Rapids Historical Society
Volume 36, number 6!
March 2015
Grand River Times The Newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society
Inside this issue: Cover Story: March program Letter from our President, page 2 Open Door, book review by Tom Dilley page 4 Searching for Doc Lavan, by Robert Schichtel, page 5 Happening in History, page 6 20th Century Retailing, book review by Chris Byron page 7 Photo Sleuth, page 7
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Next Program: Who the Heck is Abner Doubleday: Baseball and the Civil War. Save the date: April 9, 2015, 7:00 p.m., at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.
Op en D oor : Th e on e H u n d r ed Year H is t or y of Gr an d R ap i d s J u n i or College/ Com m u n i t y College by Walt Lockwood and Mike Klawitter Co sponsored by: Grand Rapids Community College Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Grand Rapids Historical Society
Thursday, March 12, 2015, 7:00 p.m. at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Author Walter Lockwood and GRCC archivist Mike Klawitter will present highlights of the newly published book Open Door, a 100 year history of Grand Rapids Junior/ Community College. They will feature a sampling of the characters, the events, and the images that have made up the college’s surprisingly rich history. The first junior college in Michigan opened its doors in 1914, the inspiration of G.R. Central High Principal Jesse B. Davis. Grand Rapids Junior College would spend its first 11 years occupying the third floor of Central, with Davis serving as high school principal and first president of the college. With the blessing of the University of Michigan, and under the jurisdiction of the Grand Rapids Public Schools, GRJC enrolled 49 students who had to meet U of M admissions standards and navigate classes duplicating the first two years of the University’s Arts and Sciences program. From the beginning, Davis expected excellence from both faculty and students. Neither group disappointed him. From just after World War I to the mid 1950’s, President Arthur Andrews led the college with a passionate commitment to Davis’s tradition of excellence. Like Davis, Andrews was a progressive educator deeply involved in the junior college movement. He secured (in 1925) the college’s first building. Through the Depression and World War II, Andrews’ strong leadership would preserve the college’s existence when circumstances conspired to end it. The four chief executives who followed Andrews were deans instead of presidents. Andrews’ unilateral leadership style (in 35 years, he operated with three or Continued on page 3
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