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flag  History of Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

Journey back in time to Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

Visit Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Discover its history. Learn about the people who lived there through stories, old newspaper articles, pictures, postcards and ancestry.

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Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA - Morton House  The Morton Hotel was the place to stay when business travelers came by the trainload to buy furniture for their stores back home.  T

Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan, USA

Ottawa Indians were Grand Rapids' first inhabitants and in 1826 the city was settled by French fur traders.

Grand Rapids was once known as America's Furniture Capital for its fine residential furniture. It is known today as the center of office furniture manufacturing.

President Gerald R. Ford was a native of Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids was the first city in the U.S. to add fluoride to its drinking water - way back in 1945.
experiencegr.com




There is MUCH more to discover about Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Read on!

Grand Rapids Nostalgia: Vintage Photos, Ads, and Postcards


Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Morton House

The Morton Hotel was the place to stay when business travelers came by the trainload to buy furniture for their stores back home.

The Morton Hotel is the fourth hotel structure on the northwest corner of Monroe Center and Ionia Avenue NW since Myron Hinsdell built the Hinsdell House on the site in 1835. It was sold several years later and renamed the National House.

• The National burned in 1855 and 1872, after which it was rebuilt as the Morton Hotel. Built with the latest in fire protection, the five-story hotel was a popular destination for celebrities, including President William McKinley.

• The popularity of the Morton Hotel fell with the 1913 completion of the Pantlind Hotel...
mlive.com

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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1880s
The Goshen Sweeper Co.
Easiest Operated Carpet Sweepers Made

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Michigan Soldier's Home

1886
The Grand Rapids Home for Veterans is established
On 90 acres of land, experts built three main buildings, 19 additional buildings and a 5,000-grave cemetery... michigan.gov

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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A Good Cheap Desk
The Fred Macey Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.

Ladies' Home Journal
January 1898

The Macey Furniture Co. was founded by Fred Macey, who served as its first chairman along with his brother Frank, who also served as treasurer. In 1892 Fred began a mail-order business selling office desks made by other manufacturers, which were advertised in popular magazine as “the best $25 roll-top office desk in the world.” His hefty advertising budget made the company a quick success, and other pieces of office and library furniture were soon added to the mail-order line. But as his mail-order sales began to cut into the traditional sales through retailers, Michigan retailers pressured area furniture manufacturers to prevent them from producing finished goods for Macey. To get around this obstacle, Fred Macey invested his mail-order profits in the construction of his own factory. He also expanded his mail-order business, with a national system of warehouses for distribution.

In... Read MORE...

Read more about Fred MACEY photo of ancestor

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Ramona Theatre, Reeds Lake, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Ramona Park was an amusement park located on the western shore of Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1903-1954... The park also included the Ramona Theatre which hosted vaudeville shows, musicals, silent film shorts, and favorite local and national entertainers... grpmcollections.org

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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The Dam. Grand River, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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U. B. A. Hospital, Grand Rapids, Mich.

The U.B.A. is the Union Benevolent Association, previously the Ladies’ Union Benevolent Association, and this organization built the hospital in 1886. Visible on the porch is at least one nurse and likely some additional staff. By this time the building was also used as a nursing school.

In 1915 this building was replaced with a more purpose-built structure named Blodgett Memorial Hospital, on a nearby location in the city. sdlotu.com

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Monroe Avenue Looking West. Grand Rapids, Mich.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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City Hall, Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Grand Rapids City Hall was a government building located at 35 Lyon Street, NW, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, but demolished later that year, and de-listed from the register in 1970.

The old Grand Rapids City Hall was designed by architect Elijah E. Myers. Construction began in 1885, supervised by W.D. Richardson of Springfield, Illinois. The building was dedicated in 1888, having cost $314,800 to construct. After extended efforts to save the building, it was demolished in 1969. wikipedia

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Lower Monroe Avenue, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Canal Street, looking North

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Y.M.C.A., 1906

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Federal Building

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Post Office

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Campau Square, 1909

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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A View in John Ball Park, 1909

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Boat and Canoe Club

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Kent County Court House

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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High School

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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North Park Pavilion

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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A Grand Rapids, Mich., Furniture Factory

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Fire Engine House

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Fox Residence

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Grand Trunk Depot

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Sigsbee Street School

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Michigan Trust Building

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Hotel Pantlind

The hotel building was originally named for the Pantlind family, famous local hoteliers, and was conceived to accommodate the large number of furniture buyers who frequented the city.
In 1925, the Pantlind Hotel was ranked as one of the top ten in America. emporis.com

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Union Depot, 1913

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Monroe and S. Division St.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Phoenix Furniture Co.

1868: William A. Berkey becomes assignee for the property of cabinetmakers Atkins and Soule.

1872: Berkey combines residuals of Atkins & Soule with $200,000 new capital to form Phoenix Furniture Co.

The Phoenix Furniture Co. “rose from the ashes” of the Atkins & Soule partnership, with the help of its first president William A. Berkey, and a large investment of new capital. Berkey ran the company until 1879, when controlling interest was sold to J.W. Converse, a capitalist from Boston. Converse employed his friend and in-law from Massachusetts, Robert W. Merrill, to help manage the plant, which he did until 1912. In 1911 ownership of the company changed again, to Robert W. Irwin, who in 1919 consolidated Phoenix and the Royal Furniture Co. into the Robert W. Irwin Co. Because of the prominent reputation of Phoenix, pieces made in its plants were advertised and labeled as “Phoenix Furniture, by the Robert W. Irwin Co.”...
furniturecityhistory.org

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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New Y.M.C.A. Building, 1916

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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First Methodist Episcopal Church

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Grand River
Bissell Carpet Sweeper Co.

Like a lot of well-intentioned people who plan on having a relaxing Saturday, we didn’t really mean to start cleaning—it just happened. In 1876, Melville R. Bissell and his wife, Anna, were running a small crockery shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Sick of constantly cleaning sawdust off the shop's carpet, Melville invented and patented a one-of-a-kind sweeper. It didn't take long for friends and customers at the shop to ask about buying the sweeper, and when they did, a new business was born... bissell.com
Read more about Melville Reuben BISSELL photo of ancestor

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Interurban Bridge

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Blodgett Hospital and Nurses Home

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Spanish-American War Memorial, Lookout Park

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Grand Rapids Furniture Museum

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Monroe Ave., Looking Northwest

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Hotel Rowe

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Grand River and Falls from Bridge St. Bridge and Grand Trunk R.R. Station

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Butterworth Hospital

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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Civic Auditorium, 1949

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

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"Fingers" Famous for Fine Food

Discover Grand Rapids: History, News, Travel, and Stories

Add informationAdd History/News/Story
  • 1825 - Grand Rapids, Michigan founded

    wikipedia.org
  • 1854 - Grand Rapids
    Grand Rapids city, capital of Kent co., Michigan, is finely situated on the rapids of Grand River, 40 miles from its mouth, and 60 miles W. N. W. from Lansing. It is handsomely laid out on the left bank of the river, and has a pleasant and healthy situation, commanding a fine view of the river, and of the Indian mounds on the opposite shore. It is one of the most important and flourishing inland towns of the state, and a place of much activity in trade and manufactures. Large steamboats run daily from this place to Grand Haven, at the mouth of the river, where they connect with the lake steamers; and a smaller boat ascends from the head of the rapids to Lyons, which is about 50 miles distant by water. Salt and gypsum of good quality are found here ; limestone and pine lumber, and other materials for building, are abundant in the vicinity. Nearly 20 manufactories were in operation here in 1861. The river at this place is about 300 yards wide, and falls 18 feet in the course of a mile,... Read MORE...

  • 1876 - September 19 - 1st carpet sweeper patented (Melville Bissell of Grand Rapids, Mich)

    historyorb.com

    Read more about Melville Reuben BISSELL photo of ancestor
  • 1880 - July 23 - 1st commercial hydroelectric power planet begins, Grand Rapids, Mich

    historyorb.com
  • 1895 - Grand Rapids
    Grand Rapids, a city of Michigan, capital of Kent co., at the head of steamboat navigation on Grand River," the junction of 6 railroads,—the Chicago & West Michigan, the Grand Rapids & Indiana, the Detroit, Grand Haven" Milwaukee, the Grand Rapids, Lansing & Detroit, the Grand River Valley, and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern It is 60 miles W.N.W. of Lansing. The site is one of much natural beauty. The river here falls 18 feet in a mile; and on either side of the river is a canal, by means of which numerous mills receive their motive-power. The sawing and planing of pine and hard-wood lumber, and the manufacture of furniture, cooperage, and wooden ware, are leading industries. Farm-implements, iron goods, wire, leather, flour, machinery, beer, chemicals, white bricks, pawing: bricks, cement, stucco-plaster, and land-plaster are also extensively manufactured, there being near the town important gypsum-quarries. The town is generally well built, and numerous fine public and private... Read MORE...

  • News  1896 - An Aeronaut Killed
    Grand Rapids, Mich., June 29. - Hiram Cole, twenty-six years old, a professional aeronaut, living in Big Rapids, Mich., fell thirty feet from his balloon while making an ascension at a surburban recort [sic] last evening and died shortly afterward.
    Courier Journal
    Louisville, Kentucky
    June 30, 1896
  • News  1905 - TRAIN CRASHES INTO STREET CAR
    Four Probably Fatally Injured, Two Others Hurt, at Grand Rapids, Mich.

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Feb. 1. — Six persons were injured, four probably fatally, tonight, when a Grand Rapids & Indiana northbound passenger train crashed into a street car at West Leonard street. The street car was tossed fifty feet. The injured:

    Miss Nellie Folkarksim, arm and leg broken and injured internally, may die; Miss Mary Osling, cut about head and body; John Quist, arm broken, injured about head, may die; Motorman W. C. Gardiner, may die; Nicholas De Young, injured about head; John Lindstrom, hurt about head. All the injured were residents of Grand Rapids.
    Duluth News-Tribune
    Duluth, Minnesota
    February 2, 1905
  • News  1910 - BIG CYCLONE RUINS CROPS
    Michigan Section Storm Swept, and Creek Overflows, Flooding Houses.

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Aug. 25. - A storm of cyclone proportions raged today north of Grand Rapids and crops, standing, timber and many buildings were ruined. The terrific wind was accompanied by a heavy rain.

    Asylum Creek at Traverse City overflowed, flooding a number of residences.
    Morning Oregonian
    Portland, Oregon
    August 26, 1910
  • News  1912 - TORNADO
    Grand Rapids, Mich, July 13. - Grand Rapids was hit early today by a cyclone that injured forty or more persons and did thousands of dollars worth of damage. The storm entered the city from the southwest about four o'clock. The first place struck was the city market and the Grand Rapids Central league base ball park adjoining.

    The market was crowded with farmers and their teams as trading had just begun. As the storm struck, the roof of the ball park grand stand was lifted and hurled to pieced, being scattered all over the market.

    A panic followed. Horses were killed and a great many persons hurt, some so badly they had to be sent to the hospital. The police reserves and fire department were called.

    Sweeps Across City. The storm then swept across town striking the best residence district.

    The base ball park and the city market received the brunt of the storm and at the market large injuries occurred.

    It as just before the 4 o'clock opening bell rang that the tornado... Read MORE...

  • 1916
    Grand Rapids, a city of Michigan, capital of Kent co., at the head of steamboat navigation on the Grand River, at the junction of the Grand Rapids and Indiana, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern and other railroads. It is 60 miles WNW. of Lansing. The site is one of much natural beauty. The river here falls 18 feet in a mile. The sawing and planing of pine and hard-wood lumber and the manufacture of furniture, cooperage, and wooden-ware are leading industries, the manufacture of furniture alone employing upward of 16,000 hands. Farm-implements, wagons, iron goods, wire, leather, flour, machinery, beer, chemicals, white bricks, paving-bricks, cement, and calcined plaster are also extensively manufactured, there being near the town important gypsum-quarries. The town has numerous fine public and private edifices, various charitable and benevolent institutions, and contains the Michigan Soldiers' Home, the State Masonic Home, a United States court-house, public library (of 20,000... Read MORE...

  • News  1945 - January 25 - Grand Rapids, Michigan becomes 1st US city to fluoridate its water

    historyorb.com

  • 2023 - Here's a list of places to go and things to do in Grand Rapids:
    Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park: This is a stunning botanical garden with beautiful sculptures dotted throughout. It's a serene place to explore and enjoy nature's beauty.

    ArtPrize: If you happen to visit during September or October, don't miss ArtPrize, an international art competition that takes over the entire city. Art installations are displayed in public spaces, galleries, and museums.

    Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum: Learn about the life and legacy of the 38th President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford. The museum houses exhibits and artifacts related to his presidency and his time in Grand Rapids.

    Downtown Market: A foodie's paradise! The Downtown Market features various vendors offering fresh produce, artisanal cheeses, gourmet chocolates, and more. It's also a great place to grab a meal or a coffee.

    Heritage Hill Historic District: Take a stroll through this charming historic district, which boasts beautiful Victorian-era homes and tree-lined... Read MORE...

Discover Your Roots: Grand Rapids Ancestry

Ancestors Who Were Born or Died in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

We currently have information about ancestors who were born or died in Grand Rapids.

View Them Now (sorted by year of birth)



male ancestorHenry J VANDERHOOF (1785, , New York, USA - 28 August 1873, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA)
male ancestorPeter HARDY (1786, , New Hampshire, USA - 7 August 1868, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA)
male ancestorPeter POTTER (1790, , Michigan, USA - 15 February 1870, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA)
male ancestorLeonard WHEELER (24 February 1791, , Vermont, USA - 9 December 1871, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA)
male ancestorWilliam M. BALL (23 August 1792, , New Hampshire, USA - 17 October 1871, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA)
male ancestorJulius C. ABEL (13 September 1793, , New York, USA - 1 July 1871, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA)
female ancestorPhebe MERRIL (1794, , England (United Kingdom) - 25 December 1870, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA)
female ancestorBridget BURNS (1798, , Ireland - 14 March 1872, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA)
male ancestorDaniel BUSH (9 February 1798, Dutchess County, New York, USA - 15 September 1872, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA)

Ancestors Who Were Married in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

We currently have information about ancestors who were married in Grand Rapids.

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male ancestorJewett Ebenezer ALMY (20 August 1843 - 26 May 1918) and female ancestorMartha R ROBINSON (30 April 1850 - 28 January 1934) married 9 March 1871
male ancestorJacob VANDELIER (7 November 1851 - 14 November 1914) and female ancestorElla BEARD (19 June 1855 - 4 May 1939) married 11 October 1875
male ancestorWalter Irving TOWNE (23 October 1870 - aft. 1940) and female ancestorC Leonora AINSWORTH (June 1871 - ) married 25 May 1892
male ancestorWilliam Sherman TOWNE (9 June 1868 - 15 January 1943) and photo of Bertha E SONES Bertha E SONES (22 March 1869 - 5 April 1946) married 28 June 1892
photo of Fred MACEY Fred MACEY (31 March 1866 - 2 February 1904) and photo of Clara May LATHROP Clara May LATHROP (8 October 1866 - 30 January 1942) married 1 December 1892
male ancestorAllison Scott OPDYKE (1872 - 2 January 1927) and female ancestorAnna OWENS (27 July 1881 - 9 August 1963) married 3 April 1900
photo of Ivan Vivian HILL Ivan Vivian HILL (20 May 1903 - 7 May 1970) and female ancestorEdythe Marie BOOTS (7 February 1904 - 5 February 1986) married 18 December 1921
male ancestorRobert P MCLAREN (19 April 1899 - 24 May 1988) and female ancestorJane CRAWFORD (9 April 1900 - 28 July 1971) married 1924
photo of Gerald Rudolph FORD Gerald Rudolph FORD (14 July 1913 - 29 December 2006) and photo of Elizabeth Anne "Betty" BLOOMER Elizabeth Anne "Betty" BLOOMER (8 April 1918 - 8 July 2011) married 15 October 1948

Ancestors buried in Grand Rapids - Cemeteries in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

Woodlawn Cemetery

Genealogy Resources for Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, Michigan City Directories, 1889-90

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Updated: 9/15/2023 4:51:54 PM

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