Tri-Cities Buildings and Sites
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DIRECTORY BUILDINGS AND SITES NORTHWEST OTTAWA COUNTY Wallace K. Ewing, Ph.D. 197 First Printing May, 1999. Second Printing August, 1999. Third Printing (Revised) July, 2000. Fourth Printing March, 2001. Fifth Printing (Revised) July, 2002. Sixth Printing, February, 2004. Seventh Printing (Revised), June, 2008. Eighth Printing (Revised), June, 2010. Nnth Printing (Revised), February, 2012. Copyright 1999 by Tri-Cities Historical Museum. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN 0-9652300-1-5 Distributed by: Tri-Cities Historical Museum 200 Washington Street Grand Haven, Michigan 49417 2 Contents Author‘s Note ................................................................................................................................. 5 GRAND HAVEN AREA ............................................................................................................... 7 FERRYSBURG AREA .............................................................................................................. 192 SPRING LAKE AREA .............................................................................................................. 197 FRUITPORT AREA................................................................................................................... 236 PLAT MAPS .............................................................................................................................. 237 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 260 3 197 Author’s Note More than a dozen years ago, I began work on a systematic ―biographical dictionary‖ that would provide sketches of the lives of people who contributed in large ways and small to the culture, economy, and quality of life of Northwest Ottawa County. I didn‘t realize I had undertaken a project without end, that it is a continuing work in progress, an evolving organism. The People Directory has grown to include biographical sketches of thousands of people who lived in this area between the eighteenth and the twenty-first centuries. While the People Directory is not a complete census of everyone who ever resided in Northwest Ottawa County, it is far more extensive than I ever thought possible. To complement the biographies, I recorded where those people lived and worked in Directory of Buildings and Sites, followed by Directory of Businesses, Industries, and Other Organizations, which summarized the life spans of the hundreds of manufactories, retail stores, and non-profit groups in which area residents worked. The fourth book, Directory of Historical Topics, presents a small encyclopedia of local history. Each directory supplements the others, and together they provide a detailed history of Northwest Ottawa County. Each revision since the first printing in 1999 included additions and corrections, many based on information received from dozens of families. The 2012 edition is graciously funded by a grant from the William Middlemist Drake Heritage Fund, administered by the Tri-Cities Historical Museum, the second time it has supported a printing of the Directories. I am also thankful to the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation for its generous financial support in making the initial printing in 1999 a reality. These grants allowed the Directories to be distributed to schools in the Tri-Cities area for use by students studying local history. Alice Seaver and Joan Humphreys Bergbower merit considerable credit for assistance in gathering many names for the first printing of the People Directory. For the inaugural Business Directory, credit goes to Don Foster, who found a considerable amount of valuable information at the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce Loutit Library and the Tri-Cities Historical Museum deserve my gratitude for providing access to their extensive records and resources. The library maintains an excellent free web site that offers easily-accessed genealogical and historical data, including virtual editions of the four Directories. Similarly, I used Ottawa County GenWeb extensively, and thank Evelyn Sawyer and the other volunteers who laboriously entered an astounding amount of statistical and biographical information. I convey deep appreciation to Chuck Rycenga II, who lent me his rare copy of the 1908 Grand Haven City Directory, the earliest edition I have seen. A source that both records and stores history is the Grand Haven Tribune, available on microfilm at Loutit Library. Special thanks to Jane Ewing, whose eye for layout and design gave the directories a fresh and appealing look. In this Building and Sites Directory addresses are presented first in numerical order and then in alphabetical order. References at the end of an entry cite the source for some of the information, and brackets after a name, date, or address show alternate spellings or data. Tribune refers to the Grand Haven Tribune, or one of its predecessors, and Chronicle is a reference to the Muskegon Chronicle. Entries that have no citation came from genealogical data found on the Internet or from isolated scraps of information. The bibliography lists my major resources. Wallace K. Ewing 5 6 GRAND HAVEN AREA M. A. Ferguson. These businesses, however, were not 12 North First Street considered occupants of 19 North First. As early as 1917 ―Dodge Bros. Cars‖ were offered at 20 North First Street this site for ―$1265 F.O.B. Detroit.‖ James J. Perry was the distributor. Nash automobiles also were The Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW] built this one- offered at this address in the same decade. The Elman story structure about 1974 after selling their property & De Witt Chevrolet Sales and Service Company at 420 Fulton to Alanon. Locally the organization was opened here in 1925. Frank E. Miller I bought the known as the Alvin J. Jonker Post No. 2326. business from Nick De Witt in 1940 and operated Residential property filled the site prior to the VFW‘s Miller Chevrolet until at least the late 1950s, and then purchase. moved to 1701 Beacon Boulevard. After Miller‘s 111 North First Street death, and the death of his son, Frank E. Miller II, Otto Vanden Bosch became President of the business. Not long after their wedding in 1914, Hilbrand and Johanna Beukema built a home at this address for 19 North First Street $1600. The house was moved to the southeast corner Several structures located along the north side of of Leggat and Howard Streets [102 Howard] in 1922, Washington near First Street were razed to make room when Story & Clark expanded. for a Story & Clark building erected in 1904 to house 200 and 201 North First Street [approximate its offices. The two buildings at 27 and 25 numbers] Washington were torn down, but the frame building on the northwest corner of Washington and First was John Bryce‘s Foundry and Machine Shop was located moved to 525 Elliott. That two-story structure was on the northeast corner of Elliott and First Streets [Lot built in 1844 to house Henry Griffin‘s Drug Store. 92] by the mid-1870s. Evidently, after fire destroyed Griffin served as Sheriff in 1844 and as Mayor of the long, frame building in 1881, the owners built a Grand Haven in 1871. The upstairs of his drug store new structure across the street on the northwest corner became a meeting place to discuss city affairs and of the intersection [Lot 85], while keeping a smaller housed the offices of Grand Haven‘s first newspaper, building on the original site. Eventually Henry the Grand River Times, started in 1851. Griffin‘s Bloeker purchased the business and it became known building was one of a few in this neighborhood to as the H. Bloeker Marine Engine Works. The escape the 1866 fire. Just prior to its removal to make buildings were still there in 1912. room for Story & Clark, the building housed a millinery shop. 13 South First Street John Boyink had a bottling company at this address. Beside Story & Clark, other occupants of the building at He also owned the Health Office Saloon at 24 this corner site, referred to as both 29 Washington and Washington, where he and his wife, Margaret, made 19 North First, were Oxford Varnish, which used the building between 1946 and 1949, and the Challenge their residence in the early 1900s. Machinery Company, which bought the building in 15 South First Street [approximate number] 1948 for additional plant space, and referred to it as Plant #1. Challenge then moved its operation from this In the 1880s Gerrit Gringhuis owned a retail site into an addition at its 1433 Fulton Street plant in establishment here, called G. Gringhuis Clothing 1965. Two years later Challenge sold the First Street Store. He advertised himself as ―Dealer in ready- building to Harbor Industries, which occupied the made clothes, gents‘ Furnishing goods,etc.‖ building for a few years. Offices of the North Ottawa 17 South First Street Shopper, an advertising medium, and the Patchwork Store also were located here during the period between Ada M. Biggar, proprietor of the White Laundry the time Harbor Industries vacated and the Tri-Cities located nearby on Washington Street, lived here in the Advance moved in. In 1985 several of the Story & early 1900s with Eleanor Biggar, Ivan Biggar, and Clark buildings were opened to the public as Herbert Biggar. Harbourfront Place, a center for shops, offices, and the 21 South First Porto Bello Restaurant, owned and operated by John and 7 In the early 1930s Ted Barrett