young teen, Cornelius decided he wanted to become a minister in the Reformed Church of America. So, he migrated to Holland to attend Hope College Academy and then Hope College.
While at Hope College, he learned that the Standard Milling Company (then known as the Walsh-DeRoo Mill), located at River and Seventh Street, had gone bankrupt. Convinced this was a financial opportunity for his father, he persuaded Iete to sell his farm and purchase the abandoned property, which Iete did in 1907.
It was the same year Cornelius graduated from Hope College and the family built its Queen Anne-style house at 232 W. 16th St. — which still stands today.
Soon after taking over the mill, Iete observed that farmers who brought their grain to the mill visited other merchants in Holland to purchase processed food commodities and groceries. So, in 1909, he renamed his company Standard Grocer and Milling Company and expanded his product mix to include not only poultry food, but also groceries, candy and cereals — which he mixed at the mill.
By 1910, the year Cornelius graduated from Western Seminary, Standard Grocery employed four men and one woman. That ratio remained constant; what would change was who ran the business.
Iete’s next move was to expand into the wholesale grocery business. By 1920, the year he died, and one year after his wife passed away, Standard Grocery was serving 100 retail bakers, grocers and restaurants.
After his death, the Holland City Directory listed the house on 232 W. 16th St. in Dena’s name — but that wasn't true of the business. In 1921, the directory listed Edward Dimnent, then president of Hope College, as president of Standard Grocery. It also listed C.J. Lokker, owner of Notier-Lokker Creamery, as vice president.
It listed Dena as secretary and Cornelius as treasurer, with Margaret as auditor and Reendert as salesperson. Back then, lenders and outside investors perceived a business’ leadership to be more credible if a company had men of prestige in the highest positions of authority.
That was important for Standard Grocery, for — in 1924 — it raised $125,000 in a stock issue to open a second warehouse. This expansion was fortuitous because later Standard became a supplier for IGA (International Grocers Alliance).
Then, when electric refrigerators began to replace ice boxes, Standard Grocery became the wholesaler of both groceries and frozen foods to thousands of family-owned IGA grocery stores across Michigan, Illinois and Indiana who — by partnering with IGA — could increase their buying power and therefore better compete with up-and-coming grocery store chains.
But in all but title, it was Dena who ran the company.
Her sister, Martha, had other plans. In 1928, after attending Hope College and the University of Wisconsin, she married Howard Miller, manager of the Herman Miller Clock Company.
In the 1940s, the Holland-Zeeland City Directory listed Reendert as company president, Cornelius as vice president and John as treasurer. But the locals knew better. It was Dena who ran the company, and she was smart and tough.
By 1945, Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters Union attempted to organize both Standard Grocery and Holland Motor Express, then located on River Avenue and Sixth Street. So, in 1947, when Standard Grocery bought a 7.5-acre parcel of land at 516 E. 16th St. from the estate of Van Raalte to establish a new distribution center, Dena built the facility in secret and dug a trench around the property to keep picketers at a distance.
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Dena also arranged for HME truckers to meet Standard truckers in parking lots off-site to avoid the Teamsters’ attention. That took courage and a loyal workforce for, in those days, the Teamsters controlled the trucking world and could have ruined her business.
Dena retired in 1951.
In 1959, Standard Grocery was purchased by Progressive Grocery of Vassar, Michigan. In 1963, the distribution center on Sixteenth Street became home to Holland Transplanter.
Dena Muller died in 1976.
Information for this story comes from Robert Swierenga’s "Holland, Michigan" and interviews with Phil Miller, son of Howard and Martha Muller Miller.
— Community Columnist Steve VanderVeen is a resident of Holland. Contact him through start-upacademeinc.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland History: The first woman to run a large commercial organization in Holland
