Street Name Changes for the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County
This information is compiled from:
City of Grand Rapids Engineering Department, Bob Barber, Kent County Road Commission, registered plat maps, common knowledge and Baxter's History of Grand Rapids, 1891.
Bob Barber's list overlapped the City and County so I have tried to straighten that out although unsuccessfully. I have put the questionable one's in the county portion.
The City adopted a street naming system in 1912. Apparently this system was adopted by the county in 1945.
These may take a minute to download over slow connections.
Old street names, in alphabetical order by OLD name:
City of Grand Rapids Kent County
Unfortunately, street names changes that occurred prior to annexation will not be included in the City records. For instance Sweet street which was the northern boundary line with the City was called First Street outside the City. So I have included it on the City list with the source as "paper". Sometimes these streets were renamed at the time of annexation to the city so there will be a City record.
Another interesting item is where Coit and Plainfield split at Quimby. At one time Coit was called Lower Plainfield.
Streets were platted but then the area was replatted and the streets ceased to exist. These streets may never have actually existed and so I have entered them in the city list under "paper".
From Baxter's History of Grand Rapids, 1891:
Adams and Allen--From individuals formerly living near them.
Almy--Judge Almy, the early surveyor. (Was usurped for the Union Railroad
Station now VanAndel sports Arena)
Antoine and Louis--Antoine and Louis Campau
Baldwin--S. L. Baldwin
Barclay--Charles Barclay
Bartlett, Bates, and Baxter--From early residents bearing those names.
Blakely avenue--William I. Blakely, a pioneer. (renamed Buckley)
Beech--Some beech trees grew near there. (renamed McReynolds)
Bostwick--Edmund B. Bostwick, early settler.
Bridge--Henry P. Bridge, pioneer.
Butterworth avenue--On the road which led to Butterworth's plaster beds.
Calder--George P. Calder, an early resident. (south of Fulton, renamed Ottawa)
Campau--The early fur trader.
Canal--From its proximity to the east side canal. (North of Michigan, renamed
Monroe)
Carpenter--From the owner of what was called the Carpenter Spring.
Carrier--A farmer who once lived there.
Cemetery--Fulton Street Cemetery. (From Fulton to Fountain renamed Eastern)
Coit Avenue--The name of an early land owner. (Daniel W. Coit)
Cherry--Some black cherry trees stood near it.
Clancy--John Clancy, an early resident.
Chubb--Name of an early resident
Coldbrook--Near the stream of that name.
College avenue--Where a college was to be but was not built. (The SW corner of
College and Michigan)
Delony--Delony Gunnison.
Division--Line between ranges 11 and 12. (Divides Grand Rapids Township from
Walker Township)
East--East line of city. (renamed Eastern)
Escott--Henry Escott, an early druggist.
Fairbanks--Name of an early land owner.
Ferry--At the early river ferry landing. (railroad tracks ran along it, now
gone. Today, mostly a parking lot)
Finney--A painter and hotel keeper of the early days.
Fountain--The head of this street was formerly at Ransom, where there was a fine
spring. (used for Central High)
Front--Next the river front on the West side.
Grandville avenue--The line of the early road leading to Grandville.
Gunnison--Lieutenant John W. Gunnison, who lost his life in an Indian massacre
in the Rocky Mountains.
Hastings--E. P. Hastings, one of the original proprietors of the land there.
Hovey--William Hovey, a prominent citizen of the West Side for many years.
Island--The street that came down from the east to the river near the islands
that are gone. (renamed Weston)
Kent--From the name of the county, originally given in honor of Chancellor Kent
of New York. (Renamed Bond. Mostly gone)
Lock--This street lies where the locks were to be from the east side canal to
the river channel below. (Today's Convention Center)
Lyon--Lucius Lyon, one of the original land owners here.
Maple--Takes its name from the woods that were there. (There were at least four
streets with this name in early days).
Mills--Warren P. Mills, an early settler. (Today usurped by the U.S. Post
Office).
Oakes--Charles Oakes, an early settler at Grandville.
Ottawa--This Indian name is said to be the Algonquin word for trader.
Page--Deacon Abel Page, a pioneer in the nursery business.
Peaslee--An early resident who went to California in 1850. (renamed Park St on
the West Side).
Pettibone--Takes its name from a surveyor of that name who formerly lived there.
Prescott--The Rev. Francis Prescott. (renamed Logan)
Prospect--Runs across the brow of the hill, from which a fine view of the city
is obtainable.
Reservoir--Lies by the reservoir of the city water works. (blocked)
Rumsey--James A. Rumsey, an early resident on the Grandville Road.
Scribner--James Scribner, an early settler of 1837 on West Bridge street.
Shepard--From Dr. Shepard, who purchased the Gunnison property many years ago.
(probably the one renamed Lane on the West Side but another Shepard was usurped by St. Mary's Hospital
on the SE)
Sibley--A pioneer West Side citizen.
Spring--Formerly there were a number of springs along by this thoroughfare.
(renamed Commerce)
State--Lies where the old State Road entered the village.
Stocking--Named for Billius Stocking, the first settler in that part of the
city.
Tamarack--There once was a tamarack swamp close by.
Turner--The name of a pioneer West Side family.
Waring--The Rev. H. E. Waring, a veteran pioneer. (Unknown street, perhaps vacated)
Wealthy avenue--Named by Judge Morrison in compliment to his wife.
Wenham avenue--J. C. Wenham, who platted Wenham's Addition. (renamed Logan)
White--Samuel White, who settled at an early day near the northwest corner of
the city. See Greenwood and White Cems Walker Cem
Williams--Henry R. Williams was one of the pioneer steamboat men. (Probably the Williams
that still exists as it is near the river. The other one on the West Side was renamed Morgan)
Following are most of the changes in street names made by the Common Council in the last thirty years:
August 25, 1860: the four streets, Jefferson, South (Cherry to Wealthy), Penney (Buckley to Pleasant), and Withey streets, forming one continuous street from Fulton on the north, to the city line on the south, were named Jefferson avenue.
January 5,1865: Court, north of Bridge, changed to Lincoln (renamed Scribner). West Division north of Bridge, to Seward.
May 28, 1866: Grove and Rebecca, to continuation of Turner.
May 19, 1868: Stone, to continuation Fifth.
June 27, 1868: Louis, between Cherry and State, to Luce. (renamed Waverly)
July 12, 1869: Caroline, to continuation of South Lafayette.
July 11, 1870: Lincoln to Scribner.
March 1, 1873: Plainfield road to Plainfield avenue.
July 12, 1873: East street on Withey's add., to Sycamore;
Greenwich (south of Fulton), Prairie (Fulton to Cherry) and Grant (south of Wealthy) streets, to continuation of Ionia;
Justice to continuation of Ottawa; (Fulton to Pearl)
East Water to Waterloo; (Fulton to Monroe; renamed Market; then recently that portion of Market from Fulton to Louis was renamed Monroe)
First, Second, Third and Fourth streets, Grant's add., to First, Second, Third and Fourth avenues respectively; (renamed Buckley, Pleasant, Breen's Ct/Grant, Graham respectively)
Newaygo State road to Walker avenue;
Butterworth road to Butterworth avenue;
Thornapple road to Lake avenue; (renamed Lake Dr and Robinson Road)
William street, Eighth Ward, to Peaslee; (renamed Park)
New York and Shawmut streets to Shawmut avenues; (renamed Lake Michigan Dr)
Fremont to Bowery; (renamed Douglas)
Washington, Eighth Ward, to Sibley;
Fremont, Eighth Ward, to Watson;
Centre, Eighth Ward, to Shepard; (renamed Lane)
Charles, Eighth Ward, to Hovey;
Curtis, Eighth Ward, to Chubb;
West Water to South Front;
Siegel to Jefferson;
Ann, Sixth Ward, to Eighth;
Elizabeth, Sixth Ward, to Ninth;
Caroline, Sixth Ward, to Tenth;
Jonathan, Sixth Ward, to Eleventh;
Franklin, Sixth Ward, to Twelfth;
Pine, Sixth Ward, to Tamarack;
Union, Sixth Ward, to Cypress; (renamed Alpine)
Centre, Fifth Ward, to Cedar;
Park, Fifth Ward, to Columbus; (north end, Columbus renamed Cooper on south side)
Cemetery, Fifth Ward, to Taylor;
Coldbrook, Brown & Drew's add., to Vine; (renamed back to Coldbrook)
Park, Brown & Drew's add., to Walnut;
Grand, Eighth Ward, to West Fulton;
High, Third Ward, to Charlotte; (Then renamed Madison)
Official (a short street forming an angling connection between Spring and Monroe streets- parentheses are Baxter's), to Spring; (Vacated for Herpolsheimers now Police Department.
Canal, south of Pearl, to Monroe.
----------------------------------------------------
October 11, 1873: North Withey to McConnell; (Two McConnell streets; one changed to Alder/Elder Ct, the other one vacated)
McConnell to Third avenue (renamed Breens/Grant); Mary to continuation of Second avenue (renamed Pleasant);
Ellsworth to continuation of Cherry;
Elm to Goodrich;
Fremont to Fourth avenue;
Powell to continuation of South Lafayette;
S. Withey to Withey;
Ann and Smith to continuation of South Prospect;
King, north from Quimby, to Queen;
Mason and Fair to Muskegon;
Dayton to Pettibone;
Bank, West Side, to Michigan;
Locust avenue to continuation of Davis;
Butterworth avenue, north of Fourth, West Side, to Reynolds.
October 12, 1874: Charlotte to Madison avenue.
July 12, 1875: part of Coldbrook to continuation of Canal.
October 15, 1877: Withey and Winsor to Fifth avenue.
August 23, 1880: Cypress to Alpine avenue.
October 1, 1883: Tile to Reed. (renamed Lafayette)
August 17, 1885: Bronson to Crescent avenue.
May 9, 1885: Holland to Irving place.
November 23, 1885: Summit to Ellsworth avenue.
November 29, 1886: Antoine to Sixth avenue; Evergreen to Seventh avenue; Cottrell to Eighth avenue; Adams to Ninth avenue; Shelby to Tenth avenue; Putman to Eleventh avenue; Canton to Twelfth avenue.
March 19, 1888: Crab Apple Alley to Brenner Court.
April 16, 1888: Cemetery to North East.
Among changes of street names not recorded in the Book of Ordinances are the
following:
Stoe to Springfield avenue; Van Buren to Seventh; Court to continuation of
Bowery; Jackson to Valley; Rose to continuation of Cherry.
And you wonder why the City doesn't want to change any street names? Answer: Experience.
And if you still wonder:
1. Tell the Post Office that you didn't move, the street name changed.
2. Tell your phone company, whoever and wherever it may be, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
3. Tell cable tv or satellite TV, whoever and wherever it may be, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
4. Tell your mortgage lender, whoever and wherever it may be, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
5. Tell all you creditors, whoever and wherever and how many it may be, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
6. Tell the Secretary of State who issued your driver's license and license plates, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
7. Tell all your relatives, or at least the ones you are still speaking to, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
8. Tell all the magazines and newspapers you receive, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
9. Tell the electric company, whoever and wherever it may be, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
10. Tell the gas company, whoever and wherever it may be, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
11. Tell your insurance company or companies (life - health - accident - auto - house) whoever and wherever they may be, that you didn't move, the street name changed.
12. Now who did we forget? And who don't you want to tell?
From Article: Addressing Rules
From Heading Geography and the City of Grand Rapids
From web site: MyCityofGrandRapids.info