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In 1922, Leo Robinson and Don Gildersleeve opened a radio supply store on Diamond Ave to bring, nearly non-existent, home radio to Grand Rapids. It took Robinson and Gildersleeve two years of hard work to create a radio station on par with other, larger cities. WEBK was formed in 1924 to broadcast shows from other cities. A year later, WEBK was on the air full time. In 1926, the WEBK call-letters were changed to WOOD. 

The history of the landmark fire bell that called Grand Rapids' first volunteer fire department.    

Solomon Withey and his son Orison experiment with the local materials in creating the city's first brick.    

Newspaperman Arthur S. White reflects on his first impressions of Grand Rapids.    

The wild side of early Grand Rapids life.    

The trials of Grand Rapids' early medical practitioners.    

Glance at the Past examines the genesis of our GR Public Museum and an early patron, George Wickwire Smith.    

Information on the first two professional artists in Grand Rapids history: Marinus Harting (born 1815) and A.J. Conant    

Soccer is nothing new in Grand Rapids high schools, as Glance at the Past reports.    

Economic collapse hits Grand Rapids in 1933.    

George Pattison founded the Grand River Times in 1837.    

At the turn of the 20th Century, cigar smoking far surpassed all other forms of tobacco among Grand Rapidians.    

The first public farmers' markets come to Grand Rapids, including our great Fulton Street location.    

The influence of Paul Goebel, Sr., landscape designer, and sons    

The stories of two early Grand Rapids women politicians: Harriet Cook and Alde L. T. Blake.   

James Moran (1832-1886), first Grand Rapids, Michigan, chief of police    

Two notorious arsonists exacerbate Grand Rapids' fire problem.    

Civil War soldiers are greeted with a lavish banquet upon their return to Grand Rapids.    

A celebrity guest attends the laying of the Federal Building cornerstone.    

The history of Grand Rapids' early burial plot.