Volume 43, number 4
January 2022
Grand River Times The Newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society
“Overture, Hit the Lights, This is It…” Inside this issue: Cover Story: History Detectives Trustee Photo Sleuth page 2
Saturday, January 22, 2022 by Nan Schichtel, History Detectives Committee & GRHS Secretary
Big House in Little Bohemia page 3 History of the Amway Grand Plaza—Part I, The Sweets Hotel page 5 Photo Sleuth page 7
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Grand River Times
We are pleased to announce the return of History Detectives Grand Rapids which premiers virtually on Saturday, January 22, 2022! History Detectives Grand Rapids will take the place of our Society’s usual 2nd Thursday monthly program. While we look forward to eventually meeting again for this day-long local history extravaganza – as well as our own monthly GRHS programs - we could not safely do so at this time. Join us online for 8 pre-recorded programs ranging from the State Library to the shores of Lake Michigan! Settle in for a full day of local history, or watch the programs you want when it suits you. Because it’s virtual this year, you won’t have to “put your dibs” on a chair in the auditorium, or wonder whether you’ll be snowed in. Pull up your favorite armchair and a “cuppa” and relax and enjoy. History Detectives Grand Rapids has its own website https:// historydetectivesgr.org/ as well as a Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ History-Detectives-Grand-Rapids107963544017224 and its forthcoming YouTube channel will be where you can view the following programs on HDGR Day: Continued on page 4 1
GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Trustee Photo Sleuth
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
This month we have an “extra” photo sleuth….. One of our board trustees, Chris Kaupa, forwarded this picture of his father from the 1950’s. The Union Soda Grill was located at 435 4th St., basically at 4th and Broadway. Chris noted that city directories showed that the Union Soda Bar was open from 1949 through 1958. If anyone recognizes any of the young men in this photo or has any memories of the Union Soda Bar please let us know at grhs.local@gmail.com
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
Big House in Little Bohemia Another in an occasional series by Nan Schichtel, entitled Little Bohemia: From Kratzau to Grand Rapids, Michigan One Thanksgiving afternoon in the late 1960s, my Great-Uncle Fred Esbaugh Jr. sat me down on the couch and proceeded to share our family’s history through photos from the over-stuffed family album. I remember being intrigued with the photo of the West Side Grand Rapids home of Fred’s grandparents and mother, our immigrant ancestors. As a kid, I thought it was neat that the photographer labeled this as the residence of Josef / Joseph Riemer and gave the street coordinates. But why there were so many people in the photo? The structure seemed far too large a place for such a small family, and larger than many still in that neighborhood. Josef and Anna Theressa (Schitky) Riemer only had one daughter, my great-grandmother Anna. Why did they need such a big house? Was it a boarding house? Fred knew a lot, but didn’t know those answers, and the photo stayed in the album. From time to time, I would take another long look at the photo and try to figure out what it was trying to tell me. Over the years, resources became more readily accessible – many, but not all, online. I pasted Sanborn maps together to get a better idea of what the neighborhood looked like. I drove through the neighborhood and found that the home was long gone, (but when?) and the two structures that replaced it are much smaller. Another time, I studied tax records at the Grand Rapids Public Museum where I determined that the home was likely built by 1870, but could not discover when it was razed and replaced. Again, I set the photo aside. When the Library of Michigan offered online access to the Grand Rapids Press Historical and Current databases, I scoured them for any mention of the address. Could it have burned down? No answers – so I set aside the photo. A shirttail relative (cousin of my 2nd cousin twice removed) from Rock Island, Illinois emailed me asking if there were any extant issues of a weekly German-language newspaper published in Grand Rapids by his ancestor, William Eichelsdoerfer, the Michigan Staats Zeitung. I did a little digging online as well as at local and state libraries and museums – and found one existing newspaper issue! To my utter surprise, that one issue date July 1876 mentioned the Riemer house! Dusting off latent language skills (how I wish my 16-year-old self had paid more attention to Sr. M. Peter Verona and less attention to cute Catholic Central boys), I read about a Grand Rapids Schutzenfest, target shooting festival, run by Josef Riemer at Peter Weirich’s farm, with Riemer’s Ohio House Hotelier brother-in-law Valentine Richter hosting their verein buddies. The marksmen returned to Riemer’s Hall where there was a party with music from the Germania Band, and prizes distributed by little Anna Riemer. Riemer’s Hall – that could explain the size of the building and that second Gold St. entrance on the south end of the photo. Continued on page 6 Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Continued from front page • • • • • • • •
Becoming a Home for All: LGBTQ Tourism in West Michigan Discovering our State with the Resources of the Library of Michigan House History 101: Learning How to Research the Background of your Home The Legacy of Lamberton Lake A Record of Crime: Exploring the Data and Stories behind the Mugshots Researching the Other Side of the Story Using Historical Black Newspapers Team Photo at the Grand Rapids Public Museum Sampler* Unearthing an Army of Women: Diversity in Our WWI Women’s Registration Cards
* Team Photo is a sampler of the photos presented by Gina Bivins during her Nov. 2021 GRHS program. Except for our 2021 “Covid sabbatical”, History Detectives has been presented annually since 2008 to great local and statewide acclaim, winning a Historical Society of Michigan 2013 State History Award for Special Programs. It has grown from a Grand Rapids Public Library-run program to encompass sponsorship and presentations from several other local history organizations, including our Society. 2022 program planners focused on new (or “new-to-some”) resources that we hope will spur local history devotees to start their own research, or take another look at that pet research topic that had been set aside. (And maybe even turn some of you into future Historical Society presenters when that research comes to fruition – HINT HINT!) With that in mind - wow – did we hit the jackpot when the program committee started to delve into this area’s wide and deep historical archive!?! Learn how researchers are using online newspapers not previously available, Sanborn insurance maps, museum photo collections, maps and land records, library archival collections, genealogical records and other resources recently uploaded to the internet, and more. Watch our GRHS website and Facebook, as well as History Detective’s for details on how you can watch these programs and learn about the resources presenters used to do their research.
Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The History of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel Part I: The History of the Sweets Hotel By: Ed Paciencia, GRHS Trustee Long before the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel came into existence, there were two other hotels and a lot of history on the northwest corner of Pearl Street and Monroe Avenue. Those other two hotels were the Pantlind and Sweets Hotel. In this three-part series, part one will look back at the history of the Sweets Hotel, part two will look back at the history of the Pantlind, and part three the Amway. Before anything was ever built on the northwest corner of Pearl Street and Monroe (Canal Street prior to 1912) there was a river channel that branched off the Grand River. That channel began where Lyon Street meets the river today, ran in a southeast direction and right through where the old part of the Amway Hotel sits today and then reconnected to the Grand River just south of Fulton Street. Eventually the channel was filled in and in 1868 Martin Sweet began construction on a new four-story hotel. The cost of the building alone was $60,000 (about 2 million in 2021 dollars). The cost of furnishing the hotel with mahogany and walnut furniture was a separate, unknown figure. The hotel formally opened in October 1869. On a cold February night in 1872, a fire broke out in the upper floors of the hotel. The fire grew and spread rapidly as the buildings core structure was all wood. Firefighters from all over the city responded to the alarm quickly. At first sight it seemed as though the two-and-a-half-year-old hotel was doomed. Several hand engines, steamers, and other firefighting equipment of that era, were used to battle the flames that were shooting into the dark sky. Telegraph messages were sent to Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Grand Haven, and other city fire departments for help. Hotel occupants and store owners who had businesses located in the hotel were seen carrying out merchandise and other belongings as fast as they could. The First National Bank, which was located in the hotel, did everything it could to remove important papers, documents, and books from the back before they were destroyed. For several hours, firefighters pumped water from the Grand River to battle the blaze. After more than three hours, the blaze was finally under control but not completely out. By the time the sun rose the next morning, the top two floors of the hotel were burned out and the bottom two were water damaged and/or flooded. Damage to the building and contents was estimated at $75,000 and the cause was determined to be a faulty flue that set the new tar roof on fire. The hotel closed for nearly three months while repairs were made. The hotel re-opened on May 6th of that same year with new carpeting, solid walnut carved beds, and enormous mirrors in all the guest rooms. During the summer of 1874, the entire building was raised four feet one inch to the new level of Canal Street. The cost of raising the hotel was only supposed to cost $25,000 but after adding several improvements, the cost quickly grew. After the building was raised, an expensive new sewage system was installed to carry the hotels waste away and eliminate the unpleasant odors that previous hotel guests had to suffer through. It was around this time that a steam elevator was installed, making Sweets Hotel the first hotel in Grand Rapids to have an elevator. It was announced in January 1875 that the hotel would install stand pipes in every wing of the building along with fire hoses long enough to go down every hallway. These pipes were to be connected to the city’s water works for fire protection. Continued on page 6 Grand River Times
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Continued from page 5 (Sweets Hotel) In September of that same year, improvements were made to the hotel’s office and billiard room. Five of Brunswick’s best billiard tables were installed thus giving the billiard room a first-class rating. Tragedy struck in April of 1879 when two female employees, who were not allowed to use the elevator, disobeyed the order. As a result, one of them, who was outside of the elevator was struck in the face by the moving elevator. This caused her to hit her head on a beam, killing her almost instantly. In October of 1880, nearby merchants filed a complaint with the police chief, charging that the soot from the hotel’s smokestack was ruining their goods. Martin Sweet was notified to make repairs to the boilers and smokestack to correct the problem. Big improvements were made in the summer of 1887 that included; lighting the entire hotel, redecorating the interior walls, and adding the fire alarm bells in every room. At the same time, the exterior was re-painted with a green tinted paint. The exterior trim was re-painted with a light-colored paint and the window sashes were painted black. Later that year, eight bellboys walked off the job, claiming that they were poorly fed and disliked the working conditions. It is unclear if they ever returned. In August of 1895, a female employee was cleaning a bed on the upper floor with gasoline when she struck a match and unintentionally set the room on fire. The fire department and every police officer on duty responded promptly and evacuated about 50 guests. The blaze was quickly extinguished but ended up flooding the entire south wing. Damage was estimated between $6,000 and $10,000 (about $195,000—$330,000 in 2021 dollars). In 1898, during hard financial times, the Old National Bank bought Sweets Hotel. Later in 1902, they sold it to J. Boyd Pantlind and soon afterward Sweets Hotel became the Pantlind Hotel. The Grand Rapids furniture and convention business was growing at such a fast pace that the Pantlind and other hotels in the city could not accommodate all the out-of-town visitors. With this in mind, plans were drawn for a new hotel that would cover an entire city block. Continued from page 3 (Little Bohemia) Prior to this singular find, there was little paper trail and only two photos of Josef Riemer. A young man and his pretty wife and 3-year-old daughter emigrated from Kratzau, Bohemia to seek their fortune in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1866, joining numerous other German-speakers who started emigrating after the 1848 Revolutions in the Austrian Empire. They would have come sooner, but waited for the US Civil War to end. The Riemers first stayed at the family home of the late Dr. Wenzel Blumrich until Josef found a job and a place to live. Riemer was a cabinet maker at Berkey & Bros, likely learning that skill at the Gebruder Riemer organ and musical instrument factory back home. He died of consumption in late 1876, and was buried on “Kratzau Hill” at Greenwood Cemetery in northwest Grand Rapids. That one newspaper issue helped lifted a cloak of silence from Josef Riemer and his beautiful home, providing considerable insight. By the age of 30, Josef had saved enough money to build the home at 35 (later 82) Gold Avenue, making it large enough to provide additional income by hosting entertainments and events similar to what they were used to in Bohemia. His well-sited, commodious hall was in a crowded German-speaking neighborhood that already supported two busy German halls a block away. While Josef continued to work as a cabinetmaker, he and his wife had their own business and were mentioned on page 1 of a German newspaper - just a few months before his death. That same house provided an income for his widow, who in 1878 remarried and moved to Dorr as Mrs. John Neumann. Anna held onto the house for several years, and her daughter and son-in-law, Fred Esbaugh Sr., lived there briefly when first married in the mid-1880s. It is likely that the home’s sale helped eventually pay for the Esbaugh farm on Patterson Avenue. I still haven’t discovered when or why the home was razed or when the two smaller in-fill houses were built on that site. So, I am setting the photo aside again. But the next time I pick it up and wonder about the story it is telling me, maybe, just maybe, I will find more. 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
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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
PHOTO SLEUTH Our January Photo Sleuth comes from the Grand Rapids History Center at the Main Branch of the public library. This photo was donated to the library and a library staff member forwarded it to us. Based on information about the donor of this photo it is believed to possibly be South Junior High School. The photo may not have been taken at the school and it was noted that in 1940 the 7th and 8th grades would have shared the building with the high school. We are hoping to confirm what school building this was taken in front of and learning the names of any of the others pictured. The diversity of this group of students is interesting along with the clarity of the picture. If anyone or the building looks familiar, please contact us at grhs.local@gmail.com Grand River Times
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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: History Detectives
Saturday, January 22, 2022
Trustee Photo Sleuth page 2
Big House in Little Bohemia page 3 History of the Amway Grand Plaza—Part I, The Sweets Hotel 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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