Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of
Michigan
.
The city
is located on the Grand River
and is approximately 30 miles from Lake Michigan
. As of the
2000 census, the city population
was 197,800, making it the
114th largest city in
the United States.
It is the county
seat of Kent
County
, Michigan
, second
largest city in the state (after Detroit
), and the
largest city in West
Michigan. Nicknamed the "Furniture City", the major
industry in Grand Rapids once was furniture production. However,
the city and surrounding communities are more economically diverse
today, and contribute heavily to the
health
care,
automotive, and
consumer goods manufacturing industries, among others.
History

Pearl Street, located downtown,
c.1885
Over 2,000 years ago, people associated with the
Hopewell culture occupied the Grand River
Valley. Around A.D. 1700, the
Ottawa
Indians moved into the area and founded several villages along
the
Grand River.
The Grand Rapids area was first settled by Europeans near the start
of the 19th century by
missionaries and
fur traders. They generally lived in
reasonable peace alongside the
Ottawa tribespeople, with whom they traded
their European metal and textile goods for fur pelts.
Joseph and Madeline La Framboise established the
first Indian/European trading post in West
Michigan, and in present Grand Rapids, on the banks of the
Grand River near what is now Ada
. After the death of her husband in 1806,
Madeline La Framboise carried on, expanding fur trading posts to
the west and north. La Framboise, whose ancestry was a mix of
French and Indian, later merged her successful operations with the
American Fur Company.
She
retired, at age 41, to Mackinac Island
. The first permanent white settler in the
Grand Rapids area was a
Baptist minister
named
Isaac McCoy who arrived in
1825.
In 1826 Detroit-born
Louis Campau, the
official founder of Grand Rapids, built his cabin, trading post,
and blacksmith shop on the east bank of the Grand River near the
rapids.
Campau returned to Detroit
, then came
back a year later with his wife and $5,000 of trade goods to trade
with the native tribes. In 1831 the federal survey of the
Northwest Territory reached the Grand River and set the boundaries
for Kent County, named after prominent New York jurist
James Kent. Campau became perhaps the most
important settler when, in 1831, he bought 72 acres (291,000 m²) of
what is now the entire downtown business district of Grand Rapids.
He purchased it from the federal government for $90 and named his
tract Grand Rapids. Rival
Lucius Lyon,
who purchased the rest of the prime land, called his the Village of
Kent.
Yankee immigrants and
others began immigrating from New York
and New England
in the 1830s.
In 1836
John Ball, representing
a group of New York land speculators, bypassed Detroit for a better
deal in Grand Rapids. Ball declared the Grand River valley "the
promised land, or at least the most promising one for my
operations."
By 1838, the settlement had incorporated itself as a village, and
encompassed an area of approximately three-quarters of a mile
(1 km) . The first formal census occurred in 1845, which
announced a population of 1,510 and recorded an area of four square
miles. The city of Grand Rapids was officially created on May 1,
1850, when the village of Grand Rapids voted to accept the proposed
city charter. The population at the time was 2,686. By 1857, the
city of Grand Rapids' boundary totaled 10.5 square miles
(27 km²).
In 1880, the country's first hydro-electric generator was put to
use on the city's west side.
Grand Rapids was an early participant in the
automobile industry, serving as home to
the
Austin Automobile
Company from 1901 until 1921.
In 1945, Grand Rapids became the first city in the United States to
add
fluoride to its drinking
water.
Downtown Grand Rapids used to host four department stores:
Herpolsheimer's (
Lazarus
in 1987),
Jacobson's,
Steketee's (founded in 1862), and Wurzburg's.
Like most downtown regional department stores, they suffered the
same fate of falling sales, caused largely by the flight to the
suburbs, and consolidation in the 1980s and 1990s.
Transportation history
Roadways
The first improved road into the city was completed in 1855.
This road
was a private, toll plank road from Kalamazoo
through Wayland
, and was a primary route for freight and passengers
until about 1868. This road connected to the outside world
via the
Michigan Central
Railroad at Kalamazoo.
Railroad
The first railroad into the city was the Detroit and Milwaukee
Railroad, which commenced service in 1858. In 1869 the
Lake Shore and
Michigan Southern Railroad connected to the city.
The Grand Rapids and Indiana
Railroad began passenger and freight service to Cedar
Springs
, Michigan
on December
25, 1867 and to Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1870. This railroad
expanded service to Muskegon in 1886.
The Grand Rapids,
Newaygo and Lake Shore Railroad completed a line to White
Cloud
in 1875. In 1888 the
Detroit, Lansing and
Northern Railroad connected with Grand Rapids.
Air Transportation
Grand
Rapids was a home to one of the first regularly scheduled passenger
airlines in the United States when Stout Air Services began flights
from Grand Rapids to Detroit
(actually Ford Airport
in Dearborn
, Michigan
) on July 31, 1926.
Furniture city
During
the second half of the 19th century, the city became a major
lumbering center and the premier furniture manufacturing city of
the United
States
. For this reason it was nicknamed "Furniture
City". After an international exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876,
Grand Rapids became recognized worldwide as a leader in the
production of fine furniture. National home furnishing markets were
held in Grand Rapids for about 75 years, concluding in the 1960s.
Today, Grand Rapids is considered a world leader in the production
of office furniture.
Geography
Topography
Grand Rapids sits on the banks of the
Grand River, where there was once a
set of rapids, at an altitude of above sea level.
It is approximately
30 miles (50 km) east of Lake Michigan
. The state capital of Lansing
lies about 60 miles (100 km) to the
east-by-southeast, and Kalamazoo
is about 50 miles (80 km) to the
south.
Grand Rapids is divided into four
quadrants which form a part of mailing addresses
in the city. The quadrants are NE (northeast), NW (northwest), SE
(southeast), and SW (southwest). Fulton Street serves as the
north-south dividing line, while Division Avenue serve as the
east-west dividing line separating these quadrants.
According to the
United
States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 45.3
sq mi (117.4 km²). 44.6 sq mi (115.6 km²) of it
is land and 0.7 sq mi (1.8 km², 1.50%) of it is water
(primarily the Grand River).
Climate
Grand Rapids experiences a range of weather conditions: its summers
are warm and humid and its winters are cold and snowy. In fact,
Grand Rapids is one of the snowiest cities in the United States
with an average of 72" per year, much of it lake effect snow from
Lake Michigan. The summers can get quite hot and the occurrence of
heat waves is not uncommon.
The highest temperature in the area was recorded on July 13, 1936
at 108°F, and the lowest was recorded on February 14, 1899 at
−24°F. During an average year, sunshine occurs in 46% of the
daylight hours. Afternoon temperatures reach at least 65°F on 43%
of days. On close to 40% of nights the temperature dips to below
32°F. On average, 11 days a year have temperatures that meet or
exceed the 90 degree mark, and 9 days a year have temperatures that
are 0 degrees or colder.
In April 1956, the western and northern portions of the city and
its suburbs were hit by a
violent tornado
which locally produced
F5
damage and killed 18.
Cityscape
Metropolitan area
As of a 2007 census estimate, the
Grand Rapids-Wyoming
Metropolitan Statistical
Area (MSA) had a population of 776,833, while the
Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland Combined Statistical Area (CSA)
had a population of 1,323,095.
Culture

The Van Andel Museum Center
Beginning with the installation of
Alexander Calder's abstract sculpture
La Grande Vitesse, the very first financially funded
project in the United States by the
National Endowment for the
Arts in 1969, the city has been host to the annual
Festival of the Arts downtown
since 1970, known to locals simply as
Festival. During the
first weekend in June, several blocks of downtown surrounding the
Calder stabile in
Vandenberg Plaza are closed to traffic.
Festival features several stages with free live performances, food
booths selling a variety of ethnic cuisine, art demonstrations and
sales, and other arts-related activities. Organizers bill it as the
largest all-volunteer arts festival in the United States, though
this is a bit of a misnomer since sound companies and other
professionals are paid for their services.
Vandenberg Plaza also hosts various
ethnic festivals that take place throughout the summer
season.
Summer concludes with
Celebration on the Grand the
weekend after
Labor Day featuring free
concerts, West Michigan's largest fireworks display and food
booths.
Celebration on the
Grand is an event that celebrates life in the Grand River
valley.
In Grand Rapids in 1973, Main Street America celebrated mainstream
art, as the city hosted
Sculpture off the Pedestal, an
exemplar of public sculpture exhibitions, which assembled 13
world-renowned artists, including
Mark di
Suvero, John Henry,
Kenneth
Snelson,
Robert Morris,
John Mason and Stephen
Antonakos, in a single, citywide celebration.
Sculpture off the
Pedestal was a public/private partnership, which included
financial support by the
National Endowment for the
Arts, educational support from the Michigan Council for the
Arts and in-kind contributions from individuals, business and
industry. Fund-raising events, volunteers and locals housing
artists contributed to the public character of the event.
On November 10, 2004, the grand premier of the film
The Polar Express was held in Grand
Rapids, the movie's setting and home of the book's author
Chris Van Allsburg, and its main
character.
The Meijer Gardens
created a Polar Express display which was part of
their larger Christmas Around the World exhibit.
In
mid-2004, the Grand Rapids Art Museum
(GRAM) began construction on a new, larger building
for its art museum collection, which opened in October, 2007 at 101
Monroe Center NW. The new building site faces downtown's
Ecliptic by
Maya Lin at
Rosa Parks Circle. The Museum was completed in
2007 and became the first LEED certified Art Museum in the
world.
ArtPrize, the world's largest art prize,
completely voted on by the public, took place in Grand Rapids from
September 23 through October 10, 2009. This event was set up by
Richard DeVos and offered $449,000 in
cash prizes. 1,262 artists exhibited their work for two
weeks.
Tourism

The Wealthy Street Theatre
Grand
Rapids is the home of John Ball Park
, Belknap
Hill
, and the Gerald R.
Ford Museum
, the final resting place of the 38th President of
the United States. Significant buildings in the downtown
include the DeVos Place Convention Center
, Van Andel
Arena
, the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
, and now the JW Marriott Hotel. The Urban
Institute for Contemporary Arts is located downtown, and houses art
exhibits, a movie theater, and the urban clay studio.
Along the
Grand River are
symbolic
burial mounds which were used
by the
Hopewell tribe, a
fish ladder, and a
riverwalk.
Grand
Rapids is also home to the Van Andel Museum Center
. Founded in 1854, it is among the oldest
history museums in the United States. The museum's sites currently
include the main site constructed in 1994 on the west bank of the
Grand River (home to the
Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium, the Voigt
House Victorian Museum, and the City Archives and Records Center,
which was the site of the museum and planetarium prior to 1994).
The museum has, in the past few years, played host to a handful of
notable exhibitions, including the
Dead
Sea Scrolls, and The Quest for Immortality: the Treasures of
Ancient Egypt. The museum is set up as a non-profit institution
owned and managed by the Public Museum of Grand Rapids
Foundation.
Heritage Hill
, a neighborhood in the southeastern section of
town. It is one of the largest Urban Historic Districts in
the country, with over 1000
Victorian homes.
Of particular
significance is the Meyer May House
, designed by Frank
Lloyd Wright in 1908 was commissioned by local merchant Meyer
May who operated a men's clothing store (May's of Michigan).
The house is now a free museum owned and operated by
Steelcase who restored the property in the
1980s.
Grand Rapids is home to myriad theatres and stages, including the
newly-reconstructed Civic Theatre (also known as the Meijer
Majestic), the city's largest theatre DeVos hall, and the
convertible Van Andel Arena. Further east of downtown is the
historic Wealthy Street Theatre.
The first megaplex in the United States
is also located in Grand Rapids, Studio 28, which
reopened in 1988 with a seating capacity of 6,000. The
theater ceased operations on November 23, 2008. The Grand Rapids
company also owns many theaters around West Michigan.
In
Grand
Rapids Township
, the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture
Park
combine of world-class botanical gardens and
artwork from such sculptors as Mark di
Suvero, Alexander Calder,
Edgar Degas, and Auguste Rodin. The Gardens'
amphitheatre plays host to numerous concerts each summer, featuring
such eccelctic acts as
Jonny Lang,
The Pointer Sisters,
Lyle Lovett,
Cowboy
Junkies, and
B.B. King.
As Michigan's second most popular
destination (after The Henry Ford Museum
in Dearborn
), the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park is
rapidly gaining national renown.
Slightly east of the downtown area is the
Eastown business district, home to
many popular independently owned businesses such as Yesterdog
(recreated in the film
American
Pie), 76 Coffee, Kava House, Magnum Opus Manga &
Anime, Billy's Lounge, New Yorker Men's Wear, Bombay Cuisine, and
Mulligan's Bar. Eastown, along with Grand Rapids' Heartside
District, is regarded as a center of the city's counter-culture and
music scene.
Entertainment and performing arts
Grand Rapids has a number of popular concert venues in which a
large assortment of bands have performed, including the Orbit Room,
the Mixtape Cafe, the DAAC, the Intersection, DeVos Hall, the Van
Andel Arena, the Royce Auditorium, the Forest Hills Fine Arts
Center, and the Deltaplex.
Sports
Several professional sports teams call Grand Rapids home:
Media
The
Grand Rapids Press
is the daily
newspaper, while
Advance Newspapers publishes a group of
weekly papers providing more community-based news.
Gemini Publications is a niche, regional
publishing company that produces the weekly newspaper
Grand Rapids Business
Journal, the magazines
Grand Rapids Magazine,
Grand Rapids Family and
Michigan Blue, and
several other quarterly and annual business-to-business
publications. There are two free monthly entertainment guides:
REVUE, which
covers music and the arts, and RECOIL, which covers music and
offers
Onion-style satire.
Grand
Rapids, combined with nearby Kalamazoo and Battle
Creek
, was ranked in 2008 as the 39th largest television
market in the U.S. by Nielsen
Media Research. The market is served by stations affiliated
with major American networks including: WOOD-TV
(channel 8, NBC), WZZM-TV
(channel 13, ABC), WXMI
(channel
17, Fox), WXSP-CA
(channel 15, MyNetworkTV) and Kalamazoo-based WWMT
(channel 3,
CBS). WGVU-TV
is the area's PBS member station.
The Grand Rapids area is served by 16
AM radio
stations and 28
FM
stations.
Economy
Grand Rapids has long been a center for
furniture and
automobile
manufacturing; however, the presence
of both industries has declined in the region along with
manufacturing in general.
American
Seating,
Steelcase,
Haworth and
Herman Miller, major manufacturers of office
furniture, are based in the Grand Rapids area.
In 1880,
Sligh
Furniture Company started manufacturing furniture. In 1881, the
Furniture Manufacturers Association (FMA) was organized in Grand
Rapids, it was apparently the first furniture manufacturing
advocacy group in the country.Also Since 1912, Kindel Furniture
Company, and since 1922, the Hekman/Woodmark Furniture Company,
have been designing and manufacturing traditional American
furniture in Grand Rapids. All of these companies are still
producing furniture today.
More
recently the city has had some success in developing and attracting
businesses focusing on the health
sciences, with facilities such as the Van Andel Research
Institute (primarily focused on cancer research), Grand Valley
State University
's Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences
(undergraduate and graduate health-related programs, doctorate
program in Physical Therapy, upcoming Doctorate of Nursing Practice
(DNP)), and Michigan State University
's new Grand Rapids based Medical School.
Nearly a billion dollars has been spent on new and expanded
facilities (including the Spectrum Health Cancer Pavilion, the
Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital and an addition to
the Van Andel Institute, which will more than double its space.
Most of these buildings are located in the Michigan Street
medical corridor , and is
commonly known as "Medical Mile." Employment opportunities thrive
and the growth has developed specialized health science employment
groups to facilitate the influx, such as the Medical Mile
Group.
The Grand Rapids area is also home to a number of well known
companies that include;
Alticor/
Amway (a consumer goods manufacturer and distributor),
Spartan Stores (a food distributor
and grocery store chain), Foremost Insurance Company (a specialty
lines insurance company),
Meijer (a regional
Supercenter chain), GE Aviation
(formerly
Smiths Industries, an
Aerospace products company),
Wolverine World Wide (a designer and
manufacturer of shoes, boots and clothing),
MC
Sports, Inc. (a regional sports retail chain) and
Universal Forest Products (a
building materials company).
The city is also known as a center of Christian publishing, home to
Zondervan,
Baker
Books, Kregel Publications, and
Eerdmans Publishing.
The surrounding area is noted for its fruit production.
Due to
its close proximity to Lake Michigan
the climate is considered prime for apple, peach,
and blueberry farming.
In recent
years, the convention business has seen an increase following the
construction of the DeVos Place Convention Center
.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 197,800
people, 73,217 households, and 44,369 families residing in the
city. The
population density was
4,431.2/sq mi (1,710.8/km²). There were 77,960 housing units
at an average density of 1,746.5/sq mi (674.3/km²). The racial
makeup of the city was 67.30%
White
American (62.5% non-Hispanic White), 20.41%
African American, 0.74%
Native American, 1.62%
Asian American, 0.12%
Pacific Islander American, 6.63%
from other races, and 3.19% from two or more races. 13.05% of the
population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race. The city had a foreign-born
population of 10.5%.
There were 73,217 households out of which 32.0% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 40.3% were
married couples living together, 15.8% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 39.4% were non-families.
30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.24.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.0% under the age
of 18, 13.1% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 16.7% from 45 to
64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
30 years. For every 100 females there were 95.8 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $37,224, and the
median income for a family was $44,224. Males had a median income
of $33,050 versus $26,382 for females. The
per capita income for the city was
$17,661. 15.7% of the population and 11.9% of families were below
the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 19.4%
are under the age of 18 and 10.4% are 65 or older.
Government and politics
Like the surrounding counties, the Grand Rapids area has
traditionally been a stronghold for the
Republican Party, but the
city itself leans
Democratic.
The city is the center of the
3rd Congressional
District, represented by Republican
Vern
Ehlers. Former
President Gerald Ford represented the district from 1949
to 1974. Ford died on December 26, 2006 at his home in Palm
Springs, California, and was buried on the grounds of his
Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids on January 3, 2007.
Grand
Rapids (including the suburbs of Ada, East Grand Rapids
, Wyoming, Grandville, Walker, and Kentwood) also
serves as the home business base of one of the largest past
political funders of the national Republican Party, Richard and
Helen De Vos, and former Ambassador to Italy, Peter Secchia.
However, despite the Grand Rapids area reputation for conservatism,
the city (proper) tends to elect Democrats. Both of its
representatives in the
Michigan State House of
Representatives are Democrats, and in the five most recent
presidential elections
Democratic candidates
Bill Clinton,
Al
Gore,
John Kerry, and
Barack Obama won the majority of votes in the
city of Grand Rapids. (The city itself has not elected a Republican
candidate for President since
George H W
Bush in 1988.)
Commission-Manager plan
Under Michigan law, Grand Rapids is a
home rule city and adopted a
city charter in 1916 providing for the
Commission-Manager form of
municipal government. Under
this system, the political responsibilities are divided between an
elected City Commission and a hired full-time City Manager. Two
part-time Commissioners are elected to four-year terms from each of
three wards, with half of these seats up for election every two
years. The part-time Mayor is elected every four years by the city
at large, and serves as chair of the Commission, with a vote equal
to that of a Commissioner. The races—held in odd-numbered years—are
formally non-partisan, although the party and other political
affiliations of candidates do sometimes come up during the campaign
period. The Commission sets policy for the city, and is responsible
for hiring the City Manager and other appointed officials.
Mayor
George Heartwell was elected mayor of Grand Rapids after
long-serving mayor
John H. Logie declined to run for re-election in 2003.
Logie felt the position should be made full-time, but to avoid the
question becoming a referendum on whether
he should hold
the job full-time, he announced that he would not run for
re-election. The voters decided to keep the position part-time, and
Heartwell was elected.
Heartwell assumed office on January 1, 2004. Prior to being mayor,
Heartwell was a City Commissioner for the third ward, 1992-1999.
Heartwell currently serves as President and CEO of Pilgrim Manor
Retirement Community.
He was Director of the Community Leadership
Institute at Aquinas College
, where he also was a professor in the Community
Leadership undergraduate study program. Mayor Heartwell is
an ordained minister for the
United Church of Christ, and served
for 14 years at Heartside Ministry, a program for the homeless in
Grand Rapids. He was previously the president of Heartwell Mortgage
Corporation. In August, 2007, Mayor Heartwell was re-elected to a
second mayoral term in Grand Rapids. He won the primary election
with 51% of the vote.
Education
Grand Rapids is home to several colleges and universities.
Aquinas
College
, Calvin
College
, Cornerstone University
, Grace Bible
College, and Kuyper College are
private, religious schools, each with a campus within the
city. Grand Rapids
Community College maintains a campus downtown and facilities in
other parts of the city and surrounding region.
Grand Valley
State University
continues to develop its presence in the city with
an expanding downtown campus, begun in the 1980s on the west bank
of the Grand River. ITT
Technical Institute has a variety of technical programs and it
continues to grow. ITT is moving to a new campus later on this year
next to the new Metro Health Hospital in Wyoming.
Ferris State
University
has a growing campus downtown, including the
Applied Technology Center (operated with GRCC) and the prestigious
Kendall College of Art
and Design. Thomas M. Cooley Law School, a private
institution, has a campus in Grand Rapids.
Davenport University, a state-wide
educational institution, has its main campus in Grand Rapids as
well as several satellite locations.
Western
Michigan University
has a long-standing graduate program in the city,
with facilities downtown and in the southeast. Clinical Pastoral Education is
also offered at Pine Rest Christian
Mental Health Services in nearby Cutlerville
, Michigan
.
K-12 public education is provided by the
Grand Rapids Public Schools as
well as a number of
charter schools.
Grand
Rapids is home of the oldest co-educational Catholic high school in
the United States, Catholic Central High School
.
As of
2006, there is an active movement among community leaders to have
Michigan
State University
open a new medical school in Grand Rapids..
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine will expand
into downtown Grand Rapids. The College of Human Medicine is one of
three fully accredited four-year medical schools at MSU, along with
the College of Osteopathic Medicine and College of Veterinary
Medicine. On April 21, 2008, the Secchia Center medical education
building, a $90 million, seven-story, facility, began construction
at Michigan Street hill and Division Avenue.
Transportation
Major highways
Interstates
U.S. highways
Michigan state trunklines
Intercounty highways
Mass transit
Bus
Public bus transportation is provided by the
Interurban Transit
Partnership, which brands itself as
The
Rapid. Transportation is also provided by the DASH buses:
the "Downtown Area Shuttle". These provide transportation to and
from the parking lots in the city of Grand Rapids to various
designated loading and unloading spots around the city. There are
plans in the works to add more express routes, secondary stations,
a streetcar and dedicated (exclusive) highway lanes.
Air
Commercial air service to Grand Rapids is
provided by Gerald R.
Ford
International Airport
(GRR). Previously named Kent County
International Airport, it holds Grand Rapids' mark in modern
history with the United States' first regularly scheduled airline
service, beginning July 31, 1926, between Grand Rapids and
Detroit.
Rail
Amtrak provides direct train service to Chicago
from the passenger station
via the Pere Marquette line.
Freight service is provided by
CN,
CSX Transportation, and by a local
shortline railroad, the
Grand Rapids Eastern
Railroad.
Sister cities
Grand Rapids has
city partnerships
with the following cities:
Grand Rapids is
twinned with the
following cities:
See also
References
- Grand Rapids Historical Perspective
- City Data
- July 1, 2006 est. by Census Bureau
- Cinema Treasures
- Cinema Tour-Studio 28
- WZZM
- Google Maps
- Medical Mile Group
- Government Information
- Heartwell Bio
- MSU Newsroom
External links