Volume 41, number 9
Summer 2020
Grand River Times The Newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society
Inside this issue: Cover Story: A Short History of Grand Rapids Annexation Letter from our President page 2 Grand Rapids Herald Headlines page 4
Portrait of a Suffragist page 4 Photo Sleuth page 7
Search: Grand Rapids Historical Society
A Short History of Grand Rapids Annexation By: Matthew Ellis—GRHS Trustee In 2016, the Grand Rapids Business Journal published an article on a possible deal between the City of Walker and the City of Grand Rapids. The proposed agreement would be to share a piece of property eyed for redevelopment. Due to Grand Rapids’ size, it can access Brownfield Redevelopment Financing funds to help clean up the site, but Walker didn’t meet the size requirements. The two municipalities agreed that the property would be assessed and taxed by Grand Rapids but stay under the jurisdiction of Walker for ordinance and regulation purposes. This agreement allows the site to access those Brownfield Redevelopment funds. This type of property transfer, made possible by Public Act 425 of 1984, is a far cry from the annexation battles that took place in the 1950s and 60s. From the so-called Dilley Scheme to the “New City” plan, Grand Rapids and its surrounding municipalities have a complicated history of growth, succession, and annexation. The original boundary of the Village of Grand Rapids encompassed only the east side of the river. In those early village days, the west side of the river was populated by the Anishinabek people and by residents of Walker Township. Walker incorporated as a township in 1837, one year before Grand Rapids officially incorporated as a Village. Continued on page 5
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY In honor and memory of Reverend Dennis Morrow. May 1948 – May 2020 Reprinted from the May 2000 Grand River Times newsletter At their March board meeting, the directors of the Grand Rapids Historical Society voted to recognize Rev. Dennis Morrow with their 2000 Albert Baxter Award. The award is given each year to an individual who makes an The Grand River Times is the newsletter of the Grand Rapids outstanding contribution to the “collection, preservation and publication of Historical Society, published six local history.” The historical society’s board of directors chose to honor times annually. Established in 1894, the Grand Rapids Historical Society Father Morrow for his work as a volunteer is dedicated to exploring the history archivist, and advocate for historic preservation. of West Michigan; to discover its For more than a decade, Father Dennis romance and tragedy, its heroes Morrow has been a regular volunteer at the and scoundrels, its leaders and its Grand Rapids Public Library’s Local History ordinary citizens. The Society collects and preserves our heritage, Department. Nearly every Thursday afternoon passing it on to new generations will find him spending an hour or two filing through books, lectures, and photographs of historic building, identifying education projects. unknown structures, or gathering images of building lost during the 1960s “urban renewal”. Executive Committee: “Father Morrow thinks in addresses,” says city Gina Bivins, president historian Gordon Olson. “No one knows the Matthew Daley, vice-president city’s physical landscape better. Dennis has helped us build a great inventory John Gelderloos, treasurer of pictures of Grand Rapids’ built environment.” Nan Schichtel, secretary An enthusiastic student of Grand Rapids ethnic heritage, Father Morrow regularly serves as a reader and consultant for publications of the Board members: Grand Rapids Historical Society and the Grand Rapids Historical Charles Bocskey Commission. Most recently, he read and provided advice on several drafts of Thomas Dilley Edward Gillis’ history titled Growing Up in Old Lithuania Town, a personal Matthew Ellis narrative of Grand Rapids’ Lithuanian community. The book will be Chris Kaupa published this fall by the Historical Commission. Gordon Olson, emeritus Continued on page 3 Wilhelm Seeger, emeritus Jeff Sytsma Julie Tabberer Jim Winslow Kurt Yost Jessica Riley, editor Grand Rapids Historical Society c/o Grand Rapids Public Library 111 Library St. NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Website: www.grhistory.org Email: grhs.local@gmail.com Grand River Times
About the Grand Rapids Historical Society. The Grand Rapids Historical Society sponsors eight programs each year, beginning in September and running through May, including lectures, audio/video presentations, demonstrations, collections, or special tours. Membership. Membership is open to all interested persons with annual dues of $30 per family, $20 for seniors and students, or $400 for a lifetime membership. The membership year runs from May to the following May. Members of the Grand Rapids Historical Society receive eight newsletters each year. Members also receive a 20% discount on books published by the society as well as books published by the Grand Rapids Historical Commission. Change of Address. If you will be permanently or temporarily moving to a new address, please notify GRHS before your change occurs. Let us know your new address and the date you plan to leave and plan to return. Email to grhs.local@gmail.com, or mail to Grand Rapids Historical Society, c/o Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 2
GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Continued from page 2
Rev. Morrow is perhaps best known for his work documenting the homes and commercial buildings that were lost during the construction of US 131, and the Front Street industrial park. He has contacted families who were compelled to move by the construction, and scoured numerous other sources. The result is a larch archive of photographs and information about Grand Rapids’ West Side before 1960. More recently, Father Morrow has prepared an extensive slide archive that is the basis for a popular program he presents titled “Lost Grand Rapids: Under the Freeway.” Initially presented at the 1997 Historical Society annual meeting, the program has since been presented to several local audiences, always with enthusiastic response. Father Morrow is a native of Grand Rapids. His parents live on the northeast side and he attended the old Turner School, St. Francis Xavier Elementary School, and graduated from St. Joseph’s Seminary High School in 1966. After two years at Aquinas College, he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. He pursued his graduate studies in Rome, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. where he received his degree in canon law in 1981 with a theses on archives in Catholic Church law. A priest of the Diocese of Grand Rapids since 1975, Father Morrow’s parish assignment have been varied and numerous. He also serves as chaplain of the Grand Rapids Police Department and the Fire Department, from which his father retired after of 31-year career. Father Morrow has been pastor of SS. Peter & Paul on the northwest side since 1993. In addition to his work as a Local History Department volunteer, Father Morrow has worked in the archives of the diocese for 30 years, bringing his familiarity with both the church and the region to bear in his research and in his assistance to fellow researchers. He has also served on the Grand Rapids Historical Commission and as a member of the Grand Rapids Historical Society’s board of Directors. Follow up: Father Morrow recently retired as the Diocesan Archivist, with the position being taken over by Angela Yondo, the 2018 Baxter Award winner. He continued his duties as pastor of St. Peter and Paul. A man of the people, Father Morrow’s funeral has to be a private affair due to the Covid-19 pandemic. From the diocesan website – “following the funeral mass Father Morrow’s casket will then be transported by horse-drawn caisson to his final resting place at St. Andrew’s Cemetery, 900 Madison Ave. SE. Every street and block the funeral procession traverses will be one where Father Den delivered mail during his ‘glory days’ of hittin’ the bricks for the U.S. Post Office. Mourners are welcome to line the streets to bid their final farewell. Please keep a safe social distance while gathering.” The Grand Rapids Public Library Grand Rapids and Special Collections Department holds the Father Dennis Morrow history of Grand Rapids Collection 273. A finding aid is available on line at grpl.org. And with that we say good bye to a great historian.
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Here is a continuing look from last month at another article that made it to The Grand Rapids Herald over a century ago. Issues spanning the dates 1894-1916 of The Herald can be viewed online through the GRPL website. By: Jeff Sytsma—GRHS Trustee July 11, 1909 CITY STREETS NO AUTO RACE COURSE: Motor Cops Gather Speedsters in and court soaks them for their fun. “Four more victims of “speedomania” faced Judge Hess yesterday morning, entered please of guilty and paid their fines. All were victims of the vigilant motorcycle officers Lennon and Blinston. The sum of $21 was paid in fines, and $13.40 was paid for by the four. Dr. John J. Rooks, who was arrested July 8 for speeding his machine and who pleaded not guilty, changed his plea yesterday and admitted his guilt. He contributed $4 and costs…. ….Donald Clute was “burning the road” on East Fulton street and was detected in the act by Mr. Lennon…. ….George W. Hart thought Cherry street was a speedway, or at all events he made a race course of it, according to Officer Blinston, who told him that he was expected at headquarters. Yesterday morning he appeared as per schedule and paid fine and coasts $10.35. One victim, Frank a Bonsky of Big Rapids…put the matter tersely when he declared ‘In the country the roads are bum and in the city the laws are bum – the man with the automobile has no show, anyhow.” Albert Dickinson received his punishment “properly when a jury in police court Friday morning after less than six minutes deliberations returned a verdict of guilty. The defense was based on the fact that it was impossible for Dickinson’s car to exceed the limit, as he was carrying a heavy load. The jury preferred Officer Blinton’s speedometer which registered 21 miles per hour.” From the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council: Celebrating the 2020 Suffrage Centennial! Portrait of a Suffragist Here is a short course on why very early Grand Rapids attorney Elizabeth Eaglesfield (1853-1940) was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2013. She hung out her shingle in 1878 Grand Rapids and tried to make a living for twenty years. As long as the 1890s, she was a respected club woman and dedicated suffragist. Then, with the new century, Eaglesfield took herself and her career onto the Great Lakes, buying and skippering fruit boats--and fighting dramatic legal battles along the lakeshore. You should also know that Eaglesfield would probably not have been inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame had the judges known her full story! It includes being charged, along with the Kent County sheriff for flipping houses to have been sold at a sheriff's auction and, later, not always paying for her boat engines. Meet Elizabeth Eaglesfield! Interview – six minutes with Cynthia Canty and Jo Ellyn Clarey, Michigan Radio’s Stateside, November 18, 2013: https://www.michiganradio.org/post/michigan-womens-hall-fame-hassome-new-inductees Link for further reading about the suffrage movement in Grand Rapids: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/ May-Flowers-for-Women-s-History-Wednesday.html?soid=1102964307953&aid=6aLZCh-AnOM Grand River Times
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Continued from front page Grand Rapids as a village may still have been considered a part of Grand Rapids township, which had been organized first in 1834. When Grand Rapids became a full-fledged City in 1850, the municipality “succeeded from Grand Rapids Township, or at least that is how the Grand Rapids Township historical accounts put the event. But Grand Rapids as a city also expanded west over the river, annexing land from both Walker Township and the Anishinabek. In 1850, Grand Rapids boundaries extended from Wealthy St to Leonard St, and Eastern Ave to Straight Ave, over the Grand River. In 1857 and 1891, further annexations took place growing Grand Rapids. Wealthy St. had been extended south to Burton St., annexing land from both Wyoming and Paris Townships. Eastern avenue had extended to Sylvan Ave south of Fulton, and its present-day border with East Grand Rapids. Leonard St extended north to Knapp St, and Straight Ave extended toward Bristol. After the 1891 annexations, the City of Grand Rapids had grown from 4 square miles to 17.25 square miles. There was a slew of annexations after this, but most were less than 1 square mile in total. A 1926 vote took place in Grand Rapids and East Grand Rapids to consolidate the two cities, but voters rejected the idea. In 1927 a piece of land was annexed in the east from Grand Rapids Township; Aquinas College occupies that piece of land. In the latter half of the 20th-century, annexation would start to ramp up again. In 1955, City Commissioner Stanley R. Davis stated that annexations of townships were likely, “because citizens there are paying three or four times the taxes citizens of the City pay.” There was also the issue of Grand Rapids providing water to the surrounding communities that may have prompted annexation talks. In 1957 a Metropolitan Water Authority was proposed, which would have provided water for all the greater Grand Rapids area. However, voters in Grand Rapids disliked the idea because it would mean more of their taxes would be used to provide water outside of the City, and there was the fact that they already had water provided for them. In 1959, a report was put out by the Special Annexation Study Committee that urged that the City not provide water, sewer, and other services to outside communities. Their analysis found that the City would only benefit if the areas were annexed. The Grand Rapids Press called this report “the most forthright document of its kind ever drafted in this community.” It reversed a policy that had been in place for quite some time. The solution that the Grand Rapids City Commission and the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce came up with was the “New City” plan. The proposal they sent to each surrounding community was a gold sealed envelope, delivered in person to the clerks of each municipality, or so the Grand Rapids Press put it. The plan was to join all of City of Grand Rapids with Wyoming, East Grand Rapids, Walker, Paris Township, and Grand Rapids Township into a new Grand Rapids. The outside communities did not take well to this proposal. They saw it as a “flagrant attempt to destroy local autonomy.” The vote took place in December of 1959 but was overwhelmingly opposed. The City decided to push forward with annexation. For an annexation vote to take place, ten voters in the City had to sign a petition along with ten voters in the area to be annexed, and then a vote would take place in the land to be annexed and in Grand Rapids. If the City of Grand Rapids owned the property, all that annexation needed was a vote by the City Commission, which is how Roosevelt Park became part of the City. Continued on page 6 Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Continued from page 5 There is evidence that many in the outside communities indeed wanted annexation. In 1956, the Grand Rapids Herald reported that North Park Residents and the North Park Board of Education were pushing to join the City. This push was in part because the residents had outgrown the North Park Elementary School and did not have the funds to add to the building. They also did not have a high school, and students had to travel to Creston or Comstock Park. For a family to send their child to a High School outside their district, they paid $200, which would total over $1500 today. It was clear that the North Park Board of education knew that North Park could not continue without annexation; so strong was their conviction even though once an annexation took place, their school district would dissolve and they would be out of a job. The major annexation push took place in 1960. On August 2, 1960, an annexation vote took place in Walker and Grand Rapids Townships. The motion passed, and Grand Rapids added another 12.67 square miles, growing by nearly a third. Grand Rapids Township was reduced in size dramatically. “Overnight, the township lost two-thirds of its citizens to Grand Rapids, dropping from 12-14,000 residents to 4,968.” The City absorbed five school districts due to the annexation. Walker Township lost its original town hall in the land transfer. A plan by Albert Dilley, a local attorney, to annex land in Paris Township was also created at the time. This new kind of annexation called for voluntary land ownership positions, where the majority of property owners in a section of land could file a petition to be annexed. It was not clear whether this had to go to a full vote, but many widely disliked these annexations that resulted. The pamphlets and newspaper ads deriding what they called “Dilley Scheme” explained it as an underhanded ploy for annexation. The surrounding townships now incorporated as fully-fledged cities as a way to prevent further annexations along their boundary. This move to become cities, along with a supreme court case that stated the entire municipality having its land annexed, was required to vote on annexations, protected the surrounding communities. The aversion to annexation seen in the Grand Rapids Press and the Grand Rapids Herald may be a distant memory now. The animosity may have faded to cooperation. The 2016 deal between the Walker and Grand Rapids mark a contrast in which partnership is the key, and where we can see that when a surrounding community benefits, the broader community benefits.
NEW MEMBERS Robert Hendricks (Bellingham, WA) Robert & Nancy Presscher (Grand Rapids, MI)
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOIN THE GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY OR GIVE A MEMBERSHIP AS A GIFT The Grand Rapids Historical Society sponsors eight lectures each year.
Members of the society enjoy these benefits:
The Grand River Times is the newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society. Published and mailed to members eight times a year, it includes current items of historical interest, details of upcoming lectures, historically relevant activities, and short articles.
20% Discount on all books and other items published by the society.
Please enroll me as a member of the Grand Rapids Historical Society: ____ New ___Renewal ____Gift _____Lifetime:
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Please make check payable to the Grand Rapids Historical Society and mail it with this form to: Grand Rapids Historical Society, c/o Grand Rapids Public Library 111 Library Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY PHOTO SLEUTH Our Summer Photo Sleuth selection comes from the Robinson Photo Studio Collection. Four members of the Grand Rapids Chicks and a coach pose on September 5, 1947. This picture was taken during the second playoff game against the South Bend Blue Sox If anyone in this picture looks familiar, please email the Grand Rapids Historical Society at grhs.local@gmail.com
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Non-Profit Org. U.S. postage PAID Grand Rapids, MI Permit No. 234
Grand Rapids Historical Society, Inc. c/o Grand Rapids Public Library 111 Library St. NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503
GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Cover Story: A Short History of Grand Rapids Annexation Letter from our President page 2 Grand Rapids Herald Headlines page 4 Portrait of a Suffragist page 4 Photo Sleuth page 7
For more information on Historical Society programs, please visit www.grhistory.org Grand River Times
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