…Holland and Springfield Township Recollections
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of stories on mayors of the Village of Holland. Holland-Springfield-Spencer Historical Society president Karla Miller submitted this story as part of the village’s centennial celebration this year.
Each month, the column will feature one of a dozen mayors the village has had over the past 100 years. This month’s story is about Conrad Geiger Price.
The fourth Mayor of Holland was Conrad Geiger Price who was born October 11, 1891 in Swanton, Fulton County, to Lorenzo D. Price and Maria E. Geiger.
Conrad was named after his mother’s father Conrad Geiger. Not liking that name, he went by C. Geiger Price and took on the nickname “Guy,” as he was known to everyone in Holland.
Guy Price married Esther Edith Hartman, a school teacher, on August 12, 1914 in Lucas County. She was born August 19, 1890 in Ogden, Michigan, to Thomas Hartman and Jennette May Weir.
Back then, a woman could not teach if she married. Guy was working for the Gordon Lumber Company in Liberty Center when their first-born William Hartman Price was born July 16, 1915.
A second son Frank L. Price was born July 19, 1918 in Liberty Center. In 1919 the family rented a house on Erie Street in Holland where little Frank died March 7, 1919. He was laid to rest in Swanton. Guy Price was one of the first employees for the newly opened Gordon Lumber Company on Railroad Street in Holland. He was employed there for 29 years.
On March 30, 1924 a daughter Dorothy May Price was born in Holland. In April 1924, their new house on Hall Street was built and the family moved in. It was later sold in 1967 to Don Williams.
In 1928 Holland Schools established a cafeteria and Esther Price was the manager to the delight of the students and faculty. She always had a smile to greet them.
A Christmas tragedy occurred December 21, 1930, when their son Billy, 15, fell from and was run over by a truck he was riding in the back of with a group of friends on Hall Street.
The truck contained a load of sand to make a skating rink. He was rushed to Mercy Hospital where he died of internal injuries. He was buried in Swanton on Christmas Eve.
On March 25, 1932 a son Robert Thomas Price was born in Holland. Guy’s father Lorenzo Price was killed in an auto accident August 14, of that year at the corner of Angola and Holland Sylvania roads.
Three months later Conrad G. Price was elected the fourth mayor of Holland, serving from 1932 to 1937. He was a former member of the Holland Village Council and the Springfield Board of Education.
In 1948 Guy Price retired from Gordon Lumber Company and went to work at Toledo Stamping Company for 10 years.
By then Esther had been allowed to go back to teaching school. She taught fifth grade at Holland Elementary for many, many years.
Records show that Esther Price (Mother) in May 1948 had both her son’s bodies (William and Frank) removed from Swanton Cemetery and interred at Springfield Township Cemetery, section16 E, l to 45 by Will Birkenkamp Funeral Home.
Holland’s fourth mayor died at his home, 208 Hall Street on October 24, 1958. His wife Esther Price died at the home of their daughter Dorothy in Vandalia, Ohio on April 3, 1990 at the age of 99 years 7 months 15 days.
Both are buried alongside their sons at Springfield Township Cemetery. l heard a story about when Mrs. Price came to the rescue of a student. The outcome was not as the boy had expected. It seems he slid down the teeter-totter and tore the seat of his pants. He thought for sure he would be sent home. Not to be. She placed him over her lap and proceeded to mend the pants so he could return to class.
