Below are some views of Grand Rapids that anyone attending Godwin up to about 1960 would likely have known. In one way or another most are but memories in year 2005. In some cases the material is purely of historical interest, showing some of the layers of Grand Rapids' past. They might be of interest just because they show things like what buildings were located in various places before the buildings Godwin students were likely familiar with.
In about 1960 a monstrous federal program known as Urban Renewal was rampaging across the US, and in the name of renovation the historic areas of many US cities were introduced to the wrecking ball. When it was all over, many cities were but shadows of what they were before. Most lost some or all of their charm and character, and in many cases the cities never really recovered in terms of being centers of commerce and entertainment.
Almost everything north of Monroe Avenue and Pearl Street was demolished. Then a set of interstates took out the Union and Grand Trunk railroad depots, and much of the Michigan Street hill. Large numbers of historic homes were lost in the area north of Michigan Street, between Division Avenue and Fuller Avenue, including an octagon house built by Eliahue Smith in 1853. It was located at 7 Hastings Street. The portion of Hastings Street where the house was located no longer exists either - it is now occupied by parts of I-196.
In year 2005, there are a lot of interstates intersecting in Grand Rapids, but less and less reason for people to get off of them. Tasteless government buildings, shoddily constructed and in constant need of repair, now occupy some of the land occupied by the more colorful structures built in the 1880s. Most of the lavish RKO theaters were demolished, and along with them that feeling of grandeur audiences felt as they settled in for a movie. It's probably fair to say that the Grand Rapids that Godwin students up to year 1960 knew, and would seek for entertainment and shopping, is largely gone in year 2005.
Grand Rapids on May 2, 1941, looking northwest along Monroe Avenue. The building at center left occupies the site where Herpolsheimer's would be built in 1949. It has the look of the rows of buildings built in the 1870s that lined Monroe Avenue, and would later be replaced, one after the other, by taller buildings. Few survive in year 2005, and even the few that do are largely facades. The insides have usually be stripped, and modern features put in their place. One can see the Michigan National Bank building on the left side of Monroe Avenue - the tall building. The streets and sidewalks have the look of just having been paved and poured. And of course one could always find many people walking.
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Photograph provided for scanning by LeRoy Rockwell, class of 1959.
The photograph above is dated May 24, 1958. It is lower Monroe, looking north from the Michigan Street Corner.
Foundation Blocks
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Cody Hotel
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Material provided by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
One sees no evidence of the Kortlander building either, which was on the southeast
corner of Fulton and Commerce. In 1886 the Warwick Hotel was built, and some time
later this was renamed the Cody. The two images below are of the Cody Hotel.
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
Material provided by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
The top image, dating from about 1910, suggests the Cody Hotel was not completed yet. Compare the second image, and one sees a section of the Cody Hotel, to the left, that is not present in the top, undated image. The Kortlander building is visible in the top image, but the bottom image does not extend far enough to the right to see it all. Both buildings were part of what was long called the Heartside area, consisting of the area between Division Avenue and Commerce Avenue, and Fulton Street and Weston Street. Long an entertainment area, it was also well located relative to Union Depot for travelers coming to Grand Rapids.
How the Warwick Hotel came to be called the Cody Hotel is not known
just now, as is whether he ever owned it. William "Buffalo Bill"
Cody used the appreciable fortune he made with his Wild West shows,
which played in Grand Rapids, as shown in the items below from 1902,
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Material provided by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
to build a large number of hotels. Alas, many fine hotels were built in small cities and towns without much demand for them, and mostly lost money. The Cody Hotel was both a short term and long term hotel over the years. The Cody Hotel was renovated in 1946, but didn't seem to have much business in the 1950s. In 1960 part of the Cody Hotel, the Kortlander Building, apparently an apartment building on the southeast corner of Fulton Street and Commerce Avenue, and another building containing Moore's Hobby shop and Smally Daniels' Cushman scooter store, were all demolished to make a city parking building. Shoddily built, it too was eventually demolished.
Recalling Heartside
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The Heartside area apparently included an area roughly bounded by Fulton and Weston, north and south, and Division Avenue and Ionia. Along Fulton, the buildings on the south side of the street included the Cody Hotel, Moore's Hobby Shop, the Charles Lindberg Sports Shop, which made keys, and sold guns and fish tackle, the Kortlander building, which contained a bar on the corner of Fulton and Ionia, Smally Daniels', which sold Cushman scooters, and a print shop. The piece above describes a time when the area was a lively commercial district. In year 2006 the area is tacky, although recent commercial development promises to ensure that the area recovers some.
The Cody Hotel was indeed built with William "Wild Bill" Cody's money. He invested money from his wild west show in many hotels around the US, but many of them were in poorly chosen locations, and lost money. In the late 1940s yet the Cody Hotel was considered one of many Grand Rapids convention hotels. Bob Hope stayed there in about 1946, after playing a gig at Bigelow Field.
Wesley Ramey, a title quality boxer in the 1920s and 1930s, went on
to run a couple of successful sports bars just south of the Cody Hotel.
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The bars, which he ran for some 27 years, were called "Wes Ramey's Bar" and "Wes Ramey's Lounge." After that he Godland Heights School System, probably as a boxing instructor, and then retired. For years he also owned Wes Rammey's Gyn, where he and his son, also an accomplished boxer, trained amateur and professional boxers.
The Kortlander building is described in another section, and was a general purpose comnercial building, constructed around 1890 in part to house the William Kortlander wine and liquor business.
Moore's Hobby Shop, started in 1940, was an institution for many Godwin students. In the winter, a Division Avenue Bus ride downtown left only a short walk to Moore's Hobby Shop, which might well be crowded. In the lower level was a large assortment of model trains. Upstairs were things like paperback books - Floyd Clymer's books about motorcycles and cars - and airplane kits. While the merchandise was poor by 2006 standards, one could enjoy building balsa wood planes, or plastic replicas of military and civilian planes. The store was located at about 16 Fulton, in the (Maris?) building, between the Cody Hotel and the Kortlander building. The same buiding housed Smalley Daniels'.
Smally Daniels' shop sold Cushman scooters, a name now long forgotten for the most part. Cushman was originally the name of the Cushman Motor Works, in Lincoln, Nebraska, which made gas engines, known for their quality. Eventually this was bought out by the Ammon family, which also bought the California-based Motorglide Two-Wheel Scooter Company. The name was changed to Cushman, and in October, 1936, the first scooter, the Model R-1, was ready for sale.
Very basic machines, the scooters were most suitable for local travel. Three wheel models were used for things like deliveries, and often used to sell Popsicles during the summer, with the box in the back insulated, partially filled with "dry ice," and a supply of frozen fare. By the late 1950s mopeds, and low cost Japanese and other foreign motorbikes and motorcycles were beginning to flood the US market. Cushman scooters lost appeal, and in year 2006 are mostly collector's items.
Some early Cushman motor scooters.
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Some representative early Cushman Motor Scooters. Like most two wheel vehicles of the time, the scooters were quite basic, and never really outgrew a kind of transportation mostly suitable for local transportation on lightly traveled roads. Somewhat suited for the US suburbs of the 1930s and 1940s, they were quite dangerous on more heavily traveled roads. For many years a person could get a special license at age 14 for a two wheel vehicle with less than five horsepower. This added greatly to their popularity for many years, because they provided a measure of transportation until a person would get a driver's license for a car at age 16.
Downtown area
The image was provided by Lee Smith, class of 1953.
The image above of Grand Rapids in perhaps 1945 or before - the newest car in the image would help narrow it down. The scene shown would have been familiar to any Godwin student in 1960 yet. But not long thereafter.
Leon Smith, class of 1953, relates that Kresge's was located on the corner
of Market ( in 2006 this seems to be Monroe ) and Monroe ( in 2006 Monroe
Center ). Across Market Street from Kresge's was the Mutual Home Bank.
The Woolworth's store was located on Monroe and Pearl. Across Pearl was
the Pantlind Hotel. In 2006 this is the Amway Grand.
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The images above were provided by LeRoy Rockwell, class of 1959.
The photograph above is dated June 4, 1959.
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The postcard image, above, right, was provided by LeRoy Rockwell, class of 1959.
The photograph at the left, above, shows Kresge's being enlarged, in 1936. The image above, right, made from a postcard, shows Kresge's, and some of the surrounding area, in about 1940. The image is from some time in the interval from late spring to early fall; since the postcard was never sent, there is no postmark on it, and there is rarely a date when a postcard was printed, or the image on it was taken.
The image below, from 1920, shows Kresge's on the same corner before it was replaced by a new building, some time before 1940.
Left click on the image below for a much larger version.
The image was provided for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941.
Two things that impress someone in year 2007, many of whom probably never saw the kind of Grand Rapids that existed before the wrecking ball arrived in about 1960, compliments of a federal government program called "Urban Renewal" ( urban destruction really ) destroyed Grand Rapids, are the fact that almost everyone is dressed up, and the kind of crowds that drawn to Grand Rapids. Many people loved to take the bus in to Grand Rapids for a day of walking around, shopping, and having a meal. It is unlikely that Grand Rapids will ever have this kind of atmosphere again, for it was also a time when it was completely safe to be in town. Kids 7 and 8, including most Godwin students, took the bus to town, and their parents never had cause to worry.
Lee (Tanner) Collins, class of 1941, worked in downtown Grand Rapids for several years, as did many people in the 1940s and 1950s, and related the following:
"My! What memories this one brings back! I worked for Lear Inc.from 1943 'til 1958, and started out on Buchanan Ave, then when they moved downtown, I went along there too. I spent many happy lunch hours shopping that Kresge's Dime store that you see on the left of the picture. Just inside of the door, to your right they had a small 'hot dog stand' type place, that served the best hot dogs I ever had.(The kind with cabbage, or sauerkraut) (sp?) And in the back of the store they had a 'horse - shoe' shaped lunch room that served great dinners for 'cheap' too..!"
And, down in the middle of the picture was one of the other Dime Stores, Woolworth's, that we all spent many hours in too. If memory serves me correctly, in between them on the left, there was also another "Dime Store', but my memory doesn't remember the name of that one right now....
A view of Monroe Avenue, looking northwest, in about 1953. Notice that Herpolsheimer's now sits at the intersection of Division Avenue and Monroe Avenue, and is bounded on the south side by Fulton Street.
The intersection of Monroe Avenue and Market Street in about 1960. The "5 and 10" store, and a Kresge's and a Woolworth's, were all popular destinations. Each had a lunch counter, and decent food. And were mostly crowded, especially around noon.
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The photograph above shows a secton of downtown Grand Rapids in December, 1965.
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The photograph was provided by Scott Atchison, a local Grand Rapids historian.
The huge photograph above is of lower Monroe in 1950 - presumably summer. Most of what is seen disappeared after the Urban Renewal wrecking ball started to swing in the early 1960s. The Rowe hotel building still exists.
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Constructing the Rowe Hotel, in an undated photograph. In year 2012 the Rowe is an indigent hotel.
The Grand Trunk railroad depot - a liquor store for a while, is gone. One can identify some of the businesses on the west side of Division Avenue.It is likely that the Grand Rapids Library has additional photos like this one of other areas of Grand Rapids. One certainly hopes they can be obtained some day for use here..
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Steketee's was one of perhaps ten or so buildings in downtown Grand Rapids that that every Godwin student from about 1960 and before knew of, shopped in, and in some cases, worked in. Others include Wurzburg's, Herpolsheimer's, the Grand Rapids Library, Woolworth's, Kresge's, the Grand Rapids Pubic Museum, and the Civic auditorium. Few of these exist any longer in the downtown area, and even fewer are still in anything like their original form. The old public museum, built in about 1936, is apparently a warehouse in year 2006. Businesses like Steketee's, Wurzburg's, and Herpolsheimer's, represented families that came to Grand Rapids in the mid 1800s. Sadly, few survived very long following "Urban Renewal," a tragic federal program that led to the wrecking ball demolishing most of the city's historic areas. What the wrecking ball didn't get the interstate highway system did, again taking out wide swaths of the older city, and even changing the topography.
Steketee's was in business in Grand Rapids for about 136 years, but could not survive a change in ownership, and the demise of the traditional downtown area. Like Wurzburg's, the move to a suburban setting was not successful. Businesses like Steketee's date from a time when going in to Grand Rapids, often on the Division Avenue Bus Line for Godwin students, was a treat for most people. The format of the stores did not fit in to the more skittish atmosphere of a mall, something that Sears and Montgomery Wards also found out.
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The RKO Regent theater in 1935. Part of the studio system in the 1930s yet, and much of the 1940s, the RKO theater chain was later bought by Howard Hughes after the federal government declared the joint ownership of both theaters and movie production facilities to be anti-competitive. In their day, the very size of the theaters provided a grandeur all their own. Together with ornate furnishings, the large downtown theaters provided a sense of a movie event that is hard to capture in year 2005 with a DVD player and a TV set in one's home.
Alas, television put a lot of strain on the movie industry starting in the
late 1940s. While the theaters did well in the 1950s yet in Grand Rapids,
urban renewal pretty much destroyed them after 1960. In other cases the
theaters found themselves in declining areas, and generally speaking, fewer
people went in to Grand Rapids to seek entertainment any longer. In year
2005 one has suburban theaters with six or more screens, but the surroundings
are often relatively spartan, and it simply is not the same as watching a
movie in the grand old theaters. In the 1940s something like 85 million
people a week saw a movie. The population of the US was about 140 million
then.
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Material provided for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941.
Apparently the downtown area of Grand Rapids was well documented in the 1915 time frame. Just who owns most of the photographs is unclear, but at the time it was common for a city to hire photographers to document buildings and other city features.
The photographs here are just a random sample what's probably out there somewhere, and mostly intended to show what an older Grand Rapids looked like, and what predated some of the buildings that Godwin students were familiar with.
Grand Rapids Chicks
The Grand Rapids Chicks baseball team was one of many women's teams in
the 1940s and early 1950s. Perhaps started to fill the void left by male
players during WWII, women's teams like the Chicks played the game energetically
and well. Here again, perhaps the growth of television gave more people
access to televised major league games, and there was less interest in going
to see local live games. At about the same time the Grand Rapids hockey
team folded, and the hockey stadium was converted to Atlantic Mills, an
early discount store on the north edge of town.
Farmers Market
The farmer's market was popular institution in most cities in and around 1900, at time when many farms still ringed a city. The notion of suburbs had not started in earnest yet, so one had a city which ended abruptly, and then one had farmland. So as shown in the images above, with effort a farmer could bring a horse drawn wagon to a designated area and sell farm fresh produce. Cutting out a middle man or two no doubt helped the farmer make some extra money now and then.
Following the decline of the markets, farm stands catered to a population
that more and more owned its own car, and lasted while the farmland around
Grand Rapids gradually fell to the developer's blade starting in the 1930s.
As of year 2005 there is very little farmland in the immediate vicinity of
Grand Rapids. Few have any real idea where their food comes from any more.
Additional Grand Rapids postcards
Reyerson Library
Martin A. Ryerson, 1858 to 1933, was an industrialist living in Chicago. His family, starting with his father, Martin Ryerson, and an uncle,
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A very solid and elegant building, many Godwin students remember riding the Division Avenue bus into Grand Rapids to spend part of a day locating and using resources at the library. In year 2005 the building partly serves as just an entrance for a modern library building. Actually the second modern one, as the first one had to be torn down because of shoddy construction. Unfortunately, the tax payer funded building was in no way built to the standards of the Ryerson building, which, at 104 years old in year 2005, still probably looks largely the way it did when in opened in 1901.
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The image on the left, above, is a 1913 oil painting of Martin A. Ryerson. The image on the right, above, is shows Martin A. Ryerson, at the left, in 1924, participating in a cornerstone laying for a medical facility in Chicago.
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Area roads
Godwin graduates in the 1930s and 1940s remember a time when most of the area roads were dirt, and at best graded dirt. Before the days of even spraying them with oil, the roads were generally dusty affairs, a situation mitigated only by the fact there wasn't much traffic on them. Every stretch of rain likely meant serious potholes, which could do real damage to a wagon or car of the time. They needed constant maintenance.
Division Avenue was paved with cement south of Burton Heights only in 1924. Allen Road, now 36th Street, was a dirt road around Godwin even in the late 1940s. The photograph above shows Eastern Avenue ( Formerly East Avenue ) at the intersection of Maybell, on November 21, 1931. Or so the photograph says. Today there is no Maybell road, so it is not clear just where the photograph was taken - maybe road names were changed in 1943 to provide a more consistent naming scheme.
In any case, Eastern was a dirt road, and a crude one, past 84th Street even as late as 1960. Only in the 1960s, when more asphalt presumably became available, were more roads paved.
The photograph above was taken during the start of the Great Depression,
which perhaps explains why so many people are involved. Road construction
was one of many government programs meant to help keep people employed,
however minimally. The cut being made in the hill is similar to the
technique railroads used many thousands of times in many other places.
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Charles P. Calkins building
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The Charles P. Calkins building is the oldest surviving structure in Grand Rapids. Built in 1836, it's said to have once been located in the the northeast corner of Monroe and Ottawa. In year 2008 there is no such intersection. Today, year 2008, the building is located in Lincoln Park ( Place? ), at the intersection of State Street southeast and Washington Street southeast. The photographs above were taken on June 18, 2008.
Charles P. Calkins was a lawyer, and the building was a law office. How long the building was used is not known at this time. He appears below in an undated photograph.
Charles P. Calkins
Charles Philo Calkins died in 1890, and is buried in the Fulton Street
Cemetery. Lot 33, block 5, grave 7.
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The postcard above shows the area between State Street and Washington Street in perhaps year 1900.
From White's history of GR:
Pages 187-188 - Sidney J. and S. Eugene Osgood are the constituent members of a Grand Rapids firm that has gained high reputation in the domain of architectural art and science, and both father and son are numbered among the representative American architects, with many of the finest types of public, business and private buildings to stand as evidence of their technical skill and their exceptional facility in the expression of the highest forms of architectural artistry. Sidney J. Osgood was born in the state of Maine, and his advanced training for his chosen profession was received in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, as supplemental to a liberal education along more specific academic lines. In 1876 he established his residence in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where his first project was rebuilding the Kent County jail after it had been destroyed by fire. He has continued in the active and successful practice of his profession during the long intervening period of half a century. Though he is now venerable in years he still finds satisfaction in giving active attention to the work of the profession that he has dignified and advanced by his large and successful achievement, as well as by his sterling attributes of character. Mr. Osgood is a life member and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a distinction which few architects obtain.
His son and valued professional coadjutor, S. Eugene Osgood, is able to advert to Grand Rapids as the place of his nativity, his birth having been here occurred on the 11th of April, 1880, and his studies in the public schools of the city having been continued until his graduation in the high school. Thereafter he was employed a year in his father’s office, and he then entered Cornell University, in which he continued his studies, graduating in June, 1902, his study and his practical experience having gained to him a broad and effective knowledge of the technique and also the art and construction details of architecture. Since 1904 he has been a partner in his father’s business, which is conducted under the firm name of Osgood & Osgood. The family name has long stood exponent of the best in architectural achievement, and it may be noted in this connection that the father, Sidney J. Osgood, was the architect of the beautiful and famous Congregational church at Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The firm of Osgood & Osgood has maintained its offices in various Grand Rapids buildings, including the Porter Block, the Widdicomb building, the new building of the Grand Rapids Herald, of which the last two named the firm were the architects, and finally the Monument Square building, on Monroe avenue, which was designed by the firm and erected under its direct supervision, the large and well-equipped offices in this building having been occupied by Osgood & Osgood since 1919.
The firm has specialized in the designing of Masonic Temples of the highest grade, and its principals are at the time of this writing in the summer of 1925, serving as consulting architects of the great George Washington Masonic National Memorial Temple which is in course of erection in the city of Alexandria, Virginia. The members of the firm are also consulting architects for the magnificent new Masonic Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are the designing and supervision architects of important Masonic Temple projects in the following cities: Canton, Ohio; South Bend, Indiana; Bay City, Michigan; Brockton, Massachusetts; and Providence, Rhode Island. Many fine buildings in Grand Rapids and other Michigan cities stand as monuments to the professional skill of Sidney J. Osgood and S. Eugene Osgood, among them the following: Kent County Court House, Keeler Building, Houseman & Jones Building, Kortlander Building, Grand Rapids Savings Bank Building, Commercial Bank Building, Corl & Knott Building and the Grand Rapids Masonic Temple. They have also built twenty-four churches, several schools and residences, and the firm has gained a reputation that transcends mere local limitations and has become national in its scope.
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The first section of the Kortlander Building, shown at the left below, was apparently mostly a business structure, and built some time after 1885, when it does not show up on a Sanborn fire map, and 1895, when it does. See the middle image above. Later - a guess being in 1916, as shown below the photo on the right - an addition was made, as shown in the photograph at the right, above, possibly taken in the early 1950s. The is a car visible in the lower right hand corner. The addition seems to have consisted of apartment units, and in fact the entrance at the middle of the building, on the Fulton Street side, says something like "Central Apartments." A sign inside the entrance pointed to a rental office on the second floor. It's possible that one can see curtains on the left side of the 4th floor, in the photo at the right, above. Apparently the addition was meant to address an increase in housing demand, since it was more common to live in the city in the early part of the 20th century.
On the Fulton Street side, left, one sees an entrance behind the buggy being pulled by the horse. To the right of the entrance a bar operated in the late 1950s. To the left of the entrance was long a sports shop owned and run by Charles Lindberg - no relation to the pilot - and his two sons, Oscar and William. Gunsmithing work was done, keys made, and boats and motors worked on in the 1930s. By the 1950s there did not seem to be much business, and the store was like a living museum, possible only because of the slower pace of life at the time. And much of the material did go to the Grand Rapids museum when Charles Lindberg died in about 1958, and the store was shut down by his sons.
But the closing was prophetic in a way. Lindberg's shop, and the bar on the other corner on the side of the building along Fulton Street, were apparently the only parts of the building occupied by that time. By the mid 1950s, after the bar closed the building would be almost completely dark. The author remembers walking northwest on Louis Street at night and looking back towards the Kortlander building to see a bare lightbulb lit on the third or fourth floor. Whether anyone lived in that room, or what the lightbulb signified, will never be known now. The photograph below, provided by John Kortlander, a relative four or five generations after William Kortlander, who built the building, shows the Kortlander building in about 1959.
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The building to the left of the Kortlander building housed Moore's Hobby Shop, and probably Smally Daniel's Cushman sales store. Above Moore's Hobby Shop was a dance studio. One can see part of the sign - probably "Learn to Dance" - on the left side of the photo, above and left of the "Grill" sign. Not so easy to see, there was an alley on the left side of the Kortlander building. In the mid and late 1950s there were many layers of posters on the side of the building advertising the Ringling Brothers, Barnum, and Baily Circus. The alley was otherwise a service corridor for businesses along Division Avenue. The south end of the Kortlander building had an area for the same purpose.
Around 1960 the Kortlander building was demolished, together with most of the Cody Hotel, and some buildings in between, to make room for a municipal parking ramp. The construction of the ramp was so shoddy that it too was later demolished, in and 2008 something was once again being built on the property. Before that construction, the property along Fulton was vacant, as shown below. The image on the left looks east, along Fulton, and the one on the right looks south, along Commerce. Almost nothing from the 1950s exits in that area in year 2010.
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So why was the Kortlander Building even built? It starts when Henry Kortlander immigrated to the US from Germany.
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The short biography shows that Henry Kortlander learned to be a cooper
after immigrating to America. Less clear is how son William got in to the
wholesale wine and liquor business. He had contacts in Tennessee. The business was
extremely successful, and the Kortlander building was eventually built to
house the business. Four brothers formed a separate wine and liquor business,
Kortlander Brothers..
Demand in Grand Rapids must have been high.
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Above, left, are Henry and Ceceila Kortlander, who immigrated from Germany with their son William. Above right is son Joseph. Neither photograph is dated.
The building was designed by Sidney J. Osgood, a Grand Rapids architect, who
also designed many area churches, and the city courthouse. His brother, S. Eugene,
was also an architect.
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The building at the right, bottom row, was never built, and it's intended purpose is not known. It's simply an example of Sidney J. Osgood's style.
The Kortlander building was in part something to house William Kortlander's wine and liquor business, and was also a general purpose commercial building. One can see the faded sign on the east side of the building, near the top, suggesting that it said "Kortlander Company, Wines & Liquors." As mentioned, at some point in time the building was expanded, likely to provide apartment units. In addition, other businesses occupied the building.
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The item above is from the May, 1908, issue of Popular Mechanics. The company sold sliderules, although it never used that name.
Other businesses to occupy the Kortlander building were a shoe repair business and a radio repair shop, both owned by X Moore, who started Moore's Hobby Shop in the Maris (?) building, to the left of the Kortlander building, on Fulton Avenue. In the early 1950s Phyllis Morris, Godwin Class of 1962, remembers attending dance classes in the Korlander building, on the second floor, which is also where the rental office was for apartments in the left side of the Korlander building - to the left of the spiral fire escape on Fulton Avenue, shown on the photographs above. A seed company occupied the left end of the building on Fulton Aveune.
Another example of the kind of buildings in downtown Grand Rapids before the wrecking ball came to town in 1960. The Grand Rapids Press building shown above was torn down at some point too. The bottom image dates from about 1930.
The Grand Rapids Press was a merger of the Morning Press (formed in 1890 ) and the Grand Rapids Eagle, in 1892. ( The Grand Rapids Eagle published its first issue on December 25, 1844.) On January 1, 1893, it became an evening paper, which it is to this day. The building above, located on the southwest corner of Sheldon Avenue and Fulton Street, was ready for occupation in 1906.
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The first image shows the Grand Rapids Civic Auditorium being constructed in 1932. The second images is a postcard image showing the auditorium shortly after completion. The third image shows its demolition, in about 1980. Note in third image that the interurban bridge runs right in to the side of the auditorium. A postcard from 1928 shows the bridge with an interurban car going over it towards Grand Rapids. For whatever reason, the bridge was left standing after the interurban business failed in about 1928. In year 2006 it is used as a foot bridge.
Almost everyone visited the Civic Auditorium at some time or another. For a circus. For one of endless stage events. For a large scouting event. For a boat or appliance show.
A very substantial building, built on the former location of the
interurban depot, perhaps as one of many WPA projects. It is gone in
year 2005. Exactly why it was torn down is unclear. Grand Rapids power
brokers apparently decided something bigger and/or newer was needed.
One wonders whether something better could have been done with the building.
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Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
Corner of Monroe and Pearl, looking east, in an undated photo. The corner would later be the site of the Wonderly Building, then a bank, and finally the McKay Tower.Left click on the images below for a larger version.
Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
The image above, circa 1910, is of the Wonderly building, built perhaps in the 1880s, and likely an apartment building. It seemed to be common for area businessmen to build named buildings for purposes other than their main area of business, or possibly members of the local elite got their names on buildings whether they owned them or now. For example, the Kortlander building, on the southeast corner of Commerce and Fulton until 1960, was built by and/or named after William Kortlander whose main business was importing whiskey and other forms of alcohol. The Wonderly building was built by and/or named after J.H.Wonderly, who among other enterprises long ran a large saw-mill operation, and therewith built yet another lumber fortune in the area. It was also common 100 years ago to put the date of construction at the top of a building, a practice that has sadly mostly gone away.Left click on the image below for a larger version.
Grand Rapids City Hall, perhaps in the summer of 1963.
Area railroads
Union Depot, on Ionia Avenue, just south of Fulton Street, would have been known to generations of Godwin students. Completed in 1900, replacing an earlier wooden structure, it served several railroads, including the New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Tracks went west, through Grandville, past Zeeland, and towards Chicago, east towards Lansing, South, along US 131 towards Indianapolis, and southeast towards Jackson. The bottom images shows a postcard image of a passenger train leaving Union Depot in 1910.
Many Godwin students remember the "Flyers," as high speed passenger trains were often called. Pulled by steam engines as late as the mid-1940s, they were not often seen by the mid-1950s.
Left click on any image below for a larger version.
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Apparently 114 years old, the old Union Depot shed was finally destroyed by a fire as large amounts of wood being stored under the shed burned. The metal structure was too badly deformed to subsequently be used for anything other than scrap.
The bulk of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad - GR&I RR - system was mostly located in Indian and Ohio, but in 1870 a track was completed to Grand Rapids. The track runs along the west side of the GM stamping plant, where it crosses 36th Street. Many Godwin students would remember crossing the track when going and coming from school, and not a few would walk along the track for a ways. At one time the track ran all the way to where the Mackinaw Bridge exists today, where a train ferry would take trains to and from the upper peninsula. The track then continued a great distance in to the upper peninsula. Starting in Cincinnati, at one time the track was the longest north-south track in the US. In year 2007 much of the track north of Grand Rapids has been abandoned, much of it being turned in to a walking path.
In the early 1920s the track was purchased by the Pennsylvania RR. In year 2007 the track is still active south of Grand Rapids. But the passenger trains and large freight trains of 60 and more years ago are now but a memory.
Left click on the images below for a larger version.
Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
Shown above in a 1910 photograph is the GR&I RR administration building in Grand Rapids. Given other information, it was apparently built before 1891. A significant structure, now long gone, the GR&I RR track to Grand Rapids must have been very active to justify a building of this size. The train shed is across the street, as shown below.
Left click on the images below for a larger version.
Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
The drawing or postcard image above is from 1891, and one can see the GR&I RR trans shed, and the administration building to the left.
Area streetcars
Left click on the image for a larger version.
Material provided for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941.
Left click on the image for a larger version.
Material provided for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941.
Streetcars did need to be rebuilt, repaired, or upgraded from time to time, although probably not as extensively as that shown above in a 1912 photograph. It's possible this one was involved in an accident of some kind.
Horse drawn delivery wagons
In the Grand Rapids of the early 1950s, then a town of about 150,000, one could still hear and see horse drawn milk wagons in the wee hours of the morning.
Left click on the images below for a larger version.
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The image on top left above is of a horse drawn milk wagon in Findlay, OH, in 1964. The one on the right is a horse drawn bakery wagon in Grand Rapids, MI, 1905. Bottom left is a horse drawn mild wagon in Grand Rapids, probably from the 1940s. Bottom right is a 1905 photograph of a horse drawn milk wagon in Grand Rapids. Those in Grand Rapids were gone by the mid 1950s.
Dating from a day when most people had milk delivered, just as most homes took the Grand Rapids Herald and/or the Grand Rapids Press. In year 2006, none of these things are any longer true. The horses that knew to stop in front of every house are long gone. And anyone wanting milk must be able to drive themselves to a store. This is called progress.
Auto dealerships
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Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
Notice that the Lozier was sold by Fred Pantlind, who also build and/or owned the Pantlind Hotel. The old Indian Trails gold course, on the northeast corner of 28th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue, was owned by a Pantlind family member. Whether it was Fred Pantlind is not known here.
Also notice the two phone numbers, one "Citz." and the other Bell. It appears that Grand Rapids had two phone companies in and around 1912. As happened around the country, The Bell system eventually either bought out or overpowered its rivals, leading to the nationwide system Americans enjoyed for decades. Until the US Justice system broke it up.
Left click on the images below for a larger version.
Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
Except for electrics, cars meant gas stations, and in the 1910 to, say, 1950 era there were many gas stations in the downtown Grand Rapids, most of which are long gone in year 2007. The example above, in an undated photograph, was located where Anderson Art Supply was later located. In year 2007, it too is long gone.
Area houses
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
Material provided for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941.
Built in 1837, the William Haldane house was already old in this undated photograph, because the power or telephone poles shown suggest the date was around 1890, and maybe later. When the house was built the Grand Rapids area probably still resembled its original state in some places. In time however, endless dirt was moved toward the river to fill in the area where islands originally existed, and all hills in the river area of town disappeared.
Haldane came to the Grand Rapids area in 1836, and was a skilled cabinet maker. He set up shop, and for this reason is considered the father of the Grand Rapids furniture industry.
Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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Material provided for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941.
The images of the houses above date from around 1971. Whether they still exist in year 2007 is unclear. The extensive gingerbread on the Pike home, which became popular in part after the band saw was invented, suggests construction dates in the 1880s for both houses. During the heyday of gingerbread one could order designs from catalogs by the foot. Over the years, the cost and labor of maintaining and repairing all of the ornate wood became apparent, and in most cases it simply rotted away over time.
Miscellaneous
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Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
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Item at left, above, supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
Above is a photograph of John Ball, 1794 to 1884, an early Grand Rapids settler. John Ball Park is located on land donated by John Ball. At the right, above, is John Ball in about 1880.Left click on the images below for a larger version.
Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
Above is an 1860 photograph of Daniel Ball's house, built in 1850. Daniel Ball was a son of John Ball.Left click on the images below for larger versions.
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It's not exactly clear how Richard Butterworth chose to come to Grand Rapids in 1843. Perhaps because it was a fast growing area, and a great deal of money could be made exploiting resources, although he did spend 7 years farming before turning his attention to gypsum. A typical gypsum mine, located in the north part of Grand Rapids, is shown above, right. There are vast amounts of gypsum in the area centered on Grand Rapids. National Gypsum operated in the Grandville area in and around 1900.
Richard Butterworth eventually donated land and was a benefactor St. Mark's Home and Hospital, which was eventually renamed Butterworth Hospital. Butterworth Avenue is also named for him.
Left click on the images below for a larger version.
Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
The Voigt roller mills, show in an 1870 photograph of the west side of the Grand River bank, were a familiar sight until the mid 1960s at least. Just when they were torn down is unclear. The owners home was located at 115 College Avenue SE, and is today the Voigt House Victorian Museum.Left click on the image below for a larger version.
The Voigt-Crescent flour mill is shown above, in an undated photograph. One the lower left one can see water coming from the water wheel that powered the mill.
Left click on the image below for a larger version.
The Voigt mill is at the right in the undated photograph above. Here too one can see the canal on the west side of the river, which provided power for some of the businesses.
Left click on the images below for a larger version.
Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941
The May Graham, shown above in a 1912 photograph, is said to have been the last last Grand River steamer, and at that time was apparently as much an entertainment vehicle as a freight operation. It seems that all the steamers on the Grand River were small. The May Graham weighed 95 tons and had a loaded draft of just 30 inches. The river was not all that deep compared to, say, the Mississippi River, and mostly operated west of the city, connecting Grand Rapids with Lake Michigan, and then large ports like Chicago. According to one source, the May Graham plied the St. Joseph River as early as 1895, and even after dredging the rivers was only 36 inches deep in all places where the boat might go. Similar limitations on the Grand River meant that really large ships between Lake Michigan and Grand Rapids were never practical.
Steam boats were more highly developed that steam engines for a few decades, and did not require right of ways other than suitably deep rivers. But with the arrival of the railroads in Grand Rapids in 1858 and before, the window of opportunity for the steamers was small. Once the tracks to Grand Rapids were laid, the railroads could haul large amounts of freight quickly to places like Chicago. And steamers mostly couldn't reach any cities to the east of Grand Rapids in any timely or effective way. So overall steamboats were a minor, if colorful footnote to the travel history of Grand Rapids.
Miscellaneous photos of the Grand Rapids area from about 1953 to 1978. Most are self explanatory to anyone who knew the pre-1960 Grand Rapids.
