In case you missed the wildly popular Fulton Street Cemetery Tour last month, please join us this Saturday, July 24, at 10:00 am at the cemetery as Thomas Dilley, life-long resident of Grand Rapids and researcher of the history and preservation of local cemeteries, leads a walk through the cemetery , which is the oldest [...]
View of the YMCA building in 1959 (GRPL Robinson Photo Collection) Leave the driving to The Historical Society of Michigan for an educational tour of Grand Rapids. Gordon Olson, Grand Rapids city historian emeritus, will lead this fascinating tour into the Furniture City’s past. Visiting sites as diverse as Heritage Hill and the West Side, [...]
While digging around in the archives today I stumbled on a catalog for the library from 1875 (way before Evergreen!). The cover reads “(No. 2.) Catalogue of the Public School Library of Grand Rapids, Michigan.” You may wonder why it’s called the Public School Library. A free public library for the general public was formed [...]
Earlier this week we received a wonderful piece of Grand Rapids Public Library History. A man in Colorado came upon a bookmark from 1943 created by the Library and Greater Grand Rapids Safety Council. On each side there are facts about safety. One side on pedestrian safety and the other side on fatalities during accidents [...]
Have you caught the new show on NBC, “Who Do You Think You Are?” Well, here at GRPL we’re offering a Genealogy Lock-In on Friday, April 16th, from 6-10 pm. You will be able to search our databases, make copies, attend an Ancestry computer class, get individualized help from the Western Michigan Genealogical Society, and [...]
While working on an inventory of an old collection in our archives, known as “The Old Collection,” I came across an interesting find today. I found the “Grand Rapids Telephone Exchange,” from July of 1879, and it is the first telephone directory of Grand Rapids. What an amazing find!! The stamp in the corner shows [...]
It’s Sugarbush time in Michigan! We are lucky to live in the small part of the world where sugar maple trees abound and the weather conditions are perfect for tapping maple sap and making maple syrup and sugar. Every March, Blandford Nature Center, on Grand Rapids’ west side, taps hundreds of trees and gives Sugarbush [...]
February 1st, an article was in the Grand Rapids Press including a photograph of a vacant factory at 35 Garden Avenue SE (This building is connected to 44 Fair SE). Someone called wanting a brief history of the vacant building. I used our Grand Rapids City Directories to find the following: It was built in [...]
Have you been blessed with a box of Grandma’s old photos? Does your dad tell great stories that you’d like to preserve? Does someone in your family have a significant birthday or anniversary coming up? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then you should plan on coming to the Library on Tuesday, [...]
When I saw the June 19, 2009 Grand Rapids Press article entitled Researcher Gives Voice to Former Slave’s Story I thought, “she might be a good speaker for a Library event.” The rest is, as they say, history. Join us on Tuesday, February 16, as we explore African American history in the state of Michigan [...]
111 Library Street NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Phone (616) 988 5400
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