Grand Rapids (pop. 198,917) is the chief manufacturing, distribution, financial, and transportation center of western Michigan. It is the state’s second largest city, after Detroit. Grand Rapids lies along the Grand River, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Lake Michigan. The city was named for the rapids of the Grand River. Grand Rapids and the cities of Kentwood and Wyoming form a metropolitan area with a population of 1,150,015.
The city’s center includes the DeVos Place convention center and performance hall, the Monroe Center shopping area, and the Van Andel Arena. In the plaza of the Vandenberg Center, a cluster of office buildings, stands a 43-foot (13-meter) steel sculpture by the American artist Alexander Calder. Part of another large sculpture extends into the river. It includes a series of steps up which trout and salmon leap. The Heritage Hill district has many restored houses of the 1800’s and early 1900’s.
United States President Gerald R. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum is located in the city. Other attractions include the Grand Rapids Public Museum, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, the John Ball Zoo, and the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. A large festival of the arts is held in Grand Rapids each year in June. The city has a symphony orchestra, opera and ballet companies, several theater groups, and several minor league sports teams.
Grand Rapids is the home of Aquinas College, Calvin University, Cornerstone University, Davenport University, Grace Christian University, and a campus of Grand Valley State University. The Van Andel Institute, which conducts medical research, is in Grand Rapids. The Christian Reformed Church in North America has headquarters in the city.
Hundreds of manufacturing firms operate in the metropolitan area. Chief products include aircraft equipment, automobile parts, machinery, and office and home furniture. Other leading industries include the convention trade, fruit-growing, printing, publishing, and the production of cleaning and home-care goods. The Gerald R. Ford International Airport serves the area.
Ottawa Indians were living in what is now the Grand Rapids area before European missionaries arrived in 1825. Louis Campau, a fur trader, founded Grand Rapids in 1826. Grand Rapids was incorporated as a city in 1850. Its early growth resulted partly from its location on the southern edge of Michigan’s great pine forest. Grand Rapids became a lumber center in the 1860’s.
Many Dutch and Polish craftworkers settled in the area during the mid-1800’s and helped develop the city’s furniture-manufacturing industry. Grand Rapids grew into a major center of furniture production and became known as the Furniture Capital of America. Beginning in the 1920’s, the city’s furniture industry declined as many manufacturers moved to Southern states, where production costs were lower. Many new industries were later developed in the city. However, Grand Rapids still produces much furniture, and it is sometimes called the Furniture City.
Grand Rapids is the seat of Kent County. It has a commission-manager government.
