Grand Rapids

For millennia, people have gathered at the rapids of the Grand River, the place where downtown Grand Rapids now stands. From its earliest recorded history in the 1820s as a tiny frontier trading post, through many booming decades as the "Furniture City," to its newest reinvention as a center of public art, Grand Rapids has a fascinating history. By 1850, when the city was incorporated, several early industries, including logging, milling, and brewing, were already established, and the groundwork for the incredibly lucrative furniture industry was in place. As more people came to Grand Rapids from all over the world, they developed institutions and settled the city's distinctive neighborhoods, each reflecting their nationalities, religions, and aspirations for the future. Throughout its history, from Campau to Calder, Grand Rapids has remained a place for pioneers.

Alex Forist, collections curator at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, and Tim Gleisner, head of special collections at the Grand Rapids Public Library, have explored the two most significant repositories of historical images in Grand Rapids to create this volume. The result is a rich mixture of familiar images and hidden gems that will appeal both to readers who are already knowledgeable about Grand Rapids history as well as to those new to the topic.