Grand Rapids Then and Now

[civitas]

River structures from left to right.

Truss bridge - Railroad bridge for the old G.R. & I (At least I think it was built for the G.R. & I. If not, it's the Chicago & West Michigan RR that became part of the Pere Marquette/C&O/CSX system.)

Truss bridge - Fulton St bridge (This bridge must not have lasted long. 1890's maps don't show it, and the current open spandrel bridge was built in 1927.)

Truss bridge - G.R. & I RR bridge

Truss - Second railroad bridge?

(First thought: Interesting, because I can't find any maps with this bridge on it. 1890's with a gap to a 1914 map. At most it lasted 20 years, or one of the maps I saw is seriously wrong.)

(Second thought: Could the rock pile in the river be the remains of a footing for this bridge?)

Arch bridge - Pearl St bridge

Arch bridge - Bridge St bridge

Line in the river - Dam at the head of the canal system

Faint bridge beyond - Leonard St bridge.

Below is an image of a map that I was given a few years ago. I don't know the date.

It shows 3 railroad bridges between Pearl and Fulton, so I'll bet the rockpile is related to one of them.

EDIT: [Oops, the 3 are between Fulton and Michigan - 1) Blue Pedestrian Bridge 2) Pearl Street 3) Inner Urban Pedestrian Bridge]

The map is also interesting because it is mapping nationalities and race. Thank God that government no longer keeps such maps.

Edited July 17, 2006 by civitas

[GRGyp]

Below is an image of a map that I was given a few years ago. I don't know the date.

Somewhere in the range 1900 and 1914 is my best guess.

I base this on the fact that the railroads on the map are marked Pere Marquette, Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and Grand Rapids & Indiana.

The Pere Marquette line was originally the Chicago & West Michigan RR before a merger with two other railways created the Pere Marquette in 1900. The GR&I started out in 1854 until it was absorbed into Pennsylvania RR in 1918. The LS&MS started out in 1869 until it was absorbed into the NY Central RR in 1914.

So the Pere Marquette dates the map as no earlier than 1900. The lack of the PRR and NYC being listed strongly suggests that it's earlier than 1915.

Very nice piece of history you have there!

Edited July 17, 2006 by GRGyp

[towermart]

Thats a great shot. I can see:

The Choice One Building

The BOB

50 Monroe Place (Huntington)

The Pantland

Is that rock in the river the same that is there today?

I am having a hard time orienting myself, is the Bob and Huntington building the ones in the middle on the crease of the photo?

[civitas]

I am having a hard time orienting myself, is the Bob and Huntington building the ones in the middle on the crease of the photo?

I think the BOB is the building that has "American Family Soup" painted on the south side.

[GRDadof3]

I'm assuming.

[dbrok]

It's amazing how few trees were downtown back then compared to today.

[john_denver]

It's amazing how few trees were downtown back then compared to today.

Yeah and cars too

[towermart]

I'm assuming.

Thank you, I was mostly correct.

[GRDadof3]

Someone help Chris Knape figure out what building is on the right in THIS photo. The building sits where the Hall of Justice later sat, and now where the loading docks are for Devos Place. I have no idea. Also check out the hotel that was replaced by the GR Press.

[walker]

Thank you, I was mostly correct.

Well he's got it wrong. The Sims Hotel was yet another name for the Olds Manor / Rowe Hotel. An Englishman named Sims ran the hotel for a couple of years on or about 1960. The hotel where the Press now is was the Hermitage. If anyone remembers Hermitage tow trucks, that company got its name because it was located in a garage adjacent to the hotel. I don't know exactly what the building to the right was but the Bissell Carpet Sweeper factory was about right there before they moved to Walker.

EDIT - I hit the wrong button - I meant to reply to GRDAD about Chris Knapp - not towermart.

ANOTHER EDIT - Now I'm confused - I see the sign that says SIMS on what I call the Hermitage. But I still remember what I remember. Maybe Mr. Sims took over the Manger a little later. But I'm making this up now. I've got to take a look at the POLK directories.

Edited September 7, 2006 by walker

[towermart]

EDIT - I hit the wrong button - I meant to reply to GRDAD about Chris Knapp - not towermart.

Thanks, for the clarification for one brief shiny moment, I thought I knew what was going on,only to be told I was wrong about something I knew nothing about. Which I suppose if you are going to be wrong about something, that would be the way to do it.

[snoogit]

I may be a dimwit but is this thing still somewhere?

http://www.grpl.org/photocoll?cat=onclick&keynum=245

or did it go down with the City Hall?

[walker]

Someone help Chris Knape figure out what building is on the right in THIS photo. The building sits where the Hall of Justice later sat, and now where the loading docks are for Devos Place. I have no idea. Also check out the hotel that was replaced by the GR Press.

Well he's got it wrong. The Sims Hotel was yet another name for the Olds Manor / Rowe Hotel. An Englishman named Sims ran the hotel for a couple of years on or about 1960. The hotel where the Press now is was the Hermitage. If anyone remembers Hermitage tow trucks, that company got its name because it was located in a garage adjacent to the hotel. I don't know exactly what the building to the right was but the Bissell Carpet Sweeper factory was about right there before they moved to Walker.

ANOTHER EDIT - Now I'm confused - I see the sign that says SIMS on what I call the Hermitage. But I still remember what I remember. Maybe Mr. Sims took over the Manger a little later. But I'm making this up now. I've got to take a look at the POLK directories.

I took a long lunch and went to the library and looked up Michigan NW in the POLK directories in order to see if I was going crazy or not.

The hotel I called the Hermitage where the Press Building now stands was the Hermitage. But in later years, just like the Pantlind and the Rowe, its name changed as it went through different owners. So it was at different times the Francis, the Earle, and lastly the Sims. In 1963 the POLK directory shows the Manger Hotel as named the Sims Inn. At that time John Sims had both hotels running. The building where the Devos Place loading docks are now, was a parking garage in 1960. Through the years there were some low rent businesses with addresses only a couple numbers different than the garage address so I imagine the garage was probably a conversion of an old office or factory building. Bissell was just off Michigan behind the garage on a little street called Erie. And there were railroad tracks going across Michigan at the bridge to Bissell from the Grand Trunk Railroad Terminal where the Post Office is now.

So Chris Knape wasn't wrong (this is an apology) but at least I'm not losing my memory either.

[Greedo]

I may be a dimwit but is this thing still somewhere?

If I'm not mistaken, I think this piece and an accompanying piece are currently inside the main entrance at the Public Museum, just past the admissions desk.

[GRDadof3]

I took a long lunch and went to the library and looked up Michigan NW in the POLK directories in order to see if I was going crazy or not.

The hotel I called the Hermitage where the Press Building now stands was the Hermitage. But in later years, just like the Pantlind and the Rowe, its name changed as it went through different owners. So it was at different times the Francis, the Earle, and lastly the Sims. In 1963 the POLK directory shows the Manger Hotel as named the Sims Inn. At that time John Sims had both hotels running. The building where the Devos Place loading docks are now, was a parking garage in 1960. Through the years there were some low rent businesses with addresses only a couple numbers different than the garage address so I imagine the garage was probably a conversion of an old office or factory building. Bissell was just off Michigan behind the garage on a little street called Erie. And there were railroad tracks going across Michigan at the bridge to Bissell from the Grand Trunk Railroad Terminal where the Post Office is now.

So Chris Knape wasn't wrong (this is an apology) but at least I'm not losing my memory either.

Hey, thanks walker for the investigative reporting. This old aerial shows a collection of three buildings in that area, and the picture Chris posted shows two curb cuts (one with a street sign) between the photographer and Monroe. It appears as though the railroad track runs all along the Grand River all the way up to....maybe Leonard.

[gvsusean]

wow i ve never really seen dt gr without the s curve, i like it alot... especially with that cool train depot

[tamias6]

While crusing around on Youtube, I came across a cool video showing the history of the architecture and growth of the downtown area set to a very famous jazz tune.

Im sure many of us have seen alot of the photos that are shown but there are a few that may be new to many here. Enjoy!

Wait a second. At the end of the video clip, I see architectual models of developments on the infamous riverfront property and surrounding areas just south of the S-curve along Market Ave. Are these studies by the city to determine what they want to see happen there or are these some long forgotten proposals nobody knows about?

[Rizzo]

Thoes are my renderings -- pretty conceptual.

Look at how urban screwl messed with the downtown's scale. Oh and theres some tracks. Pause a minute for the picture.

Edited September 8, 2006 by Rizzo

[tamias6]

Thoes are my renderings -- pretty conceptual.

Look at how urban screwl messed with the downtown's scale. Oh and theres some tracks. Pause a minute for the picture.

I like the scale of the renderings. It would spread out the skyline making it prime for some very tall buildings (500 to 650 ft range) to fit in nicely.

[LA Dave]

The aerial is spectacular, if for no other reason than the great depiction of the old Union Station complex. I would date the aerial to sometime between 1940 and 1949, since you can just make out the edge of the GR Public Museum on the right edge of the picture (a building finished in 1940) and the new Herpelsheimer's store (now GRPD HQ) was still not built at the corner of Monroe, Fulton and Division.

[old miner]

Anyone who frequented the bars in the 70's will remember the old Bavarian nightclub which was located in the area now consumed by Bridgewater. Nearly every band of any local fame played that dive weekly. I witnessed alot of bar fights in that place.

The Bridgewater footprint also was home to the original Sullivan's Carpet store (a veritable landmark on the river front in those days). There was also one of the city's greatest little snow ski shops buried in that cluster. Anyone remember the name of the ski shop? It had a sort of bavarian architectureal theme to it as I recall.

I believe it was called Schantz's Ski Shop and was attached to a hardware store of the same name. Whatever it was called, I bought my first pair of skis there in the late 70's.

[destijl]

I found this in a Daverman Associates company newsletter from August 1965. The quality of the scan is not the greatest, but it is still interesting. Look at all the surface parking...

http://home.comcast.net/~nederland/pictures/urbanrenewal.jpg

[walker]

I found this in a Daverman Associates company newsletter from August 1965. The quality of the scan is not the greatest, but it is still interesting. Look at all the surface parking...

http://home.comcast.net/~nederland/pictures/urbanrenewal.jpg

This is a very interesting transitional picture. Most of the surface parking is just the

[tamias6]

I found this in a Daverman Associates company newsletter from August 1965. The quality of the scan is not the greatest, but it is still interesting. Look at all the surface parking...

http://home.comcast.net/~nederland/pictures/urbanrenewal.jpg

Oh! The Pain! Seeing this image and comparing it to the one further upstream on this thread makes me wander if the Urban Renewal was a mistake? They practicaly bulldozed half of DT to make way for the collection of supersized milk crates we see today. The old city hall is a treasure forever lost.

[mpchicago]

The two buildings with towers to the east and north of the new Old Kent Bank (5/3) Building are the County Court House and City Hall but I can

Edited September 26, 2006 by mpchicago