Glance at the Past

The city's early fire brigades were volunteer organizations, the church bell at St. Andrews Cathedral was one of two fire alarms, and horses had to be harnessed before the engine could leave the fire house.  

Michigan and Grand Rapids played an unfortunate role in the worst example of mass extermination by humans in the history of wildlife, the Passenger Pigeon.  

The shipyard forge, located where the Amway Grand Plaza stands today, was the site of the boatyard where boats were built that ran on the Grand River.  

Unlike today, professional baseball, including the Detroit Tigers, was severely affected during Word War II by travel restrictions and the loss of players who had either enlisted or been drafted.  

As the Opera House aged and burlesque became the standard fare the theater became known as "wicked old Smith's Opera House. Some considered its reputation redeemed when Mel Trotter turned it into a rescue mission.  

The Ladies Literary Club, founded in 1873, was at the leading edge of the women's club movement established for the intellectual and cultural advancement of women.  

The first home of the Grand Rapids Art Museum and the failed venture of Port Sheldon have an interesting historical connection.  

The first milliner, a career practiced solely by women, opened her hat shop at the corner of Monroe and Ottawa in 1838. By 1900 over one hundred women listed milliner as their occupation in the city directory.  

The original tenant of the one story Georgian style building at the west edge of Fulton St. Park, now Veteran's Park, was the Michigan Tourist and Resort Association, which had maintained it headquarters in Grand Rapids since its founding in 1917.  

It was a memorable day in 1927 when Col. Charles A. Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis were welcomed to Grand Rapids by the largest reception in the city's history.  

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.