The information I found of my hometown that I am including in my final (+ sources):
- Grand Rapids gets its name from the Grand River and the rapids that used to help the local furniture industry with the transport of logs.
- The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, founded in 1854, became the country’s longest north-south rail line when it provided passenger and freight services between Cincinnati, Ohio and the Straits of Mackinac, the waterway between Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsulas.
- All the way back in 1836, a man named William Haldene traveled from Ohio to Grand Rapids and opened one of the first furniture shops in the city, specializing in cabinets, but he also made chairs, beds, coffins, and tables.
- Grand Rapids became a village in 1838 and a city in 1850
- In the early 1900s flood walls were installed in the river to remove the rapids in order to help manage flooding.
- https://www.experiencegr.com/media/grand-rapids-fact-sheet/#:~:text=Grand%20Rapids%20gets%20its%20name,order%20to%20help%20manage%20flooding.
- https://www.experiencegr.com/plan-and-stay/about-grand-rapids/history-of-grand-rapids/
- https://www.britannica.com/place/Grand-Rapids-Michigan
- https://shuffleboardmccluretables.com/a-trip-through-time-grand-rapids-furniture-history/#:~:text=Origin&text=All%20the%20way%20back%20in,beds%2C%20coffins%2C%20and%20tables.
I have incorporated numbers in both my visual art project and research to help correlate which information inspired which aspect of my project.