Holland Land Company

Map of the Holland Purchase (source: Holland Land Company Map - circa. 1821)

The Holland Land Company was an unincorporated syndicate of thirteen Dutch investors from Amsterdam,[1] headquartered in Philadelphia,[2] who purchased large tracts of American land for development and speculation. Their primary purchase was that of the western two-thirds of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase in 1792 and 1793, an area that afterward was known as the Holland Purchase.[3] Additional lands were purchased in northwest Pennsylvania.[2][4] Aliens were forbidden from owning land within New York State, except by special acts of the New York State Legislature, so investors placed their funds in the hands of certain trustees who bought the land in central and western New York State.[5] The syndicate hoped to sell the land rapidly at a great profit. Instead, for many years they were forced to make further investments in their purchase; surveying it, building roads, digging canals, to make it more attractive to settlers.[6][7] They influenced state policy in New York to allow foreign ownership of the land,[5] avoid new taxes,[8] and promote the construction of the Erie Canal and government roads on the company lands.[9] They supported Governor Dewitt Clinton's faction in the state government to achieve these goals. The company finished selling its New York lands in 1839 and its Pennsylvania lands in 1849, and the company was liquidated in 1858.[7]

Company lawyer David A. Ogden purchased the pre-emption rights for the remaining Seneca reservation lands from the Holland Land Company in 1810 and established another unincorporated syndicate, the Ogden Land Company.[10][11] The company purchased much of the Seneca lands in the 1820s and 1830s, often fraudulently.[12]

  1. ^ Kirby, C.D. (1976). The Early History of Gowanda and The Beautiful Land of the Cattaraugus. Gowanda, NY: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company, Inc./Gowanda Area Bi-Centennial Committee, Inc.
  2. ^ a b Safran, Franciska (April 1988). "The Preservation of the Holland Land Company Records". New York History. 69 (2): 163–183. JSTOR 23178292.
  3. ^ Chazanoff, William (1970). Joseph Ellicott and the Holland Land Company: The Opening of Western New York. Syracuse University Press. pp. 17–20. ISBN 978-0815601616. JSTOR j.ctv64h6xr.5.
  4. ^ Chazanoff, pp. 15-17
  5. ^ a b Chazanoff, pp. 68-70
  6. ^ Silsby, Robert. "The Holland Land Company in Western New York" (PDF). Adventures in Western New York History. 8: 4–7.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Chazanoff, pp. 188-191
  9. ^ Chazanoff, pp. 168-169, 175
  10. ^ Houghton, M.S., Frederick (1920). "The History of the Buffalo Creek Reservation". Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society. 24: 158. Retrieved Dec 28, 2022.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).