Grand Rapids, Michigan

History

Over 2,000 years ago, the Hopewell Indians occupied the Grand River Valley. Around 1700 A.D., the Ottawa Indians moved into the area and founded several villages along the Grand River.

Related Topics:
Hopewell Indians - Ottawa Indians - Grand River

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The Grand Rapids area was first settled by Europeans near the start of the 19th century by missionaries and fur traders, who generally lived in reasonable peace alongside the Ottawa tribespeople, trading their European metal and textile goods for the fur pelts. Joseph and Madeline La Framboise established the first Indian/European trading post in West Michigan, on the banks of the Grand River near what is now Ada. After the death of her husband in 1806, Medaline La Franboise carried on, expanding fur trading posts to the west and north. La Framboise, a mix of French and Indian descent, later merged her successful operations with the American Fur Company and 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.

Related Topics:
Missionaries - Fur trade - Ottawa - West Michigan - Ada - American Fur Company - Mackinac Island - Baptist

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In 1826 Detroit-born Louis Campau, the official founder of Grand Rapids, built his cabin, trading post, and blackmith shop on the east bank of the Grand River near the rapids. Campau returned to Detroit and came back a year later with his wife and $5,000 of trade goods to trade with the native tribes.

Related Topics:
Louis Campau - Detroit

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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 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.

Related Topics:
Northwest Territory - Kent County - James Kent - Lucius Lyon - Yankee - New York - New England

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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."

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By 1838 the settlement had incorporated as a village encompassing 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).

Related Topics:
May 1 - 1850

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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. Today, Grand Rapids is considered a world leader in the production of office furniture. The city also became a center of Dutch immigration in the 19th century.

Related Topics:
Lumbering - Furniture - United States - Dutch

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In 1881, the country's first hydro-electric plant was put to use on the city's west side. With the new century, the people of Grand Rapids numbered 82,565. In 1916 the citizens of Grand Rapids voted to adopt a home rule charter that abolished the old aldermanic systems and replaced it with a commission-manager form of government, one of the first in the country. That 1916 Charter, although amended several times, is still in effect.

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Grand Rapids was home to the first regularly scheduled passenger airline in the United States when Stout Air Services began Grand Rapids to Detroit service on July 31, 1926. In 1945, Grand Rapids became the first city in the United States to add fluoride to its drinking water. Grand Rapids also lays claims to the first publicly-funded art installation.

Related Topics:
Detroit - July 31 - 1926 - Fluoride

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Grand Rapids has several large ethnic communities. It is home to the headquarters of the Christian Reformed Church and is a center of the Reformed Church in America, both because of the presence of a large group of Dutch Americans. Grand Rapids is also home to large Polish American and African American communities and a growing Hispanic community.

Related Topics:
Christian Reformed Church - Reformed Church in America - Polish American - African American - Hispanic

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