Glance at the Past

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.  

A bequest in the will of Helen Miller Kendall established the David Walcott Kendall Memorial School in 1931. The school carried on the work of Kendall, one of the world's prominent furniture makers.  

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.