122 CITIES, AMERICAN. (GRAND RAPIDS. HAMILTON, HUDSON, INDIANAPOLIS.) 



is the finest on the coast, about 2 miles in 

 length and 600 feet in width from high to low 

 water mark, clear, hard sand. There are 

 several manufactories, including anchor-works, 

 a twine-factory, 3 fish-glue factories, 1 boot- 

 and-shoe manufactory, several oil-clothing es- 

 tablishments, etc. There is a daily and weekly 

 newspaper. The horse-car tracks extend to 

 East Gloucester, and other extensions are soon 

 to be made. The town has an extensive foreign 

 commerce, mostly with the Provinces, and im- 

 ports salt from Trapani, which is used largely 

 in the fisheries. For the year ending Oct. 1, 

 1887, there were 17 vessels of an aggregate 

 tonnage of 1,137'67 tons lost from this port, 

 together with 123 men, leaving 25 widows and 

 59 fatherless children. 



Grand Rapids, a city of Michigan, at the head 

 of navigation on Grand river, thirty-two miles 

 from Lake Michigan. It is the county-seat of 

 Kent County. Nine railroad lines have their 

 termini in or pass through the city, and prior 

 to Jan. 1, 1887, $250,000 had been invested in 

 real estate requisite for the erection of a $500,- 

 000 union depot. Two systems of street-rail- 

 way, with nearly thirty miles of track, one of 

 them a cable-road, connect the outlying dis- 

 tricts with the factories and business center 

 of the city. The State Soldiers' Home is one 

 mile north of the city, on the river-bank, and 

 the State Masonic Home, one mile east of the 

 city, on Reed's Lake, a beautiful sheet of wa- 

 ter, a favorite summer resort, especially since 

 its selection as the regatta course of the North- 

 western Regatta Association. Two raceways, 

 one on either side of the river, furnish water- 

 power for a score of factories and mills. The 

 chief industries are furniture, pianos, flour, 

 mill - machinery, carpet - sweepers, felt boots, 

 leather, beer, bricks, plaster, stucco, wagons, 

 carriages, sleighs, staves, brushes, wooden 

 ware, clothes-pins, soap, barrels, coffins, and 

 electric supplies. The value of manufactured 

 products for 1887 was about $45,000,000, and 

 the business of its wholesale and jobbing houses 

 about $20,000,000. The city has a public li- 

 brary, a free law library, two electric-light, two 

 water, and one gas company, twenty-three pub- 

 lic schools, five national and two savings 

 banks, with $2,300,000 capital stock and $5,- 

 500,000 deposits ; sixty churches, ten private 

 schools, thirty-five publications, and many be- 

 nevolent and social organizations. The popu- 

 lation in 1870 was 16,000 ; in 1880, 33,000 ; 

 in 1884, 42,000. A new city hall, costing 

 $300,000, was completed in 1887, and a site 

 purchased for a $200,000 building for a county 

 court-house and other county offices. The cem- 

 pletion of several railroad lines has materially 

 aided the rapid growth of the city during the 

 past few years. 



Hamilton, the second city, in respect of popu- 

 lation, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It 

 is beautifully situated on the southern shore of 

 Hamilton Bay, the westerly arm of Lake On- 

 tario, forty miles from Toronto and forty-three 



miles from Suspension Bridge. The popula- 

 tion in 1861 was 19,096; in 1871, 26,716; in 

 1881, 35,961; and in October, 1887, 51,384. 

 Three railroads enter the city, and two more, 

 the Ontario Southern and Niagara Central, are 

 in course of construction. A new building fora 

 custom-house and post-office has recently been 

 erected, together with several fine new schools. 

 A new city hall is also being built. The chief 

 manufactures are stoves, bridges, tools, agricult- 

 ural implements, nails, boots and shoes, fur- 

 niture, tobacco and cigars, carriage wood-work, 

 engines and boilers, locomotives, hats, cloth- 

 ing, clocks, and glassware. It is the trade-cen- 

 ter of the great fruit-growing district of Niag- 

 ara, and fruit and vegetables are largely canned 

 here. Hamilton does a large wholesale trade 

 in groceries and clothing. The city is rapidly 

 growing, and being admirably situated in re- 

 spect of railroad and water communication, 

 finds favor in the eyes of manufacturers. Ham- 

 ilton beach, a narrow strip of land that sepa- 

 rates the bay from Lake Ontario, is a noted 

 summer resort, and is called the "Long Branch 

 of Canada." 



Hudson, a city of Columbia County, N. Y., on 

 the eastern bank of Hudson river, 28 miles 

 below Albany. It is on the line of the Hud- 

 son River Railroad, and is the terminus of the 

 Chatham and Hudson branch of the Boston 

 and Albany Railroad. During the navigation 

 season four lines of steamboats touch daily 

 each way. It was the third city incorporated 

 in the State, receiving its charter April 2, 

 1785. In 1790 it was made a port of entry, 

 and at that time had more shipping-tonnage 

 than New York city, chiefly whalers. The 

 population in 1880 was 8,670; it now (1888) 

 exceeds 10,000. The city is one mile square, 

 surrounded by thickly-settled villages and a 

 rich farming and fruit growing country. The 

 principal business is manufacturing and prod- 

 uce-shipping. Within the past six years four 

 large knitting-mills have been erected. Among 

 the other manufacturing industries are iron 

 furnaces, steam fire-engines, paper car-wheels, 

 bridge-works, planing-mills, sash-and-blind 

 factory, box factories, etc. The city has one 

 of the most perfect systems of water-supply in 

 the State, the Hudson river being its source. 

 A fine high-school building has just been com- 

 pleted at a cost of $30,000. Although the city 

 for half a century advanced but little in popu- 

 lation or business, it has taken a fresh start 

 within the past ten years, and is now rapidly 

 increasing. 



Indianapolis, the capital of the State of Indi- 

 ana, and the county-seat of Marion County, on 

 the west fork of White river, almost exactly 

 in the center' of the State. Its population in 

 1870 was 48,244; in 1880, 75,056; and in 1887 

 was estimated at 110,000. It is the terminus 

 of fifteen railways, and within a radius of two 

 hundred miles has more railways and telegraph 

 lines than any city of its size in the world. The 

 most recently constructed roads are the Indian- 



