High schools -- Michigan -- Grand Rapids

Abstract Central High School, also known in the early years as Grand Rapids High School, was opened in 1859 and remained the only high school building in Grand Rapids, Michigan until Union High School was built in 1897. In 1979 a history class at Central High School, with guidance from history teacher Ed Merizon, took on the task of documenting Central High School's history and their work produced this collectionThe collection includes a comprehensive set of the Helios, the school...

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The David G. Winter papers contain material on racial imbalance in schools in mid-century Grand Rapids, Michigan. Researchers of Civil Rights, segregation in education, neighborhoods, and the history of public schools in Grand Rapids would find this collection helpful. for Included are official reports, a dissertation, a photograph, maps, and articles by other researchers and the donor.

Abstract Mabel Gork Gmelich died from a post-delivery infection in 1930, leaving her newborn Marilyn, her daughter Lezette, and her husband, Herman Gmelich, alone. Mabel and Herman, both born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, were married there in 1925. This collection was anonymously donated to the Grand Rapids Public Library in July 2025. It contains a 1918 yearbook of Camp Custer, Michigan—where Herman Gmelich served as a butcher during World War I—and Mabel Gork’s 1915 Union High School yearbook, which...

Scope and Contents The Grand Rapids High Schools Collection was formed first from materials transferred to the Archives from the Local History book collection, the Local History vertical files, a few small accessions, with the bulk of the initial collection being the high school yearbooks. Since being defined, other small accessions or found items of high school related materials have been added to the collection, covering all of the schools in general, or specific to one school. Found items are often those...

Abstract This collection of family papers was donated by Susan Higgins, the granddaughter of Ira and Ethel Higgins and the daughter of Robert and Barbara Higgins. Ira Owen Higgins was born in 1897 in Henderson County, Kentucky and came to Grand Rapids, Michigan in his 20s. In 1925 he married Ethel TenBrink (1902-1989) and together they had two sons, Robert and Edgar. Ira died in December of 1965 and Ethel died in 1989. Robert H. Higgins was born in 1926, in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from...

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This collection contains a number of identified photos of the Sundbeck family, the Keck boarding house, the Lindberg family, and Stocking School. Also included are a few pieces of local ephemera.

Abstract The Wilson and Seydel family papers contain material related to William Wallace Wilson (1899-1997) and Frances Louise Seydel Wilson (1901-1995) and their families. William’s father, S.H. Wilson, is well known for platting and developing Wyoming Park, Michigan. These papers include plat maps of the areas he developed, real estate advertisements, business records, correspondence, ephemera, and photographs. William Wilson graduated from Grand Rapids Central High School in 1916. A portion of the...