County note shelf

Kent County Porch Notes

Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Kent County. This shelf has 12 practical notes and 63 local stories.

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OutdoorsLowell Township's riverfront park reaches both sides of the GrandNorth and South Riverfront parks form one roughly 107-acre township park, joined across the Grand River by the Lowell Timber Footbridge.
OutdoorsWabasis Lake Park started with 38 acres and a vanished caveKent County's Oakfield Township park grew from a wooded 1930 purchase with a spring, overlook, limestone cave, and a local treasure legend into a 104-acre lakefront campground.
OutdoorsThe bike trail that shadows M-6 across southern Kent CountyThe Fred Meijer M-6 Trail links Kent Trails in Wyoming to the Paul Henry-Thornapple Trail in Kentwood, creating a paved east-west route across the south side of the Grand Rapids area.
OutdoorsA 50-acre gift grew into Alpine Township's Wahlfield trail parkKent County's Wahlfield Park began with a 50-acre family gift in 1983 and now covers about 280 acres of woods, fields, creek valley, and trails.
OutdoorsCrahen Valley puts 210 wooded acres beside Grand RapidsGrand Rapids Township's Crahen Valley Park holds ravines, hardwood forest, ponds, meadows, and about three miles of trails just beyond the city.
Money and taxesYour Mail Says Grand Rapids, Your Income Tax Says WalkerA Grand Rapids mailing address doesn't mean you owe Grand Rapids. Much of Walker gets GR mail, but the city taxing your paycheck is Walker.
History and cultureThe Grand Rapids boy who flew to Apollo 1 — and the planetarium that carries his nameRoger B. Chaffee, born in Grand Rapids in 1935, was one of three astronauts killed in the Apollo 1 fire; his hometown museum renamed its planetarium for him.
History and cultureGM built its first stamping plant in Wyoming — and 28th Street grew up around itGeneral Motors opened its first metal-stamping plant in Wyoming in 1936; at its peak it employed thousands, and after it closed in 2009 the land became Site 36.
OutdoorsA road course on an old Christmas-tree farm in Grattan TownshipGrattan Raceway, a two-mile road course in rural Grattan Township, has hosted sports-car racing since the early 1960s and drawn names like Paul Newman to its turns.
OutdoorsBlandford Nature Center: 264 wooded acres a museum lecturer talked into existenceA 264-acre nature center on the west side of Grand Rapids that grew from a 17-acre family gift, the doing of one persistent museum naturalist, Mary Jane Dockeray.
Rules and licensesIn East Grand Rapids, the cop and the firefighter are the same personEast Grand Rapids merged its police and fire departments in the mid-1980s; every sworn officer is cross-trained to do police work, fight fires, and run medical calls.
History and cultureKentwood became a city on its third tryParis Township voters considered incorporation three times. The 1967 vote finally carried as Grand Rapids annexed land and Woodland Mall's future tax base hung in the balance.
History and cultureLowell still mills flour where the Flat meets the GrandKing Milling began on Lowell's west bank in 1890. A fire, a 1945 rebuild, and later expansions separate today's working mill from the earlier buildings.
History and cultureRockford was Laphamville first — and got its new name from a rocky ford in the riverRockford began as Laphamville, named for sawmill owner Smith Lapham; when the railroad came through in the 1860s the town was renamed Rockford for the rocky ford below the dam.
History and cultureSparta's foundry once made millions of piston rings a yearThe Sparta Foundry, founded in 1921 to cast piston rings for the auto industry, grew into the village's financial anchor and later merged into Muskegon Piston Ring.
History and cultureThe downtown ice rink with the year-2000 sky frozen under itRosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids is a Maya Lin design called Ecliptic; fiber-optic lights set into the ice map the stars over the city at midnight on January 1, 2000.
History and cultureThe fur trader who settled Ada — and Kent County — before there was a Grand RapidsRix Robinson set up a fur-trading post where the Thornapple meets the Grand River in 1821, becoming the first permanent settler of what would become Kent County.
History and cultureWalker became a city to keep Grand Rapids from eating itWalker, a Kent County township since 1837, rushed to incorporate as a city in 1962 to stop Grand Rapids from annexing its industrial land piece by piece.
History and cultureWest Michigan's airport sits in Cascade Township — and is named for a hometown presidentGerald R. Ford International Airport opened in Cascade Township in 1963 as Kent County Airport, and took the name of Grand Rapids' own president, the 38th, in 1999.
History and cultureWhy a Grandville creek is named for plasterPlaster Creek in Grandville is named for the gypsum found along its banks; the first mill to grind that gypsum into plaster was built where the creek crossed the Grandville Road in 1841.
Rules and licensesYou can keep backyard chickens in Grand Rapids — with a permit and no roostersGrand Rapids legalized backyard hens in 2016 after a two-year pilot; the city allows up to four to six birds on a permit, with hard rules on coops — and no roosters.
History and cultureAmway grew from two Ada basements and stayed in townJay Van Andel and Rich DeVos founded Amway from the basements of their Ada homes in 1959, and the company's world headquarters is still in the township.
History and cultureByron Township's first farm belonged to a man who never worked itByron Township, home to Byron Center, traces its first settlement to Nathan Boynton, who picked out a farm in 1835 but fell ill before he could improve it — so his brothers Jeremiah and William did the work.
History and cultureCaledonia moved itself a few miles to meet a railroadThe first settler in this part of Kent County ran an inn on the old wagon road, but the village of Caledonia grew up miles away around an 1870 railroad stop called Caledonia Station, and incorporated in 1888.
OutdoorsCannonsburg Ski Area: a ski hill 15 minutes from downtown Grand RapidsCannonsburg Ski Area has run lifts on the rolling hills of Cannon Township, northeast of Grand Rapids, since 1965 — close enough for an after-work run on machine-made snow.
History and cultureCedar Springs: the lumber town the railroad made, before the red flannelCedar Springs grew as an 1850s lumber town in northern Kent County, boomed when the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad reached it in 1868, and became a village in 1871 — long before it was famous for underwear.
History and cultureJohn Ball Park: the 40 acres the city almost shrugged offWhen John Ball died in 1884 he left 40 wooded acres to Grand Rapids for a park; some leaders thought the plot was worthless, but it grew into John Ball Park and the John Ball Zoo.
History and cultureLa Grande Vitesse: the red Calder that became the city's logoThe 42-ton red steel Calder on a downtown Grand Rapids plaza was the first public artwork paid for by the National Endowment for the Arts — and the city liked it so much it built its logo around it.
OutdoorsMillennium Park: a 1,400-acre park dug out of gravel pitsKent County turned roughly 1,400 acres of spent gravel and gypsum mining land southwest of Grand Rapids into Millennium Park, with a beach, miles of trails, and six miles of Grand River frontage.
History and cultureSparta was almost called NashvilleSparta's early settlement was called Nashville for sawmill owner Jonathan Nash, but the name changed because Michigan already had a Nashville.
OutdoorsThe Grand River fish ladder doubles as a sculptureAn artist-designed concrete fish ladder below the Sixth Street Dam in Grand Rapids lets salmon and steelhead climb the Grand River, and a raised platform puts you a few feet from the fall run.
OutdoorsVersluis Park: a barrier-free beach on an old gravel lakePlainfield Township's Versluis Park wraps a no-fee swimming beach, a fishing pier, and a mile of paved loop around a 50-acre man-made lake — and it was built so wheelchair users can reach the water.
History and cultureWyoming's New York name and 28th Street growthWyoming took its name from Wyoming County, New York, became a city in 1959, and grew around 28th Street, where Studio 28 expanded from one screen to 20.
OutdoorsThe Paul Henry–Thornapple Trail: a railroad that took 170 years to finishThe Paul Henry–Thornapple rail trail follows the old Grand River Valley Railroad grade through Middleville and Irving, with a stretch carrying the North Country National Scenic Trail.
OutdoorsA 135-acre nature center remembers a teenager who loved the landFrank and Rita Christensen gave 135 acres in Tyrone Township for a nature center honoring their son Howard; its trails and programs continue amid a 2026 ownership transition.
History and cultureKent County's park system started with 30 acres in Nelson TownshipGordon Park began as 30 acres acquired for a highway in 1924, became Kent County's first park property, and drew an estimated 50,000 visits in 1930.
OutdoorsVergennes's 141-acre outdoor classroom anchors a community trailThe Wittenbach/Wege Center combines school field trips, public trails, natural habitat, and a community garden at the north end of the Lowell area's trail system.
History and cultureFrederik Meijer Gardens: sculpture, butterflies, and a 24-foot horseA 158-acre garden and sculpture park in Grand Rapids, home to a giant bronze horse based on a Leonardo da Vinci design left unfinished for 500 years.
History and cultureEat a dozen chili dogs, join the Hall of Fame: Rockford's Corner BarRockford's Corner Bar has run its Hot Dog Hall of Fame since 1968, burned to the walls in 2017, and reopened a year later to a line down Main Street.
OutdoorsSalmon in the river, 92 miles of trail: downtown Rockford's backyardRockford's downtown sits where the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail crosses the Rogue River — salmon and steelhead below the dam, and one of Michigan's longest rail-trails out the door.
History and cultureApple country: Sparta and the Fruit RidgeThe Fruit Ridge around Sparta is one of Michigan's strongest apple-growing regions, shaped by soil, elevation, and Lake Michigan.
History and cultureArtPrize: when downtown Grand Rapids becomes one giant art showArtPrize turns downtown Grand Rapids into a free, city-sized art show each fall.
History and cultureBeer City USA: how Grand Rapids got the nameGrand Rapids got the Beer City USA nickname from national fan polls in 2012 and 2013. The poll is gone, but the brewery trail and passport remain.
History and cultureBefore the suburbs: when Reeds Lake was the place to beBefore East Grand Rapids became a quiet suburb, Reeds Lake was home to Ramona Park, the region's biggest amusement spot.
Rules and licensesBuying a historic Grand Rapids home? Check the exterior-work rules firstA Grand Rapids property in a local historic district generally needs city review before exterior work, but the city does not regulate paint colors.
History and cultureCedar Springs: the 'Red Flannel Town'The Red Flannel Festival traces Cedar Springs' nickname to a 1936 newspaper exchange that turned long underwear into a lasting civic identity.
History and cultureGerald Ford is buried at his Grand Rapids museumGerald R. Ford grew up and began his political career in Grand Rapids. He and Betty Ford are buried at his downtown presidential museum.
History and cultureHow Grand Rapids became the first city to fluoridate its waterGrand Rapids was the first U.S. city to add fluoride to its drinking water, a public-health experiment that began in 1945.
History and cultureRockford: a shoe town on the river, and the water cleanup that followedRockford's Wolverine footwear history is part local pride and part PFAS cleanup story.
History and cultureThe 'rapids' that vanished from Grand RapidsGrand Rapids was named for real rapids on the Grand River, and a restoration project is set to bring them back.
History and cultureThe Grand Rapids Chicks: women's pro baseballThe Grand Rapids Chicks played women's professional baseball from 1945 to 1954 and won two league championships.
History and cultureThe Lowell ShowboatLowell's riverfront showboat began as a Depression-era variety show and now carries both community pride and a hard history.
History and cultureThe Medical Mile: how Grand Rapids became a research hubGrand Rapids' Medical Mile turned a stretch of Michigan Street into a major hospital, research, and medical-school corridor.
History and cultureThe Whitecaps: minor-league baseball (and a 4,800-calorie burger)The West Michigan Whitecaps bring Tigers prospects, summer baseball, and famously over-the-top ballpark food to the Grand Rapids area.
History and cultureWhy Grand Rapids is called Furniture CityGrand Rapids was a center of the furniture industry from the 1870s through the 1930s, and its office-furniture legacy is still visible today.
History and cultureHush Puppies Were Born in a Small Michigan Town — and Named After Fried DoughHush Puppies — the soft suede casual shoe — were born in 1958 in Rockford, Michigan, and named after the fried dough that quiets barking dogs.
History and cultureThe Wet Burrito: A Michigan OriginalThe smothered, fork-and-knife burrito that West Michigan calls its own — almost certainly born at Grand Rapids' Beltline Bar in 1966.
History and cultureWest Michigan's answer to the Dream Cruise rolls down 28th StreetThe 28th Street Metro Cruise fills Wyoming and Kentwood with 15,000 classic cars and a quarter-million spectators every August.
History and cultureMeijer: the Grand Rapids store that invented one-stop shoppingMeijer's 1962 Thrifty Acres store in Grand Rapids helped invent one-stop shopping, and the company is still headquartered in Walker.
History and cultureWhy DeVos and Van Andel are on so many Grand Rapids landmarksRich DeVos and Jay Van Andel built Amway in Ada. Later, their families helped create or support major Grand Rapids venues, hospitals, schools, and research institutions.