My Downtown
Most women did not drive. I didn't know any women who did. We took the bus. My mother would send me up to the corner to watch and when I saw it coming, I would call to her. It seemed she didn't get there until the last possible second. Then we would ride up to Michigan Street and around the corner and past the neighborhood shopping district. Down the big hill - past many houses, past what looked like a big German Castle, (A German brewery) another big building (the Armory), many rough stores, factories. Then we would arrive downtown. The Pantlind Hotel. The dime stores: Woolworths, Grants, Greens and Kresges. The department stores: Wurzburgs, Steketees, Herpolsheimers.
We would get off the bus and walk, walk, walk to pay bills. We went to the Gas company, the Electric company, the Phone Company. We would end up at my dad's store - Hefner's Art Gallery in the Metz Building.Hefner's
It was a home furnishings store; lamps, occasional tables, rugs. Mr. Hefner was a very old man. But the store was full of fascinating things. Strings of etched brass bells hung down along a big window that bordered the door. And I HAD to ring each bell. Then I had to go back and play with the old adding machine with a big handle that went Ka-Chung. I got scolded but I couldn't resist. So my mother would drag me out, disgusted.
We walked across a park with a big fountain squirting water. I had to try to catch the water. Then we would arrive at the library. I soon outgrew the children's room and discovered Zane Grey, Perry Mason and Horatio Hornblower in the Adult Fiction Room where I followed my mother.
We would walk past a toy store on the corner of Jefferson and Fulton. It had a display of Matchbox cars in the window. They were $1.00 each. How I wanted one. I asked for a Matchbox car for my birthday. I asked for a Matchbox car for Christmas. I begged for a Matchbox car. I never got one.
Downtown was divided into areas.
1. Michigan and Monroe; was an industrial area and the stores catered to the working man. Mich and Monroe
2. Monroe between Fulton and Pearl: was THE shopping area for the working and middle classes. Shopping
3. Fulton Street from Monroe to Lafayette with a side jog down Jefferson: was the shopping area for the RICH.. Rich
4. South Division and Fulton west of Monroe: the Train Depot. Union Station
5. Division Avenue: business offices Division
I stopped by City Assessor's and was very disappointed as so much was missing. I will try again after the Tax Roll is finished.
The Arcade
The Arcade was an infamous place. When I was a kid it was a narrow covered alley that ran under the Consumer's Power Company Building next to the Terry House Cafeteria connecting Pearl Street with Lyon Street just east of Lower Monroe (Canal).. It ran behind a number of men's stores and I was forbidden to go there. So you know where I went every chance I got.
Louis Campau and Lucius Lyon feuded and deliberately made sure their streets did not connect. So where Ottawa and Ionia and Monroe jog was where they use to end. There was no way to get from the Village of Grand Rapids to the Village of Kent. You had to go around. Until someone bought a lot from and snuck in a foot-traffic passageway connecting the two.
17 October 1867 a Quit Claim was issued between
William T Powers and Louisa Powers his wife and
Warren P Mills and Helen M. Mills his wife
to the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan
The right of free and unobstructed passage for foot passengers only and not for
teams or vehicles of any kind (except fire engine in case of fire) through, over
and upon that part of lot 3 of section 1 of the original Campau Plat of said
City (once village) of Grand Rapids, within the following boundaries -
Commending on the north line of Pearl Street at the southeasterly corner of the
westerly part of Powers and Mills new Arcade Building - as the foundation of the
same is now laid - the same being 12 feet 8 inches from the southeast corner of
Rood's Block -
thence running east on said north line of Pearl street 12 feet
thence northerly parallel with the east line of westerly part of said Arcade
Building to the north line of said lot 3,
thence westerly on said north line 12 feet
and thence southerly along the east line of said westerly part of said Arcade
Building to the place of beginning
With the right to said City to lay a sewer and gas and water pipes though the
same premises as the convenience of the public shall require, but in such manner
as not to conflict or interfere with the rights of said parties of the first
part or the convenience of the public. And reserving to said parties of the
first part, their heirs and assigns forever, the right to cover said premises with
a building in such manner as to leave said passageway 12 feet wide and not less
than twelve feet high in the clear with sky lights to light the same
sufficiently..
Now in 2006 a sidewalk (only about 3 feet wide) runs between Flannery's Bar (the former Terry House Cafeteria) and a parking ramp (the site of Consumer's Power Company).
The Armory
The armory still existed downtown when I was a kid. In the 1960's it was moved out to the SE corner of Fuller and Michigan and now (2006) it's gone from there too.
10 Feb 1910 WD
William H Van Leeuwen and Jennie A his wife To the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan $5600
The north 75 feet of the west 150 feet of lot numbered 200 , Kent Plat and
the 4 feet east and west by 30 feet north and south off the NW corner of the east 50 feet of said lot.
From Heading History and the City of GrandRapids
From web site: MyCityofGrandRapids.info