Volume 41, number 3
November 2019
Grand River Times The Newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society Inside this issue: Cover Story: November program Letter from our President page 2 2020 Program Schedule page 4 In Memoriam—Alan Bennett page 5 Happening in History page 6 Photo Sleuth page 7
Search:
Grand Rapids Historical Society
Next program: After the November program, the Grand Rapids Historical Society’s next program will be on Thursday, January 9, 2020, at the Grand Rapids Public Library. Ed Paciencia will continue with: Division Avenue: A Trip Back in Time, Part 2.
Grand River Times
Division Avenue: A Trip Back in Time, Part 1 PRESENTED BY: Ed Paciencia Wednesday, November 13, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Part 1 will look back at the evolution of South Division from the very beginning when it was just an Indian trail. Over time it became a dirt road that connected Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo. Over the next 100 years, attempts would be made to improve the quality of the road bed by using various materials, some of which were failures. At one time the quality of the road was so bad that a poem was written about the misfortunes of traveling on the road. Eventually, in the 1920’s when the city realized just how important this street was, and how fast it was growing, a decision was made on what would be the biggest improvement project this street ever saw. Not only was the street widened, but several of the buildings were either cut back or moved back to gain the extra room needed for the wider road. The ones that were cut back had a new face put on them which explains why some of the buildings that were built in the 1800’s have a date of 1928 on the front of them. Continued on page 3 1
