Grand Rapids.
<1> City (2020 pop. 198,917), seat of Kent co., SW central
Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1850. The second largest city in the state,
it is a distribution, wholesale, and industrial center for an area that
yields fruit, dairy products, farm produce, gypsum, and gravel. Furniture
manufacturing (begun in 1859) remains important. Among the city's other
manufactures are appliances, electronic equipment, automotive parts,
aircraft and space navigation systems, and paper products. It has the Gerald
R. Ford Museum, art and furniture museums, a botanical garden, a symphony
orchestra, and an opera company. Also in Grand Rapids are Aquinas College,
Calvin College, and several seminaries. <2> City (2020 pop.
11,126), seat of Itasca co., NE Minn.; founded c. 1872. Located on the
Mississippi River, it was a logging center. A large paper mill operates
there. A gas pipe rupture in 1991 spilled approx. 1.7 million gallons of
oil into the area, the largest inland spill in the U.S. to date. The Forest
History Center is located there.
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