Many immigrants from the Netherlands found a new life in America in the state of Iowa, With them they brought tulips. Over the years everyone in the state of Iowa fell in love with the lovely flower called the tulip. Every year they hold a three-day Tulip Festival in the city of Pella to remember their Dutch founding fathers.
The city of Pella was founded by Hendrik Pieter Scholte. He was a minister who immigrated with his wife, three daughters, and 800 followers. They built their “City of Refuge.” All of these immigrants arrived looking for religious freedom. Moving to a rural area Scholte became a jack-of-all-trades.
He was the one who laid out a plan for the town and decided the names of the streets and built a church. He continued to develop the town setting up a lime and brick kiln, opening a sawmill, founding a bank. establishing a newspaper, and even became the postmaster and the land agent. Every spring Pella springs forth in the beauty of tulips all around,