Special Comparison
The purpose of this page is to illustrate the changes in the area of the City bordered roughly by:
Bridge/Michigan on the north
Straight on the west
Wealthy on the south
Division on the East
1. This first series of maps comes from Grand Rapids History: Explore: Surveying the Land
This map was done by Lucius Lyons in 1831. It shows:
the Baptist Indian Mission just south of future Bridge Street and west of the
Grand River. Mission Reserve Lots 1 and 2
the Catholic Indian Mission just south of future Fulton Street approximately
where Straight Park is today. Mission Reserve Lots 3 and 4
Louis Campau's land on the east side of the river some of which would be sold by
him to Lucius Lyons. Then they feuded, deliberately blocking their streets from
crossing over into the other's plat.
This map was drawn in 1837 and shows a ferry crossing and the east branch of the Grand River.
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2. The 1894 Polk atlas shows this same area - Section 25 of Walker Township, T7N, R12W. The east branch of the Grand River has been filled in. The Ferry route has been replaced by a railroad bridge and tracks that run along Ferry Street. The Island Addition is where the east course of the Grand River and Islands used to be.
Walker Township Section 25 Island Add Extension just to the east
3. 1953 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map as annotated by City Engineeers
part of that area covered by the Island Addition
Page 5
Part of That area covered by the Island Extension showing Dime Store Row.
4. This City Engineer's map shows this same area on two pages; This map was manually updated for decades until sometime around 2000 a new computer was installed. The railroad tracks are gone. The bridge is now a pedestrian bridge for Grand Valley State University. Ferry Street is a parking lot.
NE 1/4 SE 1/4
5. plat maps
Louis Campau's original land purchase was divided into two plats, the Village of Grand Rapids by Louis Campau and the Village of Kent by Lucius Lyons. These maps come from the state site Statewide Search for Subdivision Plats - Home. The originals or reregistered plats are at the office of Kent County Mapping & Description. The originals are very interesting and are drawn on something like leather or canvas. I asked City Engineers and I think I remember that they said linen.
The Village of Grand Rapids Plat
The Village of Kent- that portion lying south of Michigan Street
The east course of the river and islands:
From Article: Maps
From Heading Geography and the City of Grand Rapids
From web site: MyCityofGrandRapids.info