Harland Bartholomew was an expert city planner from St. Louis, Missouri during the early part of the 20th century. In the 1920ss, he was contracted by Charles Garfield, head of the Grand Rapids City Planning Department to survey Grand Rapids and prepare a growth plan for the city. He prepared numerous drawings and based from his finding the Planning Department produced a booklet titled, "Planning the Future of Your City: The Grand Rapids City Plan." The city had prepared several growth plans during the first decades of the 20th century and the Bartholomew Plan (as it came to be called) was the most extensive.

The material demonstrates the state of City Planning during the 1920s. In addition the charts present historical data on the growth of the physical city as well as documentation of the existing conditions in 1926-1927. This was the first modern city plan of significance for Grand Rapids, and has often been referenced in subsequent plans, though most of the proposed changes were not made. It joins the class of numerous other such plans done for U.S. cities by Bartholomew during his professional career.