Heritage Tours

Indigenous peoples lived in what is now Grand Rapids for thousands of years before the first European settlers arrived in the early 1800s. Detroit-born Louis Campau, known as the father of Grand Rapids, built a cabin, trading post and blacksmith shop on the east bank of the Grand River in 1826. The city was incorporated in 1850 and quickly established itself as America’s “Furniture City,” renowned for making fine wood furniture. More than 150 years later, Grand Rapids earned the nickname “Beer City USA” for its craft brewing expertise.

There are a lot of stories behind this quick sketch of Grand Rapids history, and you can explore some of them on the self-guided tours outlined below. The Native American Heritage, Furniture Heritage and Black Heritage tours take you around downtown Grand Rapids, where just about everything is within a 10-minute walk. The Beer Heritage and Agricultural Heritage tours require a vehicle and can include as many stops as you want!

Native American Heritage

Start your tour at the Grand Rapids Public Museum on the west bank of the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids. For 30 years, the Museum exhibit Anishinaabek: The People of This Place told the stories of the three major Indigenous tribes of Michigan – the Ottawa, Potawatomi and Chippewa – who together comprise the Anishinabek people.

This exhibit is currently closed for renovation and will reopen in fall 2026 with updated technology, natural elements, unique art from local Anishinaabe artists and opportunities to dig deeper in into topics central to today’s Anishinaabe communities. The new design was developed through consultation with Tribal leaders and community members on the Eshtoojik (the ones who create) Advisory Council.

During the renovation, you can still explore Anishinaabe stories through other exhibits and displays, including three new murals on the third floor: The Anishinaabe Creation Story, Modern Anishinaabek of Grand Rapids, and the Seven Grandparent Teachings.

Your next stop is outside the Museum but you’ll likely want to take some time to explore the other history, science and culture exhibits here first.

Exit the Museum on Front St. and head south (left). Just before the road curves to the west, you will see a Grand Valley State University sign in front of GVSU’s Eberhard Center. Turn left (east) onto the concrete path heading toward the Grand River.

The statue just outside the north end of the Eberhard Center depicts Chief Noonday, also known as Noahquageshik or Nawquageezhig, who led the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians. When traders arrived in the greater Grand Rapids area, the American Indian leader helped welcome new settlers. Sculptor Antonio Tobias Mendez sculpted this piece for the city’s Community Legends project. It was installed in 2010.

Now continue south on Front St. and pass under the highway overpass. Front St. dead ends into Mount Vernon Ave. Follow Mount Vernon south (left) one block to Fulton St. Cross Fulton St. to the Mount Vernon pedestrian pathway. On the corner is a 20-ft. tall sculpture by Jason Quigno, a local Anishinaabe artist.

Quigno carved “Akii Ndodem (Earth Totem)” out of limestone, incorporating symbols reflecting Anishinaabe culture. The four sides represent four cardinal directions, four seasons, and four stages of life, while deep cuts represent rivers and raised areas reflect the Seven Grandfather Teachings ­– principles of character that each Anishinaabe should live by.

This statue stands on the downtown campus of Grand Valley State University and was commissioned by the school to present themes of unity and shared humanity honoring its location in a community space first inhabited by Indigenous groups.

Now retrace your steps back to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Cross Pearl St. in front of the Museum. At your right is Ah-Nab-Awen Park. Enter the park and you will see three distinct earthen mounds. These are meant to represent the Ottawa, Potawatomi and Chippewa peoples, and evoke the burial mounds built here by their ancestors, the Hopewell.

Ah-Nab-Awen, which translates to “resting place,” was originally home to a series of Hopewell mounds built between 450 B.C. and 450 A.D. Settlers to the area leveled the original mounds in the 1850s to provide dirt for streets.

While these mounds are symbolic, the public is asked to stay off them as a matter of respect.

A group of actual Hopewell mounds known as The Norton Mounds is located along the Grand River about 10 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. Called “the most important and best-preserved Hopewell mounds in the western Great Lakes region,” The Norton Mounds are not open to the public and are under the protection of the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Ah-Nab-Awen Park north of the mounds is now closed as a staging area for a much-anticipated project to restore the city’s namesake rapids to the Grand River that runs through downtown. Called Owashtanong by the Anishinaabek, the Grand River was the lifeblood of the tribes, serving as a mode transport and source of sustenance while embodying a spiritual connection to Mother Earth. The Grand River revitalization project is also improving the aquatic habitat for fish, mussels and other species, and enhancing recreational use of the river. Construction began in spring 2026 and is expected to take two years to complete.

Follow Pearl St. east across the Grand River. Just across the bridge is a riverfront trail running behind the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. Head north on this Grand River Edges Trail. You’ll pass through Lyon Square, a public plaza between the Amway Grand and DeVos Place Convention Center. Public seating is available – rest your feet and drink in the views of the river, native plantings and sculptures.

Continue north on the trail past DeVos Place Convention Center to Bridge St.. Go east on Bridge one-half block to Monroe Ave. (Atwater Brewery is on the corner if you need refreshments.) Head north on Monroe about one mile to Sixth Street Park. The park is home to an 11-foot tall steel sculpture, “Manidoo Bawating,” which was designed to honor important symbols and unique traditions of the Anishinaabek peoples. The title means “Spirit of the Rapids” in the Indigenous language.

The sculpture, which is illuminated at night, was designed by the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians and local Anishinaabe artist Alan Compo in collaboration with Oakland, California-based art initiative HYBYCOZO.

Compo also painted “Anishinaabek,” a mural on the tunnel and retaining walls under the Pearl St. Bridge. The painting incorporates lore and legends from the Anishinaabe. You can see it if you retrace your steps back to the tour starting point – the Grand Rapids Public Museum – and descend the steps to the left front of the building.

Furniture Heritage

Grand Rapids was home to more than 40 furniture companies during its heyday as America’s Furniture City, which lasted from the mid-19^th Century to the advent of the Great Depression and WWII. The area is still home to some of the world’s largest office furniture manufacturers, but the era of fine wood furniture is long past.

You can sometimes find furniture pieces from the Furniture City days at local antique stores – including Warehouse One Antiques & Collectibles, Century Antiques and Lost & Found Treasures of Old and New, which are all located in the same building on the edge of downtown Grand Rapids.

The massive brick structure was the home of the Sligh Furniture Company between 1880 and 1932. The company once billed itself as the “largest manufacturer of furniture exclusively for the bedroom in the world” and its customers included presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and Benjamin Harrison.

The Sligh building is one of a number of former furniture factories that have been repurposed for other uses in and around downtown Grand Rapids:

• The Baker Furniture Co. building (1661 Monroe Ave. NW), built in 1872, was one of the last fine wood furniture manufacturers to leave Grand Rapids. A portion of the structure is now occupied by the MiEN Company, a local company that makes furniture for education settings.
• The Berkey & Gay Furniture Co. (940 Monroe Ave. NW) was promoted as the largest furniture factory in the world upon finish of its construction in 1892. Today, it is the Boardwalk Condominiums condo complex.
• The John Widdicomb Co. (673 Seward Ave. NW) was built as a 113,000 sq. ft. factory in 1880. It now serves as office complex. 
• Luce Furniture (655-57 Godfrey Ave. SW), less than one mile south of downtown’s Founders Brewing Co., was built in the 1880s and expanded in 1910. It is now being transformed into Factory Yards, a 15-acre mixed-use development including residences, commercial space, restaurants, performance space and community gathering areas.
• The Waters Building (161 Ottawa Ave. NW) has been a downtown landmark since 1898, when it was built as the Furniture Exhibition Co. For many years, it was the largest furniture display building in the United States. Today, it is home to offices, residences and the Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel.

You can explore more of the city’s furniture history at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. A second-floor exhibit, “The Furniture Factory,” includes a working lathe typical of machinery used in the factories of yore. Volunteer woodturners give demonstrations of the lathe in action and answer questions about the art of furniture-making. View this half-hour film for an in-depth look at the Museum’s extensive furniture collection, most of which is not currently on display.

You may also want to visit the “Newcomers: The People of this Place” exhibit, which will introduce you to the successive waves of immigrants that helped shape the city and its culture. Many of the 19^th century European immigrants came here specifically for work in furniture factories.

Ah-Nab-Awen Park is located just across Pearl St. in front of the Museum. At the entrance of the park is the Spirit of Solidarity Monument commemorating the Grand Rapids furniture workers’ strike of 1911. In April of that year, 4,000 local furniture workers walked off the job, asking for increased pay, fewer work hours and the creation of collective bargaining between laborers and employees. The strike lasted four months and the three bronze figures depicted in the sculpture – two men and one woman – represent the workers and their wives who sacrificed much to advance the cause of labor.

Grand Rapids artist Roberto Chenlo carved and cast the sculpture, which was installed in 2007, on the 96th anniversary of the furniture strike.

Follow Pearl St. east across the Grand River. At the northeast corner of the bridge is a historical marker recalling the Log Jam of 1883. The Grand River was essential to the success of the furniture industry, as it was used to deliver logs from Michigan’s pine and oak forests to sawmills across the region, where it was cut and supplied to furniture factories.

Record-setting rains in July 1883 raised the Grand River to flood stage, creating a seven-mile log jam two miles north of downtown. The jam broke loose on July 26, sending more than 600,000 logs rushing downriver, tearing out every railroad bridge in the city as it went. It was one of the most devastating events in the city’s history.

You can get a glimpse of the wealth enjoyed by local lumber barons and furniture titans by visiting Heritage Hill, a residential neighborhood adjacent to downtown Grand Rapids. (Follow any road east from the city center, up the hill.) One of the largest urban historic districts in the country, Heritage Hill is home to 1,300 buildings dating from 1844.

Some of the largest and most luxurious homes in Heritage Hill were built for furniture industry leaders, including Stow-Davis Furniture Company founder George Davis (535 Fountain SE), Stickley Brothers Furniture Company-co founder Albert Stickley (60 Prospect NE) and Sligh Furniture’s Charles Sligh (31 Prospect SE). Check out the self-guided walking tour of Heritage Hill for more information and directions to these and 30+ additional buildings of note.

Black Heritage

The Grand Rapids African American Museum & Archives is a wonderful starting point for an exploration of local Black heritage. The Museum shares the history, culture, art and accomplishments of local African Americans through recorded oral histories, memorabilia, exhibits, pop-up displays and special events.

In 2026, GRAAMA opened in a new, much larger building in downtown Grand Rapids, expanding its capacity for exhibits, archives, programs and community events. You can easily spend an hour or two there before embarking on your self-guided walking tour.

Exit the Museum and turn left (north) on Sheldon Ave.. Cross Fulton St. and follow Sheldon to Library St. You’ll pass between the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum and Veterans Memorial Park on your way. HAS HEART Coffee Shop, located in a historic building on the grounds of the park, is a Black- and veteran-owned eatery offering a selection of beverages and baked goods.

Take a slight jog left (west) on Library St. and then head north on Library Place to Fountain St..

On the southeast corner is Fountain Street Church, which hosted Malcolm X on February 12, 1962, as part of the Great Speakers Lecture Series the church had hosted for decades. “Segregation, Separation and Integration” was the title of his speech. Fountain Stret Church has hosted other notable African Americans through the decades, including BB King, Angela Davis, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dick Gregory and Bayard Rustin.

Cross Fountain St. to a small park at the gateway to Grand Rapids Community College.  In the park is a statue of Helen Jackson Claytor, the first African American president of the Grand Rapids YWCA and first African American president of the national YWCA. This statue is part of the city’s Community Legends Project, an ongoing initiative to erect 25 larger-than-life bronze sculptures of notable figures in Grand Rapids history.

Go west several blocks on Fountain St., passing Division Ave. and Ionia Ave., until Fountain dead-ends at Ottawa Ave.. Make a short left to Monroe Center St.. One side of the street is lined with shops and restaurants and the other side is dominated by the Grand Rapids Art Museum, which regularly showcases Black art. Garden District, a block east of the Art Museum on Monroe Center, is a Black-owned business specializing in authentic Cajun and Creole cuisine – just in case you’re hungry.

Follow Monroe Center St west to Monroe Ave.. On your right, just past the Art Museum, you’ll see Rosa Parks Circle, a community gathering space named after the famed civil rights icon. In front of the park, at the intersection of Monroe Center and Monroe Ave., is a statue of Ms. Parks, who is depicted defiantly standing up in front of the bus seat that she famously refused to give up.

Now go north several block on Monroe Ave., passing Lyon St.. On the east side of Monroe, across from the entrance to DeVos Place Convention Center, is another of our Community Legends sculptures. A statue of Lyman Parks, the first African American mayor of Grand Rapids (serving from 1971-1976) stands in front of the City-County Administration Building.

Continue north on Monroe to cross Michigan St.. The building on the northeast corner is the Michigan State University Grand Rapids Research Center. Walk up the steps to the building and along the south side. You’ll encounter a statue of three women and two children. The women were instrumental to the development of the life-saving pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine in 1942. One of the women depicted is Loney Clinton Gordon, an African American woman who earned a chemistry degree from Michigan State University.

Head back south on Monroe, past Rosa Parks Circle to Louis St.. A few hundred feet east on Louis is a massive mural on an outer wall of Gimme’s Par & Grill. Titled Raining Wisdom, this elephant-themed mural was painted by African-born artist Abdoulaye Conde, who won the $125,000 Public Vote Grand Prize at ArtPrize 2023 for the work. (ArtPrize is the world’s most attended public art event, held in downtown Grand Rapids every fall.)

At the south end of the parking lot in front of Raining Wisdom is an alley dubbed Ethel B. Coe Way, in honor of the woman whose larger-than-life image is painted there. Ethel B. Coe was an activist, educator, performer and the first Black woman to run for public office in Grand Rapids. This mural is part of Women’s Way, an initiative celebrating local women by transforming often overlooked alleyways in their honor.

Continue east on Louis St. past Ottawa Ave. and Ionia Ave.. Just before the corner of Louis and Fulton is Harriet Woods Hill Way, a small alley off the side of the Grand Rapids Police Department Headquarters. Harriet Woods Hill was the first African American female officer and later, first female detective, in the GRPD.

Louis St. turns into Commerce Ave. as you cross Fulton St.. Head south one block to Weston St. and turn left (east). At the northeast corner of Weston Apartments (21 Weston St SW) is Dr. Ella Mary Sims Way. Born is a sharecropper’s cabin in the Mississippi Delta, Dr. Sims overcame adversity and tragedy early in life to bec0me a leading advocate for justice and equality in the Grand Rapids community.

You can now follow Weston St. east past Division Ave. to Sheldon Ave. and the Grand Rapids African American Museum & Archives. While this particular tour is done, there’s more Black heritage to explore in downtown GR. Take our self-guided Heartside Mural Tour, which includes tributes to Madame Bell, an African American herbalist of the early 1800s, the Grand Rapids Black Baseball League of the 1940s-50s and the American Legion Crispus Attucks Club, which featured entertainers like John Lee Hooker and Alberta Adams from 1989-2006. You might also be interested in our RAD Women Electrical Box Tour, whose 26 subjects include Angela Davis, Ella Baker, Florence Griffith Joyner, Odetta Holmes and Queen Bessie Coleman.

If you feel like venturing outside of the downtown area, you can take the self-guided Southtown mural tour, which includes 15+ murals created for the 49507 Project. This public art project was conceived to raise awareness about redlining and disinvestment in the city’s Southside neighborhoods, which are historically Black and Brown communities.

Need to rest and refuel during your tour? Check out these local Black-owned restaurants.

Beer Heritage

Grand Rapids has held the title of Beer City USA since 2012 – but the roots of the local craft brewing scene extend back to 1836 and the construction of a small, single-barrel brewery in what would one day become downtown Grand Rapids. The beer scene steadily expanded, dominated by German lager makers. By 1875, local breweries produced 16,000 barrels of beer annually, valued at 600,000 dollars.

When outside breweries began to distribute their products in the city, four local brewers joined together to combat the threat, and Grand Rapids Brewing Company was born in 1895. The taps went dry with the advent of Prohibition and never really recovered. Several breweries tried to make a go of it after Prohibition was repealed, but the last one closed in 1951, kicking off a 46-year dry spell for local beer lovers.

Read the story of Beer City to learn how Grand Rapids established its preeminence as a contemporary beer destination. Then hit the Beer City Ale Trail for yourself to see (and taste) how our legacy is being extended today at 35+area breweries. Pay special attention to the local breweries with interesting history and historic features. (And be sure to download the Beer City Brewsader® passport app, which enables you to earn a free t-shirt for visiting eight breweries.) You can also take guided beer tours that delve into local history and lore.

Agricultural Heritage

Did you know that one of the world’s finest fruit-growing regions is located right here in the Grand Rapids area? The Fruit Ridge is a unique topographical feature just 10 minutes north of the city center. It possesses a distinct micro-climate favorable to growing apples – and it produces nearly three-quarters of the apples grown in Michigan, one of the nation’s top three apple-harvesting states, plus plentiful crops of peaches, nectarines, pears, plums, strawberries, sweet cherries and more.

There’s also an abundance of family farms to the west and south of the city, growing a spectacular array of produce and raising a variety of livestock. (Michigan produces more than 300 commodities, making us the state with the second most diverse agriculture industry in the nation just behind California.)

Get the Fruit Ridge Country Market Guide for a roadmap to 30+ farm markets, orchards, greenhouses, attractions that offer fresh-picked and u-pick produce, live plants, fresh flowers, tours, hayrides and a whole host of fall harvest festivals and activities for all ages. While many markets are open only during the growing season, several welcome visitors year-round – including Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm and Robinette’s Apple Haus & Winery, both of which offer on-site dining and their own craft beverages in addition to lots of  farm fun.    

You can also get a taste of the local agricultural industry at the Fulton Street Farmers Market just two miles east of downtown GR. Local farmers (many from the Fruit Ridge) come here to offer their bounty. The Market operates in two 6-month seasons: a Main Season (May-October) that hosts Wednesday, Friday and Saturday markets from 8am-2pm; and a Second Season (November-April) that features a weekly market on Saturdays from 10am-1pm.

Established in 1922, Fulton Street is the oldest and largest of the area’s many farm markets.

Traveling with kids? There are a number of places to interact with farm animals – including Blandford Nature Center, Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park, Critter Barn, Deer Tracks Junction Adventure Park and John Ball Zoo. Blandford Nature Center also offers a wide range of hands-on experiences designed to help kids and adults connect with nature, all year long.