Fulton Street was the shopping area for the Rich. This first page covers the area around Fulton Street Park (now Veteran's Memorial Park. Starting with the Comfort Station which were public bathrooms, although the building is still there it is not used for that purpose anymore. It was last used by the Historical Commission which did not welcome the working class, hence I was not a member. Buildings marked in red still exist but probably have a different use.
The block below which shows the Kendall Bldg was where Daane & Witter's Grocery Store was. It is now the Children's Museum. This grocery story did not have carts. You told the clerk, either in person or by phone, what you wanted and he went and got it for you. They delivered. The Majestic Theater is still there but is the Civic Theater for stage plays. The restaurant was the Butterwagon, a greasy spoon. The Botsford Building held Allen's Bookstore and Reynold's and Brown's Sporting Goods.
The block to the left shows the YMCA now being converted to condominiums, Fountain Street Church still exists but is no longer Baptist and the Keeler Building which still exists but looks empty. It held Andy's restaurant, Western Union and a travel agency. The Murray Building is gone. The YMCA had a cafeteria and lots of sleazy-looking men. I avoided it.
The block above shows the library which was recently beautifully restored. The church on the left was a Holy Rollers church which was used as the Michigan Room for the library. Note the location of Aquinas College. Now all are gone replaced by the awful, but recently improved, addition from the 1960's and a parking lot supposedly "free" to library patrons. LOL.
Park Congregational Church still stands but has usurped all the adjacent land for a parking lot. Robbin's Lock Shop was in the corner building for many years.
St. Cecelia's Music Hall still stands but almost everything else is gone. Alice Jane Dow's Dress Shop, marked with blue "AJD" was on the site of the first public school in what was to become the City of Grand Rapids. Joel Guild was the original Land Patent Holder for this area. Where the Undertaker was is now a four-story building which was Globe Insurance for many years. Now Ransom Towers Public Housing is to the left of the Music Hall. Park Place Apt Building is still in use as originally built while what began as Temple Emanuel, then Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church was purchased by lawyers who gravely remudeled this historic structure.
South of Fulton Street Park was shopping for the rich. My dad worked here but we sure couldn't afford to shop here and didn't even walk in any of the stores except White and White's.
The Peacock Building still stands but Crabb Floral, Rood China and all the fancy dress shops are gone. The auto garage is still there but I'm not sure what it is used for anymore. The fire station is still there and is still the main station. The building marked with a red "G" is one of the oldest buildings dating from around 1850. It was a grocery store now a yuppie restaurant. Next to it was and may still be the Cottage Bar.
The Lorraine Building started out as an upscale apartment house but was full of doctors' offices when I was a kid. Smeelink's Opitical was on the second floor. White and White pharmacy was on the first floor. The owners were Catholic and the place was always full of nuns from Aquinas College, St. Mary's Hospital, Little Sisters of the Poor, St. Andrews. They got a hefty discount. There was a soda fountain in the rear. I ate there often.
The next building was Forslund Furniture. I don't think they are in business anymore. The building is now a book store. The next building was the Metz Building. It was beautiful. It was the first building, in the City if not the country, built exclusively for doctors. It's a parking lot now. See Hefner'sThen Jacobson's, THE department store for the rich. It moved out to East Grand Rapids as did most of the other exclusive shops but is out of business now. White and White's moved into that building but now they are out of business too. Now it is a pharmacy for St. Mary's Hospital.
Crossing the street was the Grand Rapids Press. The sound of the presses fascinated me and I tried to jump up and peak through the barred windows. It has moved to the corner of Michigan and Monroe. The Herald is out of business. Both buildings are now parking lots. There used to be a man who stood on the corner for years yelling out to motorists, "Press, Paper, Press!" Sheldon was the one-way street heading south out of downtown and he sold lots of papers. Then came Davenport College which replaced the Livingston Hotel which burned. The college moved to what would soon become Heritage Hill. The YWCA still exists but has certainly changed direction away from the middle-class housewife to modern issues such as child abuse and poverty. They had a cafeteria and my mother and I ate here a lot as it was around the corner from where my dad worked. My dad ate at the Chuck Wagon whose approximate location is indicated by the blue "CW." The Medical Arts Building still exists but they evicted all the doctors in anticipation of renting it out to Social Security but they went elsewhere and it sat empty for many years. Do I see condominiums in the future? The Irving Hotel is now a parking lot.
From article Downtown
From Heading History and the City of GrandRapids
From web site: MyCityofGrandRapids.info