GRAND RAPIDS 



2562 



GRAND RAPIDS 



GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., the county seat of 

 Kent County, popularly culled the Furniture 

 City from the importance of its principal manu- 

 facture. It is thirty miles from Lake Michigan, 

 in the southwestern part of the state, and on 

 the Grand River. Lansing and Detroit are 

 respectively sixty and 145 miles southeast, and 

 Chicago is 189 miles southwest. The Grand 

 River descends here eighteen feet in the course 

 of a mile, a circumstance which gave the city 

 its name. Some of the power required by the 

 many industries is furnished by means of a 

 dam. The river is crossed by a number of 

 bridges, some constructed of concrete. Below 

 the rapids, the stream is navigable to the lake, 

 and the city has steamboat connections with 

 Grand Haven, Milwaukee, Chicago and other 

 lake ports. Freight and passenger service is 

 provided by the Pere Marquette, the Michigan 

 Central, the New York Central, the Grand 

 Trunk and the Grand Rapids & Indiana rail- 

 roads. Interurban electric lines operate to 

 Muskegon and other lake-shore towns, and 

 through Kalamazoo across the state to Detroit. 

 The population, twenty-five per cent of which 

 is Dutch, was 112,571 in 1910; in 1916 it was 

 128,291, by Federal estimate. The area is 

 about seventeen square miles. 



Parks, Streets and Buildings. Grand Rap- 

 ids is attractively located between low hills in 

 a valley about two miles in width. John Ball, 

 Antoine Campan, Highland and Fullerton 

 Street parks combined contain about 115 acres. 

 These with a number of smaller parks are 

 valued at $350,000. The West Michigan Fair 

 Association owns Comstock Park, which con- 

 tains 100 acres. Reed's Lake, on the east lim- 

 its of the city, and North Park, along the river, 

 are popular summer resorts. Canal, Monroe 

 and Division are the main business streets; the 

 better residence section is along the eastern 

 hills. 



Prominent among the buildings are the Fed- 

 eral building, erected at a cost of $375,000, 

 a 250,000 courthouse, a $300,000 city hall, the 

 United States courthouse, Masonic Temple, 

 Pythian Temple, Knights of Columbus Hall, 

 Elk Hall, clubhouses for both men's and wom- 

 en's clubs, a $300,000 Y. M. C. A. building, 

 Kent Scientific Museum, the Union Station, 

 Saint Mark's (Episcopal) and Saint Andrew's 

 (Catholic) cathedrals, and a number of fine 

 hotels, banks and churches. The Ryerson Pub- 

 lic library contains nearly 100,000 volumes, and 

 is a gift of Martin A. Ryerson of Chicago to 

 his native citv. 



Institutions. The educational institutions 

 include the Holland Theological Seminary (one 

 of the important schools of the Dutch Re- 

 formed parochial system), and several public 

 and private schools and business colleges. 

 Grand Rapids is the seat of Roman Catholic 

 and Protestant Episcopal bishoprics. The be- 

 nevolent and charitable institutions include the 

 Butterwprth Hospital, Woman's Home and 

 Hospital, the Union Benevolent Association 

 Home and Hospital, the City Home for the 

 Treatment of Contagious Diseases, Saint Mary's 

 Hospital, Blodgett House for Children, Emer- 

 son Home, Home for the Aged, Holland Union 

 Benevolent Association Home and Saint John's 

 Orphan Asylum. Overlooking the river about 

 one mile north of the city is the Michigan 

 Soldiers' Home; three miles east is the Mich- 

 igan Masonic Home. 



Industries. Grand Rapids is famous all over 

 the world for its furniture-manufacturing indus- 

 tries. In the United States it is outranked in 

 quantity in this industry only by New York 

 and Chicago, in the order named. The annual 

 output exceeds $13,500,000 in value, and in the 

 industry over 10,000 men are employed. Twice 

 a year, in January and July, wholesale buyers 

 from all over the United States and abroad 

 meet in Grand Rapids to see the new furniture 

 and buy their stock. Outside producers exhibit 

 here also, and in the city are several enormous 

 buildings for that specific purpose. From the 

 large wholesale and jobbing houses, groceries, 

 dry goods, millinery, carpets, drugs, crockery, 

 paper, boots and shoes, knit goods, hardware 

 and mill supplies are distributed to Western 

 and Northern Michigan. 



The largest manufactories of carpet sweepers 

 and fly paper in the country arc located here, 

 and among the other important enterprises are 

 flour and grist mills, machine shops and found- 

 ries, bakeries, lumber and planing mills, car- 

 riage and wagon factories^ and manufactories 

 of show cases, metal belt lacers, button (shoe) 

 machinery, window-sash pulleys, hosiery and 

 knit goods, wood ornaments, tobacco and cigars 

 and clothing. Large gypsum quarries near the 

 city furnish material for the manufacture of 

 gypsum plaster and allied products. The print- 

 ing industry is also important. 



Grand Rapids is centrally located in the 

 great Western Michigan fruit belt and is an 

 important shipping point for fruit, grain and 

 vegetables produced in the surrounding coun- 

 try. Important among the fruits grown are 

 peaches, apples, cherries, plums, pears and 



