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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan.
Official Website
A historic furniture-manufacturing center, Grand Rapids is home to five of the world's leading office furniture companies, and is nicknamed "Furniture City". Other nicknames include "River City" and more recently, "Beer City" (the latter given by USA Today and adopted by the city as a brand). The city and surrounding communities are economically diverse, based in the health care, information technology, automotive, aviation, and consumer goods manufacturing industries, among others.
Grand Rapids was an early center for the automobile industry, as the Austin Automobile Company operated there from 1901 until 1921. In 1945, it became the first city in the United States to add fluoride to its drinking water.
Grand Rapids is the childhood home of U.S. President Gerald Ford, who is buried with his wife Betty Ford on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in the city. The city's main airport and one of its freeways are also named after him.
Cemeteries
Links
Grand Rapids Historical Society
The Meyer May House built by Frank Lloyd Wright
