New Holland
In 1728, the first known settler to the area we now know as New Holland was John Diffenderfer. The local inhabitants referred to this large tract of land as "Saeue Schwamm," translated as "pig meadow," "hog swamp," or "where the pigs roamed."
It became the largest settlement in Earl Township and was later called "Earltown". In the 1750s, John's son, Michael, developed 25 building lots along what is now Main Street, between Brimmer Avenue and Custer Avenue. Michael Diffenderfer called his new village, "New Design". A free common school was established and organized by the German Lutheran congregation in 1787; teachers spoke and taught in both English and German.
New Holland was opted as the town name when the post office was built in 1802. New Holland may suggest that its founders were from Holland (i.e. the Netherlands), but this is only partially true. It was named New Holland by the immigrants in honor to the Hollanders that were helpful in their flight from Europe from religious persecution. These "old" Hollanders aided their Palatinate neighbors as they fled persecution from the Rhineland Valley to the New World. For many living in New Holland, the church became the centralized social and spiritual hub for activities in the community. Trinity Lutheran Church was founded in 1730. Saint Stephens Reformed Church was founded in 1732.
The Welsh, French and German were some of the first to settle the land. The foothills and mountains surrounding New Holland reminded the Welsh of their homeland so much that they named this area the Welsh Mountains. As in muchof the Eastern United States, there were successive waves of cultures or peoples that immigrated to Lancaster County. A large population of German and Swiss (Amish and Mennonites) who became known for their exceptional farming ability settled most of the land. William Penn and his descendants sold many large tracts of land to these immigrant farmers who preferred this relatively flat and fertile land. This area, and Lancaster County as a whole, is still known as the best producing, non-irrigated farmland in the world.
The original layout of New Holland was in a "strassdorf" style, a European design where the villagers lived in a central location on either side of the street with a small plot of land in back of their homes for cultivation or trade purposes. Even today, Main Street has so many bends or "kinks" and was thought to be a cow path or Indian trail, but it was actually designed that way. The original villagers built Horse Shoe Road (as it was called) to follow the highest crest of ground, which allowed the snow and rain to run off the north and south sides of the street and thus kept the once dirt road as dry as possible.
New Holland, surrounded by lush farmland, was known as a quaint town wary of outsiders and slow to change. As recent as the late 1870s, it is believed there were still no more than 40 to 50 homes in New Holland. Although the town resisted, it did change with the times.