Named after the rapids that used to run through it, this urban setting now showcases a peaceful river. The river played a rather important role in the early settlement and development of Grand Rapids. The river was a reliable way to get around and to move timber before they had rail traffic, lorries, or planes.

Grand Rapids is the second most populous city in Michigan, with a population just under 200,000 people, down slightly from the 2000 census.

Grand Rapids was also home to Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., The 38th President of the United States of America. He obtained that office when President Richard Milhous Nixon resigned in 1974 and wrapped up a lot of loose ends left by his predecessor, ending the Vietnam War¹ and granting a pardon to President Nixon, thus ending a turbulent time in American politics.

Grand Rapids used to pride itself on having big city conveniences and a certain small town friendliness. Then along came:

• a minor league baseball team, The West Michigan White Caps
• a hockey team, The Grand Rapids Griffins
• and an indoor American football team, The West Michigan ThunderHawks

Where is it?

Firstly- one should make sure this is the right place.
This is not:

• Grand Rapids, North Dakota,USA (Population 89)
• Grand Rapids, Manitoba,Canada (population 409)
• Grand Rapids, Ohio,USA (population 990)
• Grand Rapids, Minnesota,USA (population 8,233)

It's towards the west coast of Michigan's Lower Peninsula
(Latitude 42 °58' N, Longitude 85 °40' W ), but is still at least a half-hour drive from one of the actual lake-shore cities, like Holland or Grand Haven. What is the significance of that? When you're on a peninsula, you tend to define your location by the nearest big body of water. Since Grand Rapids is closer to the Lower Peninsula's west coast than to its east coast or north coast, Grand Rapids residents consider themselves to be in West Michigan.

Getting there one might fly into the Gerald Ford International Airport, on the SE side of town which serves eight different airlines. Or one might drive in on a major highway. Interstate 96 splits of into I-I96, also called the Gerald Ford Freeway, with I-96 bypassing the heart of town.
The Gerald Ford Freeway intersects with the major North-South highway US-131 near the Grand River which flows through the heart of town then west into Lake Michigan.

A Bit of History

The first permanent white resident of Grand Rapids was a Baptist minister named Isaac McCoy, who settled there in 1825. A year later, a French trapper named Louis Campau set up a trading post there. Of course the real first residents were the Native Americans, specifically the Hopewell tribe 2000 years ago, and then the Ottawa, Pottawatomie, and Chippewa.

Grand Rapids used to be known as furniture city because its chief industry was furniture. Makes sense, right? Now that most of the native forests are gone, the furniture industry is in a bit of a decline. Steel Case, an office furniture company still has Grand Rapids factories, and at the time of writing had been been doing rather a lot of downsizing.

Grand Rapids is the first US city to add fluoride to its drinking water. This was done back in the 1950s. There's even a small monument down-town celebrating this event.

Climate

Midwinter mornings can make starting a car difficult with temperatures as low as -22°F(-30°C). Residents carry a snow brush in the car and are advised to have a small shovel in the boot. Due to its proximity to Lake Michigan Grand Rapids has

lake effect snows in the winter giving it more snow than cities Like Lansing, Jackson or Detroit. A normal snowfall in winter may range from 4 to 24 inches (10-60 cm).
March and April are the time for the spring rains, (although snowstorms have arrived as late as May). There have been rare instances in mid summer where the temperature hovered briefly at 100°F (38°C).

Temperatures in Grand Rapids Michigan

Places to Go

Some of the major attractions of Grand Rapids include:

• The Gerald R. Ford Museum (a museum of Presidential history)
• Van Andel Arena (where the Griffins and Rampage play) named after Amway²
  founder Jay Van Andel who died in 2004
• The Van Andel Museum (a more general history and science museum, with a very large and boring exhibit celebrating Grand Rapid's history as furniture city)
• Fifth-Third Stadium
  where the minor league baseball is played.
• Devos Hall (the city's big performance hall)³

Further proof That Grand Rapids is Amway country is the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, the city's most expensive hotel.

One place of interest is the
neighbourhood of East Town.
East Town must not be confused with East Grand Rapids. East Grand Rapids is a rich suburb that split off the main city. East Town is a cool neighbourhood of Grand Rapids. The main streets that define the East Town neighbourhood are Lake Drive and Wealthy Street SE.

What is there to see in East Town? A good stop there is
Argos Book shop.
It's on a side street called Robinson, just off of Lake Drive and easily visible from Lake Drive. Argos is Grand Rapid's one stop shop for geeks. It's primarily a used book store but it is also a comics shop with good back issue boxes and also a decent selection of RPG materials including reasonably priced used material.

Most of the major retail shopping is in the various suburbs. In fact, a lot of the Grand Rapids area's important components are in the suburbs rather than Grand Rapids proper, such as Woodland Mall and Center-pointe Mall, the Grand Rapids area's major shopping malls.

Medical Care

The Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital founded in 1872 by an
Episcopal Rector quickly became the city's major health provider. Today it is part of the Spectrum Health System which has several other facilities including the Helen Devos Children's Hospital which will be moving to a brand new building on 1 January, 2011.

Green Power

One thing the city is really into lately is being eco-friendly.
No city in Michigan is as committed to Green Power as Grand Rapids.
The city's mayor has even said he would pursue ways to end its dependence on coal and other fossil fuels. This in addition to more bike and pedestrian friendly transportation and more LEED⁴
Certified buildings help their increasingly credible claim to being the greenest city in America.