USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 21
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The first brick building of much size ever built in Grand Rapids was Irving Hall, erected by Samuel B. Ball, in 1843, and it was situ- ated on the west side of Monroe near Pearl street. It was three sto- ries high, and one of its floors was occupied as the first public hall of the town. Its owner, Samuel B. Ball, was a native of Rochester, N. Y., where he was born June 7, 1818. His boyhood and youthful life were passed in or near that place, and he became an active mem- ber of the First M. E. Church of Rochester. He married Catherine W. Winn, who after his death became Mrs. A. H. Botsford, and they came to Grand Rapids in the early part of its village period. Here he was for some time engaged as clerk and bookkeeper in the store of his uncle, Daniel Ball, or of Granger & Ball, which occupation he followed until 1844. The brick block which he erected was of the old style, gable roofed, three stories high, with frontage for two stores, and had a hall in the upper story, which, when Irving Lodge No. 11 was organized, was used for its lodge room. He named the building Irving Hall, and by that designation it was familiar to the early settlers. In 1868 it was torn down, and in its place stands the handsome four-story block now occupied by the Boston Store. With a partner, Mr. Ball opened a store in that building in the fall of 1844. Thus he was the pioneer in the erection of brick blocks here, and he also led off in the wholesale trade, but his forecast and ambition went beyond his physical powers of endurance. His health failed before he was thirty years of age, and the people of the embryo city who es- teemed him highly had the regretful experience of seeing him droop steadily and surely down to his death, at thirty-two-July 20, 1850. Irving Lodge No. 11, of which he was one of the founders and its first Noble Grand, and also the first deceased of its membership, passed resolutions of sorrow, sympathy and condolence, and the Grand Rapids Enquirer characterized him as an "affectionate, solici- tous husband ; as a friend always the same; beloved by all acquainted with him."
Daniel Ball, mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, was, begin- ning in the early village days, a man of tireless activity in many busi- ness lines. In trade as a merchant, and in storage and forwarding ; in steamboat building and navigation enterprises ; in manufacturing ; in real estate dealings and improvements, and in banking, he usually kept himself loaded with as much labor and responsibility as three or four ordinary men should carry. He had great tenacity of purpose, as well as energy and industry, and knew no such thing as discour- agement so long as his health permitted him to keep upon his feet. He began business in Michigan at Owosso; came here about 1841, and removed to New York in 1863, leaving here many germs of his planting for the great progress which our city has made.
The first bridge joining the east and west sides was built in 1845, and spanned the river at Bridge street. It was built under authority I-11
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given to the supervisors of Kent County by act of the Legislature, March 9, 1844. The grant was for "a free bridge," with an appro- priation therefor as follows: "That six thousand acres of land be, and the same is, hereby appropriated for the purpose of building said bridge. The said supervisors may select the land and report it to the State Land Commissioner, who shall reserve it for the purpose above stated, and who shall issue certificates therefor * * * after the said bridge shall have been completed, provided it is finished within two years, * * * and provided the amount of the certificates shall not ex- ceed the cost of the bridge." This was a timber and plank bridge, and was built by Eliphalet H. Turner and James Scribner. David Burnett was the master carpenter. It was set upon eight stone piers, each 36x8 feet at the bottom, and 5 feet thick at the top, with ice- breakers up stream. John Harris was the master mason. The piers were eighty-four feet apart, with a stretch of over 100 feet to the east abutment. The superstructure was of the timber-truss pattern most used in those days. There was an enthusiastic celebration upon the laying of the capstone at the west end, when the stone work was com- pleted, Aug. 9, 1845. Lovell Moore delivered an address in which he congratulated the workmen and citizens upon the success achieved, and the fact that the materials required in building the bridge "were all taken from where Nature placed them, within sight." The water in the river at that time was at a lower stage than it had been for seven years. The bridge was finished November 27, and Rev. Francis H. Cuming was the first to drive across it. At the same time the bridge across the canal was finished.
David Burnett, who was the master carpenter in the building of the first bridge at Grand Rapids, was born in South Hadley, Mass., Sept. 14, 1808, and came to Michigan in 1836. For more than thirty years he was one of the prominent and active business mechanics of this place. He was not only the foreman in the building of this first bridge, but he built the second and third bridges at the same place on the same piers, all now superseded by a substantial iron one. Among other structures erected by him was the bridge across Grand River at Lyons, which he constructed in 1837. He rebuilt the same in 1843, and received in part payment 2,000 acres of State improve- ment land. He erected the log tavern known as the "Fisk" or "Lake House," in the winter of 1837. In 1838 and 1839, in company with Nathaniel Fisk and Jacob Rogers, of Milwaukee, he built six light- houses on Lake Michigan. He built the bridge at Ionia in 1847; the stone Union School House, in 1849; the first dam in this city the same year ; the bridge at Plainfield, in 1850; the dam at Newaygo, in 1853; the dam at Rogers' Ferry, on the Muskegon, in 1864, and the bridge at Bridgeton, in 1866; the bridges on forty miles of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, in 1868; and the bridge at Big Rapids in 1870, besides other dams and bridges. During his business career he always had some prominent job of building on hand, either in the city or the country about, and was in the front rank among the ener- getic master builders of this region. He was a thoroughly upright citizen, plain of speech, reliable always, kind and obliging, and one highly esteemed by the entire community. He died in 1875.
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VIEW IN 1872 OF WHAT IS NOW CAMPAU SQUARE
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GRAND RAPIDS AS A CITY.
The formative period of Grand Rapids' history has now been treated of, and comprises the period extending from 1833 to 1850. With the exception of Louis Campau, who made his home on the east side of the Grand River in 1826, and a trader or two like Marsac, there were no white settlers until the summer of 1833, when the first Anglo-Saxons made their appearance. All sections of the village in- creased rapidly in population and wealth during the ensuing seven- teen years, and the need of a more complete organization came to be felt. The little settlement of 1834 and 1835 had increased until in 1845 the population of Grand Rapids township was given as 1,510, and in 1850, the population of the village was 2,686. Naturally the question of a city organization came to be agitated, and on May 1, 1850, an election was held which resulted in a decisive vote in favor of a new charter. The majority in favor of the charter was 163. The life of Grand Rapids as a village covered in all a period of twelve years, beginning in 1838 and ending in 1850. Henry C. Smith was the first president of the village, and the last to hold that office was George Coggeshall. Other pioneers who officiated in that capacity were John Almy and William Peaslee. In the list of village trustees appear the names of such men as Louis Campau, Richard Godfroy, William A. Richmond, Charles I. Walker, George Coggeshall, James Watson, John Almy, Henry P. Bridge, Francis J. Higginson, Wil- liam G. Henry, Henry C. Smith, Antoine Campau, Charles Shepard, James M. Nelson, Josiah L. Wheeler, Samuel F. Perkins, Israel V. Harris, Harvey K. Rose, Samuel F. Butler, Lucius Lyon, Daniel Ball, and others who achieved distinction in later years. The most of these gentlemen have been given extended personal mention on other pages of this work in connection with the history of lines of endeavor in which they became prominent. George Coggeshall was one of the comers of 1836, and at an early day a justice of the peace. He built a dwelling house on the corner of Bond and Michigan streets, east of the Bridge Street House, and there he lived until 1861. He was a man of mark in the early days, plain, direct, and blunt in speech, and always meaning just what he said. During many years he was the attorney and manager of the Lucius Lyon interests in what was called the Kent Plat.
William A. Richmond was for more than thirty years prominent in the development and building up of Grand Rapids, and was identi- fied not only with local, but also State history. New York was his native State, the first eighteen years of his life being passed in the village of Aurora, on the banks of Cayuga Lake, where he was born in 1808. The academy furnished the foundation of a good education, supplemented by mercantile experience in Geneseo, Moravia and New York City, and by association with leading men of affairs and promi- nent politicians. Mr. Richmond was among the hundreds of young men who emigrated to the Territory of Michigan in 1836. Two pre- vious prospecting trips had acquainted him somewhat with the coun- try ; the fame of the Grand River Valley was attractive, and he easily decided to locate at the thriving little trading post of Grand Rapids. Bostonians, Vermonters, New Yorkers, and Philadelphians had pre- ceded him, making, with the French pioneers, a little community of
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about two hundred people. Later he was urged by friends to go fur- ther west, to a town on Lake Michigan known as Chicago; but a visit to that point failed to convince him of its advantages over Grand Rapids. In 1837 he married a daughter of Abel Page, a settler from Rutland, Vt., and from that time during his life Mr. Richmond con- tributed steadily and influentially to the growth and progress of the place which he had selected for his home. In connection with Judge Carroll, Judge Almy, and the Hon. Lucius Lyon, he purchased an in- terest in the "Kent Plat." He was a member of the first board of village trustees and cashier of the first bank at this place. The con- struction of the first lattice bridge across Grand River was accom- plished largely by his efforts, and he was president of the company which owned it; he was one of the projectors of the plank road to Kalamazoo-one advance from the corduroy-and afterward of a railroad to the same place. He was also among those enterprising men who rendered hand lanterns unnecessary on the city streets, by the erection of gas works. He was active in advancing the interests of education and religion ; contributed largely toward the erection of several churches, and in the effort to establish St. Mark's College, and was for many years a vestryman in St. Mark's (Episcopal) Church. Mr. Richmond was frequently chosen by his townsmen to represent them in governmental affairs. In 1836 he acted as a delegate from the district comprising the counties of Kent, Ionia, and Clinton, to the first "Convention of Assent," as it was called, which rejected the conditions proposed by Congress for the admission of Michigan to the Union ; and at the sessions of 1844 and 1845 he served in the State Legislature. His father having been a prominent Democratic Con- gressman from New York, Mr. Richmond came naturally into ac- quaintance and friendship with Gen. Lewis Cass, Territorial Gov- ernor of Michigan, and with Stevens T. Mason, the first State Gov- ernor, through whom he received several State appointments. He was one of the commissioners who located the State prison at Jack- son; was receiver of the United States land office at Ionia; was for several years a most successful Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Michigan and a part of Wisconsin; and was twice commissioned brigadier-general of the State militia. In the discharge of official du- ties he made a record for efficiency and faithfulness; and in the rela- tion of citizen his enterprise, public spirit and sound judgment gave him high rank among the pioneers who shaped the character and des- tiny of the Valley City. Mr. Richmond died in 1870, at the age of sixty-two years.
William G. Henry came to Grand Rapids in 1836, was the second village treasurer, a merchant, a druggist, and an enterprising citizen. He moved to Detroit about 1865.
James M. Nelson, born in Milford, Mass., Nov. 27, 1810, came here in 1836, and the place was his home during life, about fifty years. His first business was in a store opposite the Eagle Hotel. Afterward he was engaged quite extensively in lumbering. With H. P. Bridge he built the first saw-mill on the canal. His brother, George C. Nel- son, was his partner until 1845, and together they built, in 1837, a saw-mill on Mill Creek, a few miles north of the rapids and west of the river, the first mill in that region. In the winter of 1837-38, when
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provisions were scarce, James M. Nelson went to Indiana in search of hogs, purchased 280, and drove them home, where they were gladly received by the very hungry people. Near the same time he started with five others to explore the Muskegon River region. The snow was deep, and they were gone several days, lost their way, and were thirty-six hours without food before reaching home. Mr. Nelson was among the first to raft lumber down Grand River. From 1841 he served as postmaster for one term. About 1859 he went out of the lumbering business and engaged in flouring. Four years later, he again changed his business, buying with his brother, Ezra T. Nelson, a half interest in the Comstock furniture factory, and he operated as a manufacturer during the remainder of his life. Mr. Nelson was a strictly and thoroughly honest man, one of the "representative self- made men" of this place, who, by his enterprise, integrity and indus- try commanded the esteem of this community wherein the greater part of his life was spent. He was a member of the St. Mark's Epis- copal Church and influential in its councils until his death, which oc- curred in 1883. George C. Nelson continued in business on Monroe street until 1890, when he removed to Brooklyn, N. Y.
Samuel F. Perkins came here in 1836 and engaged in the shoe and leather business. He operated a tannery and was for some time in trade on what is now Bond avenue, and afterward with William Woodward on Monroe street. Samuel F. Butler was one of the early cabinetmakers here, residing first on what is now Bond avenue, after- ward on the old Canal street, north of the present Michigan street, a highly respected citizen. He suddenly dropped dead, April 3, 1856, as he was passing through the front gate to his residence. Abel Page came in 1836 and engaged here in agriculture and horticulture. He planted the first nursery of any pretensions in this valley, and for years supplied settlers with grafted fruits and rare plants. He was an honest and very pleasant gentleman, and prominent in the estab- lishment of the Congregational Church here. The closing years of his life were spent in a pretty suburban home near the north line of the city on the Plainfield road.
The first election under the city charter was held May 11, 1850. Henry R. Williams received the honor of being elected the first mayor of the city, and the other officers elected in 1850 were as follows: Aldermen-First ward, Amos Roberts; Second ward, Charles W. Taylor; Third ward, Lowell Moore; Fourth ward, Joseph Penney ; Fifth ward, Isaac Turner. Aaron B. Turner was elected clerk; Eras- tus Hall, city treasurer ; Leonard Bement, recorder; Alfred Y. Cary, city marshal, and Wright L. Coffinbury, surveyor.
One of the moving spirits here, from 1841 to 1853, was Henry R. Williams, who, like Daniel Ball, laid well some of the foundations of material growth and the general weal. He came here from Roches- ter, N. Y. His aspirations were far-reaching, and his will to work in public and private enterprises was curbed only by the limits of his bodily strength. He was a popular and much loved citizen and it was but appropriate that he should be chosen as the first mayor of Grand Rapids. His mind wore out his physical machinery, and his life went out at the very flower of his manhood, July 19, 1853, at the age of forty-three years. He was conspicuous in the development of steam- boating on Grand River.
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Amos Roberts was a prominent early merchant in the vicinity of what is now called Campau Place. He was born in Litchfield, Conn., in 1786, and in 1809 was married to Sallie Hurd, at Middle Haddam, in the same State. In 1838 he came to Grand Rapids and established a general assortment store, into which he took his son, William D. Roberts, in 1839, as a partner, and the business was conducted under the firm name of A. Roberts & Son during both their lives. In 1843- 44 Amos Roberts and A. W. Pike built the stone store building called Commercial Block, which stood at the foot of the then Monroe street abutting into what is now Campau Place for nearly a third of its area, until that thoroughfare was straightened through, in 1873. Colonel Roberts, as he was familiarly called, was a man of fine presence and business ability, and had steady and uniform success as a merchant. He was a member of St. Mark's Church, and at his death in 1873 was buried with Masonic honors. His residence for some thirty years was where the Grand Rapids Trust Company building stands, corner of Fountain and Ottawa streets.
Leonard Bement for more than thirty years was a prominent member of the Grand Rapids bar, and a most worthy citizen. Nei- ther dashing nor brilliant, he was industrious, faithful in his work, tender and gentle in feeling, with a sense of right and a knowledge of the law which made him a good judge and a useful justice of the peace. Alfred X. Cary was engaged in trade on Monroe street as ear- ly as 1843, and he was a well-known and respected citizen and busi- ness man until his death in 1882. He was a merchant, hotel landlord, steamboat captain, flouring mills manager, and was recognized as an honorable servant of the public in various official positions.
As a comparison between the original and the present territory of the city, we insert here the boundaries as they were in 1850. The incorporating act or charter begins as follows :
"An Act to incorporate the city of Grand Rapids :
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Michigan, That so much of the townships of Grand Rap- ids and Walker, in the county of Kent, as is contained in the follow- ing limits, to-wit: sections nineteen and thirty, in surveyed town number seven north of range eleven west, and sections number twen- ty-four and twenty-five, in surveyed town number seven north of range number twelve west, including so much of Grand River as runs through and adjoining said sections, with the islands in the same, shall be and the same is hereby declared to be a city, by the name and style of the city of Grand Rapids; and all the freemen of said city, from time to time, being inhabitants thereof, shall be and continue to be a body corporate and politic, by the name of the mayor, recorder, alderman and freemen of the city of Grand Rapids; and by that name they and their successors shall be known in law, and shall be and are hereby made capable of suing and being sued, of pleading and being impleaded, of answering and being answered unto, and of defending and being defended in all courts of record, and any other place what- soever ; and may have a common seal, and may change and alter the same at their pleasure; and by the same name shall be and are hereby made capable of purchasing, holding, conveying and disposing of any real and personal estate for the use of said corporation, as herein- after provided."
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The city was divided into five wards, the first of which com- prised all the territory south of Lyon street and west of the continu- ous line of Division street, and east of Grand River; the second all north of Lyon street and west of that part of Division street north of its intersecting Bridge street, and all north of Bridge street and east of Grand River ; the third all south of Bridge street and east of Divi- sion street and the continuous line thereof; the fourth, loosely speak- ing, included all of the west side north of Bridge street, and the fifth embraced the entire west side south of Bridge street. The charter provided for annual elections, to be held on the first Monday of April in each year, at which the officers to be elected were a mayor, a re- corder, five aldermen (one from each ward), a clerk, treasurer, mar- shal, five assessors (one in each ward), city surveyor, four justices of the peace, and not less than three nor more than five constables, a solicitor, two school inspectors, and two directors of the poor. The term of office was one year in all cases except that of school inspector, and these officers were to serve for two years. The president and trustees of the village of Grand Rapids were to determine the result of the first election under the new charter, and subsequent elections were to be determined by the mayor and common council. The mayor was made the chief executive officer, and the head of the police of the city, and it was many years before a separate police department was found necessary. The mayor, recorder and aldermen, or any three of them, the mayor or recorder always being one, were given full power and authority to hold and keep a court of record, by the name, style and title of the "Mayor's Court of the City of Grand Rapids"; and this court was vested with exclusive jurisdiction to hear all com- plaints and conduct all examinations and trials in criminal cases with- in the city, and with exclusive jurisdiction of all cases in which the city might be a party.
Power was conferred on the mayor, recorder and aldermen to remove at pleasure any of the officers by them appointed, and to fill all vacancies that might happen in any of said offices, so often as the same might occur by death, resignation, removal or other cause. The common council was also given authority to remove the marshal, re- corder or clerk of the city, for any violation by either of them of any. of the provisions of the charter, or of any lawful by-laws or ordi- nances of the city ; and on such removal the common council was also given power to appoint another person to fill such vacancy, for the unexpired portion of the year.
The most general grant of power was contained in the following section :
"The common council shall have full power and authority to or- ganize, maintain and regulate the police of the city; to pass all by- laws and ordinances for that purpose, and relative to the duties and powers and fees of the marshal as marshal, and as collector and street commissioner, city surveyor, solicitor, treasurer, clerk and con- stables or other officers of said city, except as hereinafter provided; relative to the time and manner of working upon the streets, lanes and alleys of said city; relative to the manner of grading, railing, planking and paving all sidewalks in said city, and to setting posts and shade trees in all streets, lanes and alleys in said city; relative
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to the manner of assessing, levying and collecting all highway and other taxes in said city, except as hereinafter provided." Then fol- lows an enumeration of a large number of subjects over which it was intended the powers of the common council should extend. In every modification or revision of the city charter down to the establishing of the commission form of government this general grant of legis- lative power to the common council was retained, but the enumera- tion of subjects intended to be covered by it was extended as attention was called to various evils or abuses which seemed to require espe- cial attention in the course of the growth of the city in territory and population. Summarized as concisely as possible, the original list included the license and regulation of all ale and porter shops and places of resort where spirituous liquors are sold or used within the city ; and of shows, circuses and theatrical performances; the re- straint and prohibition of gaming of all descriptions ; the prevention of riots and disorderly assemblages ; the suppression and restraint of disorderly houses, shows, and exhibitions; the abatement and regula- tion of trades and places which, though lawful in themselves, might be dangerous, unwholesome, or offensive in a city; the prevention of improper incumbrances of streets, alleys, and sidewalks, and of rapid driving in the streets; prohibition of cattle, swine, sheep, poultry, geese and dogs running at large; the establishment of public pumps, wells, cisterns, and water-works; the establishment of a board of health, hospitals, and cemeteries; the purchase of fire engines and fire buckets and the establishment of fire limits; the regulation of wharves, bridges, mill-races, and canals, and of exhibitions of fire- works and shooting of firearms or crackers; the restraint of public drunkenness and obscenity, and the punishment of persons guilty thereof ; the regulation of the police officers and the appointment of watchmen and firemen, and the making and enforcing of rules for their government ; compelling the removal by the owner or occupant of buildings or grounds, from sidewalks, streets, and alleys, of snow, dirt and rubbish, and, from any part of his premises, of all such sub- stances as the board of health should direct.
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