Volume 42, number 9
Summer 2021
Grand River Times The Newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society
Inside this issue:
A Gateway to the City: The Grand Trunk Station
Cover Story: A Gateway to the City: The Grand Trunk Station Letter from our President page 2 A Quick Mugshot Story page 5 Photo Sleuth page 7
By: Matthew Daley, GRHS Board Member, and Professor of History, GVSU The Evening Press on Thursday, July 18, 1907 complimented those residents of Grand Rapids who had taken advantage of the special rates for the Press’ Annual Excursion to Niagara Falls. Two trains had departed new Grand Trunk Railway station on East Bridge (now Michigan Street) at 6:20 and 7:30 that morning arriving at their destination by 7 p.m. While less of a destination today than in the early twentieth century, the Niagara Falls excursions marked the start of the traditional vacation season and the new downtown station provided an extra perk.
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From Grand Rapids Public Museum: https://www.grpmcollections.org/Detail/objects/82784
Continued on page 3 Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Dear GRHS Members,
The Grand River Times is the newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society, published six times annually. Established in 1894, the Grand Rapids Historical Society is dedicated to exploring the history of West Michigan; to discover its romance and tragedy, its heroes and scoundrels, its leaders and its ordinary citizens. The Society collects and preserves our heritage, passing it on to new generations through books, lectures, and education projects. Executive Committee: Gina Bivins, president Matthew Daley, vice-president John Gelderloos, treasurer Nan Schichtel, secretary Board members: Charles Bocskey Angela Cluley Thomas Dilley Matthew Ellis Chris Kaupa Gordon Olson, emeritus Ed Paciencia Wilhelm Seeger, emeritus Jeff Sytsma Julie Tabberer Jim Winslow 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 Grand River Times
Publications have deadlines. I am writing this column May 12 for a print date at the end of May or early June. I am hoping that by the time this arrives in your email or mailbox we have pleasant weather and some relief from the pandemic that has had a hold on us for more than a year. Our Program Committee is busy putting together a slate of presenters for September of 2021 through May of 2022. We miss gathering in person but at this time it is a wait and see what happens in regard to the way programs will be delivered in the fall. The Society Board has brought on two new members. Angela Cluley came on board this winter, filling a vacant seat. She jumped right in helping the program committee. We are thrilled to have her. A spoken word artist and academic, she received a Master’s Degree in Social Work, earned a certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and is a Returned PeaceCorps volunteer. She has performed at local, national and international open mics and tends to take poetry wherever she goes to share her personal story with community. Angela loves history and understanding the connection between our ancestors and present day humans. Our most recent member is a name that might be familiar to those of you who have been members since November of 2019 when Ed Paciencia gave the first of a two part presentation on the history of South Division. Ed has had an interest in Grand Rapids history since his youth. South Division fascinated him as he rode his bike along it on his way from the south end to the zoo. He loved looking at the old buildings. For over fifteen years he has been researching the history of South Division. He is gathering his notes together and we look forward to the day we can let you know about a new addition to the written word and images of the history of this city. Continued on page 6
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 front page
Built in a Richardsonian Romanesque-style, with large Vermont granite footings rising into dark red brick walls with additional granite framing around the windows, the new Grand Trunk Station projected an air of solidity. The square 90-foot-tall tower, in contrast, featured Italianate details and a green tiled roof, matching that on the main structure. 15-foot signs with “Grand Trunk” picked out in electric lights on all four sides served as both guide and landmark to the station. Travelers entering from Bridge Street entered the main waiting room with a small circular ticket counter to the left and the baggage area in a separate room to the right. The marble detailed waiting area was lit by an upper tier of stained-glass windows depicting railroad scenes and a large skylight 26 feet above an inlaid terrazzo floor. Once their train had arrived, passengers would exit the rear of the main building to a train shed that provided shelter until boarding. Situated in a small area, part of the train shed’s overhang would actually extend beyond the flood wall, providing a close view of the river. While not as large as Union Station to the south, the Grand Trunk Station welcomed travelers through a gateway suitably elegant for Furniture City, U.S.A. The Grand Trunk Station lineage extended back to the first railroads in Grand Rapids. The Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad’s arrival in 1858 brought regular passenger and freight service, but not stability to the company itself. Railroads often experienced turmoil and a flurry of new names as they changed hands. Successor company the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee placed Grand Rapids on the line between Grand Haven and Pontiac but later came under the control of the Canadian based Great Western Railway in 1878, which itself was merged into the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada in 1882. The initial Grand Trunk passenger and freight station operated at the juncture of Plainfield and East Leonard. It was also the main service yard with a roundhouse and offices near the foot of LeGrand Street (today’s Barnett Street). The completion of Union Station on the south side of downtown in 1900 meant that the Grand Trunk’s competitors now had a direction connection to the heart of the city. A web of factors including city and business resistance, the refusal to allow a line to run through downtown, and conflict between the competing railroads had denied the Grand Trunk access to the consolidated station. The disastrous flood of March 1904, while leaving the West Side underwater, had a lesser impact on the eastern side partly due to improvements already underway. The Grand Trunk had started planning for a downtown extension several years earlier and had made some progress. They would catch a break with the flood. To buffer the East Side Canal the dock line would be extended west by over fifty feet to a new flood wall, and in that new space, the Grand Trunk’s From the Library of Congress – Detroit Publishing Company photos: line would travel to its proposed station site along https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/det/item/2016815124/ East Bridge Street. The line extension brought legal challenges to river access, constructing a half dozen bridges, acquiring property for a new trackage, and building a new steel bridge across the Grand River south of Ann Street. The completion of the new bridge permitted the construction triangular “wye” of tracks connected to the Grand Trunk’s main line using a viaduct over Canal Avenue. Because the new station would be at the end of the tracks, it would be a “stub” station that trains could not pass through. The “wye” meant that passenger trains could be backed into the station from either east or west from the main line. Though a complicated maneuver, the Grand Trunk felt having access to downtown as its competitors did made it worthwhile. The improvements also meant that while construction on the station began in September 1905, it would be paused for most of 1906. Continued on page 4 Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Continued from page 3 The evening of Saturday, June 15, 1907, was not merely a ribbon cutting for a new building, but a cause for civic celebration. Thousands of residents came out to see the formal parade of National Guardsmen, community organizations, marching bands, and dignitaries along Bridge and Canal. Tours of the station saw an estimated 50,000 residents pass through its doors and with period appropriate exaggeration the Herald proclaimed that the “Opening of the Station Most Successful Event in History of [the] City.” Organizers also gathered forty-three residents who had witnessed the first train to Grand Rapids in 1858 to ride on the inaugural train to depart the station. While it might seem a bit overdone in the present, it is worth considering that train stations were the gateway to cities and having one or more that reflected the aspirations of the community said a great deal about that place. Once the final salute was rendered at 10:30 on that June night, the Grand Trunk Station would become a key part of civic infrastructure. Even though World War II had brought the highest ever rate of passenger traffic on railroads it would not be sustained. The years of the Great Depression and war had meant a great deal of deferred maintenance to Grand Trunk facilities initially from financial inability and later shortage of materials. The Grand Trunk Station showed that neglect as well and combined with the larger size of rail passenger cars and the difficulty of backing them into the station along with limited automobile parking, meant its days were numbered. On December 21, 1948 the Grand Trunk opened a new combined freight and passenger station at the old Plainfield and Leonard site where abundant parking was available. There were no parades for this station’s opening. The city agreed to purchase the old station, a decision that stirred controversy with critics unhappy with public funds being used in such a fashion. City leaders, already considering the site as a potential ramp for a proposed highway, viewed the purchase as a prudent planning measure as it was adjacent to the now cleared sites of Valley City Milling and the Berkey & Gay factory that had burned in 1943. The station remained vacant until leased to the State Liquor Control Commission for use as an office and store in August 1951. The train shed was enclosed with cinderblocks into a warehouse and the front entrance enclosed as well. The commission would remain until 1957 when the increasingly poor physical conditions, including the collapse of the skylight, would lead to former station’s condemnation. Instead of a highway ramp, a new $3.6 million post office, a key part of the downtown urban renewal program, would take its place. The 1907 station represented the past as reflected by its entry in Lydens’ The Story of Grand Rapids that called it a “dank, dark, From the Grand Rapids Public Museum: “Mr. Rover” https://www.grpmcollections.org/Detail/objects/90352 riverfront depot.” Even with its new station at Plainfield Avenue the Grand Trunk continued to eliminate stations and passenger service as traffic declined serving Grand Rapids with only two trains per day by 1959. The Grand Trunk Station’s opening came with a parade, and its demolition would also come with a parade. Monday afternoon, October 4, 1960, saw a parade of firefighters, mail carriers, postal vehicles, Creston High’s marching band, and dignitaries including Gerald Ford travel from Veteran’s Park to the former station for groundbreaking ceremonies. After the speeches, the assembled crowd watched as crews began the work of tearing down the old station. In a coincidence, during the prior weekend the Grand Trunk ended passenger service to Grand Rapids, the final eastbound trip carrying two reporters other than the crew. By November 1960, only the steel framework remained with the tower being toppled in early January 1961. Today, the Grand Trunk Station exists only in photographs, postcards, and memory as nothing remains on the site to remind citizens of the gateway so hailed by residents in 1907. Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A Quick Mugshot Story By: Matthew Ellis, GRHS Board Trustee On February 26, 1915, police arrested a thin-faced, smartly dressed 22-year-old named Walter Elliot Quick. Walter was slender with dark brown hair and stark green eyes. He rented a room at 1339 Davis Ave NW, just a few houses down the block from his mother’s place. Detective William J. Dunn apprehended the young man who strongly professed his innocence, though he eventually confessed to his crime. Walter’s family had already suffered. The family troubles began when Walters father, Tunis Quick, died. Tunis, despondent over a deformity on his face due to cancer, died by suicide two years before Walter’s arrest. He tapped into a gas main in his basement, and ran a rubber tube into his bedroom, and expired due to inhalation laying half-clothed on his bed. Tunis had died, and it must have put some amount of strain on the family. Not only had Walter’s father died, but in between his father’s death and his arrest, he also witnessed his brother put on trial. Charles “Shorty” Quick had killed a man. However, it was only until a Coroner’s Court jury found him responsible for the murder that he went to trial in Superior Court. Michigan abolished the coroner position in 1953, but before that, the coroner served as a medical examiner with the added power to call juries and issue subpoenas. John B. Hilliker, a well-known physician and a prominent politician within Grand Rapids, was the coroner in Charles’ case. He had been a long-serving trustee of the Board of Education. In 1902, just months after being elected President of the Board of Education, he ran for the coroner’s position and was elected. Coroner Hilliker’s trial of Charles Quick began on May 22, 1914. Charles had been drinking at the Van Steenberg Saloon, located at the northwest corner of Knapp St and Monroe Ave. A chaotic fight broke out at the saloon, which ended in the death of Michael J. Lennon. Charles arrived at the saloon with four other men, one of whom, Carrick McNerney, was heavily intoxicated. Charles Van Steenberg, the saloon proprietor, refused to serve the men due to McNerney’s condition. As they exited the saloon, they ran into another group of men, led by Peter C. Johnson. McNerney said something offensive to Johnson in his drunken state, and the fight began. Johnson may have hit McNerney first, but McNerney confessed to having started the fight. Soon the fight spread to other party members and bystanders until it was a proper brawl. Though the testimonies varied, no one blamed either Michael J. Lennon or Charles “Shorty” Quick for starting the fight. It seemed that both men tried to end it. Charles had an edge, however. He was an up-and-coming boxer in Grand Rapids, and he knew how to hit hard. An article in the Grand Rapids Herald noted that Charles had hit another boxer “so hard that [the boxer] grunts now every time he recalls it.” Charles knocked Peter C. Johnson down, and when Michael J. Lennon came at him from the side, thinking he was just another brawler, he knocked Lennon down too. The difference is that Johnson eventually came around, while Lennon did not. Quick was found guilty of delivering the blow that killed Lennon and transferred to the Superior Court. It was during Charles’ wait in Superior Court that officers arrested Walter. Walter’s police record states that his crime was highway robbery and that he had used a firearm. The papers note that his firearm was a revolver, and he used it to force valuables from four individuals. These all took place around West Leonard, where Detective Dunn eventually picked him up. With his father dead and his brother in jail awaiting trial, it seems that he grew desperate. Walter was an electrotyper, also known as a photo-engineer, but could not find work in the city. In all, it seems that his haul from the robbery was not worth the trouble; police recovered three watches and some change in the room he rented. What is worse, while Walter Quicks’ trial ended with a sentence of serving up to ten years at the Ionia prison, his brother was released on probation just one month after Walter received his sentence. Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Continued from page 2 Day trip suggestions: Grab your Connections Along the Grand River booklet and journey through West Michigan history. Find a places to pull off the road as you travel from Portland to Grand Haven and read about the area where you have stopped. Consider the past, observe the present, and envision the future. Members should have received a copy of the booklet last summer. If you did not, please contact the Society. New members are receiving a copy as long as they are available. The booklet was a project coordinated by the GVSU Kutsche Office of Local History and partially funded by the Grand Rapids Historical Society. Call up the Historical Society YouTube channel. The programs From Plaster to Community and On the Street Where You Live both lend themselves to a nice drive or bike ride to see the communities as they are today. I have been told there will be a second part to the East Grand Rapids program in the fall. Watch for the next Grand River Times newsletter which will come out in late August. It will have the programs for September through November listed. Enjoy your summer. African American Live Museum Saturday, June 26, 2021 2:00 p.m.—4:00 p.m. Campau Park – 50 Antoine SW Rain location: New Hope Baptist Church – 130 Delaware St SW
Watch some of the most important figures in African American history come to life. As they share their life stories, struggles, and accomplishments. Portrayed by actors from New Hope Baptist Church, learn more about the notable figures featured in Black Bottom Saints. Please note: The cast does not interact with viewers. They are like animated statues. They tell their stories, but do not answer questions or engage in conversations. If a personality stares straight ahead and does not speak, you are not being ignored. The cast member is only waiting until more people gather.
NEW MEMBERS
Travel back in time through the streets of Grand Rapids as your comedic tour guide tells you stories of crime while walking through the Downtown, Monroe North, or Bridge St. Outdoor refreshment areas. Featuring over a dozen stories of crime, mystery, and urban legends, guests will be transported back in time to a buzzing River City whose brick streets cover some ominous secrets. Tuesdays and Fridays and 7:00 p.m.
Richard and Debra Kay Carl Johnson
See https://grcrimetours.com/ for more information to sign up for this unique tour
Michael Kowalski Penny Skrycki Jennifer Tompkins Grand River Times
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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:
$400.00 one-time fee
_____Individual/Family Membership
$30.00 per year
_____Senior Citizen or Student
$20.00 per year
Name: Address: City/State/Zip: Email: 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 and is dated December 23, 1942. Five students from Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic school at their desks drinking milk 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 Inside this issue: Cover Story: A Gateway to the City: The Grand Trunk Station Letter from our President page 2 A Quick Mugshot Story page 5 Photo Sleuth page 7
For more information on Historical Society programs, please visit www.grhistory.org Grand River Times
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