Glance at the Past

The Eagle Hotel, built in 1834, served the residents and visitors of the city for ninety-nine years. It had many landlords during its tenure, but one was remembered for killing a guest.

John Almy and his wife came to the village of Grand Rapids in 1835. Mrs. Almy kept an account of their difficult journey in her diary.  

It took many years for Grand Rapids to acquire a suitable City Hall.  

G. B. Russo, who came to Grand Rapids from Sicily, was one of the early residents of the area around South Division and Franklin known as Little Italy when he opened his Italian grocery store on South Division.  

Grand Rapids Civic Theatre has a long history in Grand Rapids, and its actors trod the boards in old Germania Hall during their early days.  

Plank roads evoke the mystique of days gone by, but those old wooden planks held little charm for travelers.  

Fred Meijer (December 7, 1919 - November 25, 2011) was an innovative businessman willing to take risks that changed the way people shop in Grand Rapids.  

For months in 1935, during the Depression, the news that General Motors would open a new plant in Grand Rapids was kept secret under penalty that the project would be cancelled if news was leaked. Finally, announced in December, it was GM's Christmas present to the city.  

Horses and other quadrupeds sometimes had difficulty coping with the uncertainties and complexities of urban life.  

In August of 1924, four new Fageol Safety Coaches premium passenger buses were added to the Grand Rapids Greyhound fleet, offering daily service.  

A new den for the John Ball Park bear, completed in November of 1895, was celebrated by citizens who had been invited to the park by the bear and the city aldermen to view the bear in his cozy new home.  

Bitter winter cold bedeviled Grand Rapids water workers, at great expense to customers.  

By 1900, high school football was firmly entrenched as a Grand Rapids Thanksgiving tradition.  

The enormous 76 foot skeleton of a fin whale awed visitors to the former Public Museum on Jefferson Ave. When the current riverfront building opened, the fully restored "Monster of the Deep" again became a centerpiece of the Museum.  

Boys will be boys!  

In 1931, Grand Rapids opened a tourist camp at North Park with Grand River frontage.  

Grand Rapids was one of the first cities of its size to embrace the idea of parking -in the air! - with the addition of an 11-floor parking garage in 1926, complete with uniformed attendants, chauffeur service, oil change and more.    

In 1866, young Conrad Swensberg opened the Grand Rapids Business College & Telegraphic Institute, the ancestor of today's Davenport University.  

Grand Rapids' first post office was established in 1832 along the banks of the Grand River at Bridge Street. Post master Darius Windsor oversaw its growth under less-than-favorable conditions.  

The 40 acre development south of Hall St. and between Jefferson and Madison Avenues became a commercial hub at the turn of the 20th Century.