1. The Grand Rapids LipDub was the first-ever city-wide lip dub video. With over 5 million views, their PRNewswire “Earnie Award” was well warranted.
Source: Youtube user SEF Video
2. Janet Jackson eloped to Grand Rapids with her first husband, James DeBarge.
3. Campau Square in downtown Grand Rapids once had a less-respectable name. Originally, it was known as “Grab Corners” for the poker rooms and basement bars in the area. The term was coined by Lt. Bob Wilson, a returning veteran from the Civil War.
4. Herpolsheimer's, an old department store in Grand Rapids, is shown twice in the film “Polar Express.” Given that Chris Van Allsburg, the author, grew up in East Grand Rapids, it’s not that surprising.
5. Grand Rapids was home to a professional women’s baseball team, the Grand Rapids Chicks. Though they originated in Milwaukee, the team was moved to Grand Rapids in 1945. They won two championships, one in 1947 and one in 1953. A number of the women on the team were interviewed for the movie “A League of Their Own.”
6. Grand Rapids was named the top U.S. travel destination for 2014 by Lonely Planet, which is one of the world’s most successful travel publishers.
7. Meliville R. Bissell invented the carpet sweeper in 1876 to help clean his crockery shop. In the late 1890s the sweepers had become so successful that even Queen Victoria demanded her palace be “Bisselled” weekly.
8. From 1926 to 1935 Grand Rapids had the premiere Street Car System in all of the U.S. They became infamous for the personalization of their electric coach streetcars, which was part of a massive, and one of the first of its kind, advertising campaign.
9. The Grand Rapids metro area has more LEED-certified buildings (per capita) than any other U.S. city. They now boast the world’s first newly-built Leed-certified art museum.
10. The Grand River Times was first published by George Pattison in 1837, a year before the Village of Grand Rapids was incorporated by the new state legislature.
11. In Grand Rapids you are never more than a few miles from a body of water.
12. America’s largest 25K road race, the Fifth Third Riverbank Run, takes place in Grand Rapids. This race features participants from all around the globe.
Source: Instagram user rudy_malmquist
13. Grand Rapids was the first city in the United States to add fluoride to its drinking water way back in 1945.
14. The first-ever community-wide festival of laughter, Gilda’s LaughFest, started in Grand Rapids. Since 2011, they have been bringing the laughs and inspiring other cities to hold similar festivals as well.
15. ArtPrize is the world’s most radically open art competition. Known for both the unusually large amount given to the winners as well as the jurying by the public, ArtPrize isn’t your typical art competition.
16. Touch typing (typing without looking at the keyboard) is credited to court stenographer Frank Edward McGurrin. While working as a clerk for the lawyer D. E. Corbitt, McGurrin and Corbitt wagered who could type the fastest. McGurrin won and went on to win higher profile competitions. His method gained popularity and eventually became the main way we type today.
17. The Frederik Meijer Gardens have one of two 24’ sculptures based on drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci. “The American Horse” is one of the largest equestrian bronze sculptures in the Western Hemisphere and was sculpted by Nina Akamu. The other sculpture, “Il Gavallo”, is located in Milan, Italy.
18. In 1904 Citizen’s Telephone Company introduced automatic telephones, making Grand Rapids the first city to have the service.
19. Grand Rapids had the country’s first “megaplex.” Studio 28 opened in 1965 as a one-screen movie theatre. By 1988, the theater grew to 20 screens and was the largest movie theater for nearly a decade.
20. President Gerald R. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids.
21. Heritage Hill is one of the largest urban historic districts in the country. Given there are 1,300 homes that date from 1849 and more than 60 architectural styles, this neighborhood is definitely properly named.
22. The Grand Rapids Ballet company is one of the largest ballet companies in the United States.
23. William J. Hardy became the first African American man to be elected to public office in Michigan. He was elected Gaines Township supervisor in 1872.
24. In 1883, a log jam of gigantic proportions roared through the city. This log jam was so great it gained the national headlines of the time and was called the greatest log jam in the nation’s history.
25. Helen J. Claytor was the first black woman to be elected president of the local YWCA in 1949. She became the president of the national organization in 1967 and led the organization until 1973.
26. Grand Rapids has a history of brewing beer. The first local brewer can be traced all the way back to 1836. John Pannell built a single-barrel brewery at the bottom of Prospect Hill (now the Waters Building at Pearl St and Ottawa Ave NW). In those days, beer was seen as a healthier alternative to water and marketed as a family drink.
27. During the Great Depression, Grand Rapids city manager, George Welsh, developed a revolutionary plan to help alleviate the hardships faced. He payed his residents with paper scrip money that the citizens could redeem at city-run stores for food, clothing and other necessities. His plan preceded the New Deal of President Franklin.
28. Grand Rapids is also known as “Furniture City.” During the second half of the 19th century, the city was a major lumbering center and in turn, the premier furniture manufacturing city of the U.S. Now, Grand Rapids is considered the world leader in office furniture production.
29. Before Grand Rapids was a furniture city, gypsum was its main industry. By 1850, 60 tons of gypsum were produced daily. Initially it was used for fertilizer by farmers, but as population increased and demands shifted it became used for plaster and stucco.
30. Grand Rapids has long supported the arts. It was one of the first cities to install public art with “La Grande Vitesse” by Alexander Calder.
31. Eugene Davis, owner of a greenhouse on Kalamazoo Ave., propagated the seed for the variety of lettuce that became standard throughout the nation’s markets. In the early 1900s growing lettuce was a large market, with one estimate suggesting that the city shipped more than five hundred thousand pounds of head lettuce grown under glass.
32. Grand Rapids is a center of Christian publishing. Home to Zondervan, Baker Books, Eerdmans Publishing, and Kregel Publications, as well as Family Christian Stores.
33. The rapids were leveled in the late 1800s to help with shipping logs and ships along the river. The city recreated the rapids in the ‘20s and 30’s.
34. Grand Rapids was initially founded as a trading post in 1826 by Louis Campau. Though the first settler arrived in 1825, Campau is considered the most important. He bought what is known today as Downtown Grand Rapids for $90.
What’s your favorite Grand Rapids fun fact? Tell us in the comments below!
