1900-1910

File — Box: 3

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Series:

This series includes the text for the exhibit's panels. For the originals and their locations, see Boxes 3-5.

Dates

1900-2000

Extent

From the Collection: 6.6 Linear Feet (Seven boxes)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Exhibit Captions

In 1905, Grand Rapids auto maker Walter Austin (at the wheel) made this 50 horse-power automobile for Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Judd (seated in back). [Austin Automobile Collection 143-2]
Grand Rapids got a new library building in 1904 thanks to Chicago financier Martin Ryerson, who donated the building in memory of his mother, who had grown up in Grand Rapids. [GRPL Photo Col. 54-11-6]
The career of George Perry, mayor of Grand Rapids at the beginning of the new century, was tainted by election scandals and a corrupt effort to build a water pipe-line to Lake Michigan. [GRPL Photo Collection 54-32-48]
When the Grand River flooded in the spring of 1904, water reached nearly to John Ball Park, turning West Side streets into waterways like the canals of Venice. [The Flood in Grand Rapids : photographic views of the inundated sections of the City, March 25-29, 1904. Grand Rapids : Dean-Hicks Printing Co., 1904. pg. [3] ]
Destruction rained down on the people who lived on Clancy Street, below Lookout Hill, when the water reservoir burst in 1900. [Belknap Park Reservoir Flood/Landslide. Grand Rapids Public Library Cyanotype Collection. 87-1-5.]
When the sheet metal workers marched in this turn-of-the-century Labor Day parade, they sported tin umbrellas they had made for the occasion. [Stephen Stover Glass Negative #26, Col. 128-5-5. Labor Day Parade]
Furniture makers dominated Grand Rapids economy in 1900. Over 60 local factories turned out handcrafted pieces for customers throughout the nation. [R.W. Irwin-Phoenix Furniture. Interior, 1903. Furniture Manufacturers Assoc. Collection 84-17-10]
Several farmers markets, like this Leonard Street operation, brought fresh vegetables and fruit to urban dwellers early in the century. [City Market. GRPL Photo Collection 54-7-4]
Grand Rapids’ women’s curling team was a notable exception to the turn-of-the-century attitude that women should not participate in competitive sports. [1908. GRPL Photo Collection 54-7-26]
At the beginning of the new century Ramona Park was a popular picnic and boating area with a few other amusements like this carousel. [GRPL Photo Collection 54-42-10, O.A. Brothers, photographers]
Reed’s Lake was a popular water recreation spot in the early 1900s, with the steamboats Major Watson and Hazel A offering five-cent rides. [Reed’s Lake, looking N. toward the Lakeside Club. Major Watson on left. Hazel A on right. ca. 1900. News Photographs Collection 33-12-46]
Declared by many to be, pound for pound, the century’s greatest fighter, boxer, Stanley Ketchel put Grand Rapids on the nation’s sports map when he won the world welterweight and middleweight championships in 1907 and 1908. [GRPL MR Copy Photograph Collection 185-3-1]