Heritage Tours

Indigenous peoples lived in what is now Grand Rapids for thousands of years before the first European settlers arrived in the early 1800s. Detroit-born Louis Campau, known as the father of Grand Rapids, built a cabin, trading post and blacksmith shop on the east bank of the Grand River in 1826. The city was incorporated in 1850 and quickly established itself as America’s “Furniture City,” renowned for making fine wood furniture. More than 150 years later, Grand Rapids earned the sobriquet “Beer City USA” for its brewing expertise.

There are a lot of stories behind this quick sketch of Grand Rapids history, and you can explore some of them on these tours:

Native American Heritage

Start your tour at the Grand Rapids Public Museum on the west bank of the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids. “Anishinabek: The People of This Place” is a permanent exhibit on the third floor the museum. The three major Indigenous tribes of Michigan – the Ottawa, Potawatomi and Chippewa – together comprise the Anishinabek people.

Hundreds of artifacts representing Native American decorative arts, clothing, weapons and tools are on display here, and Anishinaabe parents, artists and professionals share stories of their ancestry and culture in video interviews throughout the exhibit. You’ll also see objects, photographs and documents handed down through generations of local families, providing fascinating insights into the lives of the area’s original peoples.

Your next stop is outside the Museum but you’ll likely want to take some time to explore the other history, science and culture exhibits here first.

Exit the Museum on Front St. and head south (left). Just before the road curves to the west, you will see a Grand Valley State University sign in front of GVSU’s Eberhard Center. Turn left (east) onto the concrete path heading toward the Grand River.

The statue just outside the north end of the Eberhard Center depicts Chief Noonday, also known as Noahquageshik or Nawquageezhig, who led the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians. When traders arrived in the greater Grand Rapids area, the American Indian leader helped welcome new settlers. Sculptor Antonio Tobias Mendez sculpted this piece for the city’s Community Legends project. It was installed in 2010.

Now continue south on Front St. and pass under the highway overpass. Front St. dead ends into Mount Vernon Ave. Follow Mount Vernon south (left) one block to Fulton St. Cross Fulton St. to the Mount Vernon pedestrian pathway. On the corner is a 20-ft. tall sculpture by Jason Quigno, a local Anishinaabe artist.

Quigno carved “Akii Ndodem (Earth Totem)” out of limestone, incorporating symbols reflecting Anishinaabe culture. The four sides represent four cardinal directions, four seasons, and four stages of life, while deep cuts represent rivers and raised areas reflect the Seven Grandfather Teachings ­– principles of character that each Anishinaabe should live by.

This statue stands on the downtown campus of Grand Valley State University and was commissioned by the school to present themes of unity and shared humanity honoring its location in a community space first inhabited by Indigenous groups.

Now retrace your steps back to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Cross Pearl St. in front of the Museum. At your right is Ah-Nab-Awen Park. Enter the park and you will see three distinct earthen mounds. These are meant to represent the Ottawa, Potawatomi and Chippewa peoples, and evoke the burial mounds built here by their ancestors, the Hopewell.

Ah-Nab-Awen, which translates to “resting place,” was originally home to a series of Hopewell mounds built between 450 B.C. and 450 A.D. Settlers to the area leveled the original mounds in the 1850s to provide dirt for streets.

While these mounds are symbolic, the public is asked to stay off them as a matter of respect.

A group of actual Hopewell mounds known as The Norton Mounds is located along the Grand River about 10 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. Called “the most important and best-preserved Hopewell mounds in the western Great Lakes region,” The Norton Mounds are not open to the public and are under the protection of the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

A bit north of the mounds in Ah-Nab-Awen Park is a bronze statue of early Native American leader Nishnabe Gemaw standing atop a boulder. A committee of elders from the Odawa, Ojibwa and Potawatomi tribes commissioned sculptor Tom Hills to create this piece in 1992.

Follow the Riverwalk north along the Grand River, which was called Owashtanong by the Anishinaabek. The Grand River was the lifeblood of the tribes, serving as a mode transport and source of sustenance while embodying a spiritual connection to Mother Earth.

Planning is now underway to make the river more closely resemble what it looked like to the area’s first inhabitants. Dams will be removed and boulders scattered about to help restore the river’s historical flow and river-bottom diversity. The city’s namesake rapids will reemerge.

Follow the Riverwalk across Michigan St. past Bridgewater Place, one of the city’s tallest buildings, and continue under the freeway overpass as the pathway morphs into the Grand River Edges Trail. You’ll soon encounter Fish Ladder Park, where a functional piece of artwork helps fish migrate up the Grand River. You may see salmon and steelhead leaping up the “steps” of the ladder.

Continue north to 6^th Street and head east (right), crossing the 6^th Street Bridge. To your right is Sixth Street Park. Not far into the park is an 11-foot tall steel sculpture, “Manidoo Bawating,” which was designed to honor important symbols and unique traditions of the Anishinaabek peoples. The title means “Spirit of the Rapids” in the Indigenous language.

The sculpture, which is illuminated at night, was designed by the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians and local Anishinaabe artist Alan Compo in collaboration with Oakland, California-based art initiative HYBYCOZO.

Compo also painted “Anishinaabek,” a mural on the tunnel and retaining walls under the Pearl Street Bridge. The painting incorporates lore and legends from the Anishinaabe. You can see it if you follow the Grand River south (along the east side this time), all the way back to the Grand Rapids Public Museum and descend the steps to the left front of the building.

Furniture Heritage

Grand Rapids was home to more than 40 furniture companies during its heyday as America’s Furniture City, which lasted from the mid-19^th Century to the advent of the Great Depression and WWII. The area is still home to some of the world’s largest office furniture manufacturers, but the era of fine wood furniture is long past.

You can sometimes find furniture pieces from the Furniture City days at local antique stores – including Warehouse One Antiques & Collectibles, Century Antiques and Lost & Found Treasures of Old and New, which are all located in the same building on the edge of downtown Grand Rapids.

The massive brick structure was the home of the Sligh Furniture Company between 1880 and 1932. The company once billed itself as the “largest manufacturer of furniture exclusively for the bedroom in the world” and its customers included presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and Benjamin Harrison.

The Sligh building is one of a number of former furniture factories that have been repurposed for other uses in and around downtown Grand Rapids:

• The Baker Furniture Co. building (1661 Monroe Ave. NW), built in 1872, was one of the last fine wood furniture manufacturers to leave Grand Rapids. A portion of the structure is now occupied by the MiEN Company, a local company that makes furniture for education settings.
• The Berkey & Gay Furniture Co. (940 Monroe Ave. NW) was promoted as the largest furniture factory in the world upon finish of its construction in 1892. Today, it is the Boardwalk Condominiums condo complex.
• The John Widdicomb Co. (673 Seward Ave. NW) was built as a 113,000 sq. ft. factory in 1880. It now serves as office complex. 
• Luce Furniture (655-57 Godfrey Ave. SW), less than one mile south of downtown’s Founders Brewing Co., was built in the 1880s and expanded in 1910. It is now being transformed into Factory Yards, a 15-acre mixed-use development including residences, commercial space, restaurants, performance space and community gathering areas.
• The Waters Building (161 Ottawa Ave. NW) has been a downtown landmark since 1898, when it was built as the Furniture Exhibition Co. For many years, it was the largest furniture display building in the United States. Today, it is home to offices, residences and the Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel.

You can explore more of the city’s furniture history at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. A sign outside the Museum’s Front St. entrance tells the tale of the local furniture industry and a second-floor exhibit, “The Furniture Factory,” includes a working lathe typical of machinery used in the factories of yore. Volunteer woodturners give demonstrations of the lathe in action and answer questions about the art of furniture-making. You can also view a half-hour film exploring some of the 1,500 pieces in the Museum’s furniture collection and offering a glimpse of today’s local furniture industry.

You may want to visit the “Newcomers: The People of this Place” exhibit, which will introduce you to the successive waves of immigrants that helped shape the city and its culture. Many of the 19^th century European immigrants came here specifically for work in furniture factories.

Ah-Nab-Awen Park is located just across Pearl St. in front of the Museum. At the entrance of the park is the Spirit of Solidarity Monument commemorating the Grand Rapids furniture workers’ strike of 1911. In April of that year, 4,000 local furniture workers walked off the job, asking for increased pay, fewer work hours and the creation of collective bargaining between laborers and employees. The strike lasted four months and the three bronze figures depicted in the sculpture – two men and one woman – represent the workers and their wives who sacrificed much to advance the cause of labor.

Grand Rapids artist Roberto Chenlo carved and cast the sculpture, which was installed in 2007, on the 96th anniversary of the furniture strike.

Follow Pearl St. east across the Grand River. At the northeast corner of the bridge is a historical marker recalling the Log Jam of 1883. The Grand River was essential to the success of the furniture industry, as it was used to deliver logs from Michigan’s pine and oak forests to sawmills across the region, where it was cut and supplied to furniture factories.

Record-setting rains in July 1883 raised the Grand River to flood stage, creating a seven-mile log jam two miles north of downtown. The jam broke loose on July 26, sending more than 600,000 logs rushing downriver, tearing out every railroad bridge in the city as it went. It was one of the most devastating events in the city’s history.

You can get a glimpse of the wealth enjoyed by local lumber barons and furniture titans by visiting Heritage Hill, a residential neighborhood adjacent to downtown Grand Rapids. (Follow any road east from the city center, up the hill.) One of the largest urban historic districts in the country, Heritage Hill is home to 1,300 buildings dating from 1844.

Some of the largest and most luxurious homes in Heritage Hill were built for furniture industry leaders, including Stow-Davis Furniture Company founder George Davis (535 Fountain SE), Stickley Brothers Furniture Company-co founder Albert Stickley (60 Prospect NE) and Sligh Furniture’s Charles Sligh (31 Prospect SE). Check out the self-guided walking tour of Heritage Hill for more information and directions to these and 30+ additional buildings of note.

Black Heritage

The Grand Rapids African American Museum & Archives is a wonderful starting point for an exploration of local Black heritage. The Museum shares the history, culture, art and accomplishments of local African Americans through recorded oral histories, memorabilia, exhibits, pop-up displays and special events.

Download the GR Walks smartphone app to take the Black History Tour of Downtown Grand Rapids. The tour is narrated by former City Commissioner and Urban League of West Michigan President Joe Jonas. You’ll visit 11 points of interest, including stops at the historic Fountain Street Church, which has hosted Malcom X and Langston Hughes, and the City-County Administration Building, which is fronted by a state of Lyman Parks, the city’s first African American mayor (1971-1976.)

The Lyman Parks statue is part of the city’s Community Legends Project, an ongoing initiative to erect 25 larger-than-life bronze sculptures of notable figures in Grand Rapids history. Other African American legends in the series:

• Loney Clinton Gordon (400 Monroe Ave. NW), one of three local women who helped develop the life-saving whooping cough vaccine.
• Helen Jackson Claytor (the student plaza of Grand Rapids Community College), the first African American president of the Grand Rapids YWCA and first African American president of the national YWCA.

Civil rights activist Rosa Parks is not one of our Community Legends (because she never lived here), but the city has erected a statue in her honor at the corner of Monroe Ave. and Monroe Center St. Ms. Parks is depicted as defiantly standing in front of the bus seat that she famously refused to give up.

The statue stands at the entrance to Rosa Parks Circle, which is both a sculpture (designed by acclaimed artist Maya Lin) and a community gathering space hosting concerts, festivals, dances, winter ice skating and more.

A number of outdoor downtown murals also commemorate Black people and events, including:

• Ethel B. Coe, who won a civil rights class as a high school student when she was refused service at a local ice cream parlor and was active in the NAACP, Urban League and other groups throughout her life. She’s depicted on an alley wall just north of the GLC Live at 20 Monroe concert venue.
• Harriet Woods Hill became the first African American female officer in the Grand Rapids Police Department in 1955. Fittingly, her image is painted on the northwest wall of the GRPD headquarters.
• Ella Mary Sims, who was born in a sharecropper’s cabin in the Mississippi Delta and became a leading advocate for justice and equality in the local community, receives a painted tribute on the east side of the building at 21 Weston St. SE.
• Ethel Beverly Burgess, instrumental in establishing the Urban League of West Michigan, and Hattie Beverly, the first African American teacher employed at Grand Rapids Public Schools, are depicted as “The Beverly Sisters” in a painting at 106 South Division Ave.
• A mural adjacent to The Beverly Sisters honors the legacy of athletes who competed on Grand Rapids Negro League baseball teams in the 1940s-50s.
• Bernard Ware, Carl Smith and Richard Martell Gilbert founded The Black People’s Free Store in Grand Rapids. The store was only open from 1967-68, but it was an important resource and gathering space for neighbors and activists. A mural with their likenesses is on the south side of the renovated historic building at 235 S. Division.
• Grand Rapids artist Edwin Anderson pays tribute to two historic entertainment venues that catered to the local Black community: The American Legion Crispus Attucks Club 59 (1930s-2000s) and The Horseshoe Bar (1891-1972). Anderson’s mural graces the exterior wall of a building at the corner of South Division and Wealthy.

If you feel like venturing outside of the downtown area, you can take the self-guided Southtown mural tour, which includes 15 murals created for the 49507 Project. This public art project was conceived to raise awareness about redlining and disinvestment in the city’s Southside neighborhoods, which are historically Black and Brown communities.

Need to rest and refuel during your tour? Check out these local Black-owned restaurants.

Beer Heritage

The roots of the local craft brewing scene extend back to 1836 and the construction of a small, single-barrel brewery in what would one day become downtown Grand Rapids. The beer scene steadily expanded, dominated by German lager makers. By 1875, local breweries produced 16,000 barrels of beer annually, valued at 600,000 dollars.

When outside breweries began to distribute their products in the city, four local brewers joined together to combat the threat, and Grand Rapids Brewing Company was born in 1895. The taps went dry with the advent of Prohibition and never really recovered. Several breweries tried to make a go of it after Prohibition was repealed, but the last one closed in 1951, kicking off a 46-year dry spell for local beer lovers.

Read the story of Beer City to learn how Grand Rapids established its preeminence as a contemporary beer destination. Then hit the Beer City Ale Trail for yourself to see (and taste) how our legacy is being extended today. Pay special attention to the local breweries with interesting history and historic features. You can also take guided beer tours that delve into local history and lore.

Agricultural Heritage

Did you know that one of the world’s finest fruit-growing regions is located right here in the Grand Rapids area? The Fruit Ridge is a unique topographical feature just 10 minutes north of the city center. It possesses a distinct micro-climate favorable to growing apples, peaches, nectarines, pears, plums, strawberries, sweet cherries and more.

There’s also an abundance of family farms to the west and south of the city, growing a spectacular array of produce and raising a variety of livestock. (Michigan produces more than 300 commodities, making us the state with the second most diverse agriculture industry in the nation just behind California.)

Get the Fruit Ridge Country Market Guide for a roadmap to 30+ farm markets, orchards, greenhouses, attractions that offer fresh-picked and u-pick produce, live plants, fresh flowers, tours, hayrides and a whole host of fall harvest festivals and activities for all ages. While many markets are open only during the growing season, several welcome visitors year-round – including Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm and Robinette’s Apple Haus & Winery, both of which offer on-site dining and their own craft beverages in addition to lots of  farm fun.    

You can also get a taste of the local agricultural industry at the Fulton Street Farmers Market just two miles east of downtown GR. Local farmers (many from the Fruit Ridge) come here to offer their bounty. The Market operates in two 6-month seasons: a Main Season (May-October) that hosts Wednesday, Friday and Saturday markets from 8am-2pm; and a Second Season (November-April) that features a weekly market on Saturdays from 10am-1pm.

Established in 1922, Fulton Street is the oldest and largest of the area’s many farm markets.

Traveling with kids? There are a number of places to interact with farm animals – including Blandford Nature Center, Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park, Critter Barn, Deer Tracks Junction Adventure Park and John Ball Zoo. Blandford Nature Center also offers a wide range of hands-on experiences designed to help kids and adults connect with nature, all year long.