Businesses stay alive by adapting. That's especially true for the VanTongeren and Bos family businesses.
Hermanus (Herman) Van Tongeren was born in 1866 in Overijssel in the Netherlands. In 1893, Herman married Susie Romeyn in Zeeland, Michigan. Their daughter, Janet, was born in 1894. Their son, Chester, was born in 1896.
Meanwhile, in the mid-1800s, the Bos family immigrated to the Holland area and homesteaded a farm on Riley Street. Before the advent of the automobile, they delivered kegs of beer by horse and wagon to various locations in West Michigan.
In 1921, William Bos married Janet Van Tongeren and joined his father-in-law’s business. Herman, by that time, had a cigar factory, wholesale business and retail store at 12 E. Eighth St.
At that time, cigars were kept fresh in humidors: small wooden boxes with glass fronts and a heating element on the bottom, which warmed a pan of water to create humidity and kept the cigars from drying out. In the late 1920s, cigars began to be wrapped in cellophane, giving them a longer shelf life.
The invention of cellophane also gave candy a longer shelf life. Encouraged by those trends, William started his own company, Bos Tobacco and Candy, operating out of the basement of his father-in-law’s business and delivering his cigars and candy to small retailers in a panel truck.
During the Prohibition, William added soda pop to his product line — as beer brewers switched to making “near beer” and soft drinks. One of his brands was Blatz flavored drinks.
In 1926, Herman’s son, Chester, bought a souvenir business from a man named DeWeerdt, who sold wooden shoes to the Kresge and Woolworth stores in Holland. That business eventually became the Holland Bowl Mill.
William's brother, Alvin, became involved in Bos Tobacco and Candy, which served territories outside of Holland, including Grand Haven and Allegan. The business survived the Great Depression because people kept spending money on small pleasures like tobacco and candy.
After the Prohibition was repealed, in 1933, Bos Tobacco and Candy added beer to their product line. But the family wasn’t comfortable with the way brewers wanted their distributors to sell beer — offering free samples in bars. So, in 1939, the brothers ended their relationship with them.
In 1940, Alvin D. Bos formed the A.D. Bos Company. During World War II, the government rationed sugar and tobacco. In 1947, William sold his business to Melvin Acherhof, who sold it to Alvin. Meanwhile, another brother, Gerald, built a similar business in Grand Rapids.