Search Constraints
Search Results
- Notes:
- Professor Conrad G. Swensberg (1835-1897) came to Grand Rapids in 1866 and founded the Grand Rapids Commercial College, also known as Grand Rapids Business College, which later became Davenport University. He taught at the school for over twenty years. He later was the owner and publisher/editor of the Telegram-Herald newspaper. In addition, he was the president of the Valley City Milling company, a founder of the Phoenix Furniture Company, a founder of the Aldine Manufacturing Company, a director of the Grand Rapids Savings Bank, and director of the Grand Rapids Street Railway Company. He was also an organizer of the local Y.M.C.A. and helped to establish the city's first free library.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Notes:
- Martin L. Sweet came to Grand Rapids in 1846 and soon after built a flour mill, the Grand Rapids City mills. In 1860 he became mayor of Grand Rapids. And in 1868 he sold his mill and built the Sweet's Hotel, which stood on the site of the Pantlind Hotel and now the Amway Grand at the northwest corner of Pearl and Monroe. He was also involved in banking and the lumber business.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Notes:
- Portrait of Dean Smith, signed and dated October 28, 1944. Smith was a foreign manager of Standard Oil in Burma. During World War II he and his family were forced to leave and escaped into India with the British Army.
- Date Created:
- 1944-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Notes:
- William J. Sproat was a newspaperman and the founder of the Morning Press, which later became the Evening Press and later the Grand Rapids Press. Prior to founding the Morning Press in 1890, he was the city editor for the Telegram, and earlier had worked for the Democrat.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Notes:
- Head and shoulders shot of Herman Nyhuis, owner of a beauty salon and a distributor of beauty products
- Data Provider:
- Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Notes:
- Portrait of Robert W. Irwin (1889-1953), prominent businessman in the Grand Rapids furniture industry. Irwin began his career in 1889 at the Grand Rapids School Furniture Company where he quickly rose to superintendent of the plant. In 1900 he left to purchase the Royal Furniture Company, along with A. W. Hompe and Ralph Tietsort. By 1911 he, along with several others, purchased and reorganized the Phoenix Furniture Company. He later acquired full control of Phoenix Furniture and consolidated it with Royal Furniture and formed the Robert W. Irwin Company in 1919, where he served as President until his retirement in 1951.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Notes:
- Ralph P. Tietsort was an executive in the furniture industry. Tietsort, Robert W. Irwin, and A. W. Hompe purchased the Royal Furniture Company in 1900. And in 1911, Tietsort, Irwin, and several others purchased the Phoenix Furniture Company.
- Data Provider:
- Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Notes:
- Portrait of Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel, co-founders of Amway, now Alticor, Inc.
- Date Created:
- 1950-11-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)