2014–15 GRHS Programs Brochure

Membership Join us!

By becoming a member of the Grand Rapids Historical Society, you make a personal statement about your support to collecting and preserving the history of West Michigan. It tells the community you care about safeguarding this treasured history so it can be passed on to the next generation. We need your support. Please join today!

Annual Membership Options

Programs We sponsor eight programs a year that include lectures, audio/video presentations, demonstrations, collections, or special tours.

In the past, we’ve enjoyed a presentation about the Civil War while wearing 3-D glasses, taken a virtual tour of the Grand River Valley by dugout canoe, and explored the migration of African American women to the Midwest.

Among our most popular events are tours of old city cemeteries, the final resting places of many of our legendary early settlers.

Individuals/household............$30 Senior Citizens/Students........$20 Lifetime........$400 (one-time fee) Become a member online at www.grhistory.org.

Pay online or download a membership form.

Mail the form with a check written to Grand Rapids Historical Society to:

Grand Rapids Historical Society c/o Grand Rapids Public Library 111Library St NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Phone: Website: Email:

616.988.5402, ext 5497 www.grhistory.org grhs.local@gmail.com

Look for us on Facebook too! www.facebook.com/GrandRapidsHistoricalSociety

Local historian and author Tom Dilley (in crowd, third from left) leads a tour of Oakhill Cemetery.

All programs are co-sponsored by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, where most of our programs are held (303 Pearl St. NW). All are free and open to the public. For more details about the Grand Rapids Historical Society, please visit www.grhistory.org.

Grand Rapids Historical Society Programs 2014 - 2015

Walking Tour of Fulton Street Cemetery

Federal Building to W.N. Ferris Building: Renewal and Reconstruction

Who the Heck is Abner Doubleday: Baseball and the Civil War

September 6, 2014, 10 a.m. & 1 p.m.

September 7, 2014, 1 & 3 p.m.

Thomas R. Dilley

January 8, 2015, 7:00 p.m.

Kendall College of Art & Design: Woodbridge N. Ferris “The Fed” Building Tom Mathison and Eugene Hopkins

April 9, 2015, 7:00 p.m.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Bruce Allardice (member of the Chicago Civil War Round Table)

The GRHS exploration of local cemeteries continues on September 6 & 7, with a walk through the oldest extant burial site in Grand Rapids, located at the corner of Fulton Street and Eastern Avenue.

C.O. and Mabel Taylor: Power Couple of the Progressive Era October 16, 2014, 7:00 p.m.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Doug Taylor and Michael Johnston

The Exciting Early History of African American Women’s Clubs in Grand Rapids February 12, 2015, 7:00 p.m.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Open 1890s newspapers with the Grand Rapids Study Club and the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council. Early club women reported on fascinating activities, published denunciations of racist articles, and hosted statewide meetings. Get ready to fill gaps and correct errors in Grand Rapids history!

Open Door: The One Hundred Year History of Grand Rapids Junior College/ Community College March 12, 2015, 7:00 p.m.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Walt Lockwood and Mike Klawitter

The remarkable story of an extraordinary couple who helped birth the emerging middle class in Grand Rapids in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

A History of The Grand Rapids Police Department November 13, 2014, 7:00 p.m.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Lt. Patrick Merrill

Grand Rapids Junior College was the 5irst in Michigan and one of the 5irst in the nation. We’ll take a look at 100 years of challenges and successes for this important Grand Rapids institution.

Baseball was labeled the "national pastime" even before Fort Sumter, and Civil War soldiers spent more time playing baseball that they did fighting battles. Professor Allardice takes a sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, look at the "National Pastime" and how it was played during the war.

Berkey and Gay Litigation of 1933-34: The Furniture City’s Struggle Against a Corporate Raider May 14, 2015 (Time and Place to be determined) Patrick E. Mears In 1933, numerous local businesses including the furniture companies that made Grand Rapids famous, arrayed against the Simmons Company and its Wall Street allies. Their mission was to recover money alleged to have been looted from the Berkey & Gay Furniture Company by its corporate owner, the Simmons Company. During the Depression, Simmons allegedly liquidated assets for Simmons’ exclusive benefit to the detriment of Berkey & Gay’s creditors, especially its bondholders, who were in large part local Grand Rapids citizens and businesses.