Sunday Morning Townsquare – March 17 2013

This week on Sunday Morning Townsquare, Paul speaks with:

• Jim Winslow, Grand Rapids Historian
• Christopher Reader, Grand Rapids Historian
  

Thanks for listening!

I'm joined by Grand Rapids historians Jim Winslow and Christopher Reader. We chat about what sparked their interest in the history of our city, some of our early prominent settlers, what was attractive about the river to the settlers, how and why the layout of downtown has changed over many, many years, some of those who laid the groundwork for Grand Rapids becoming a furniture city, some of Jim and Christopher's favorite Grand Rapids historical figures, Jim's work on the committee to research and write the history of Fulton Street Cemetery, Christopher's involvement chairing the project to renovate Monument Park on Monroe Center and Veteran's Memorial Park on Fulton, history of Alexander Calder's La Grande Vitesse, some of the historic downtown architecture they each connect with and the back story on it, a little bit of scandalous and unknown history of our city, and more…….

You can check out Jim's blog that covers the Powers family, John Ball and Grand Rapids history at http://powersbehindgr.wordpress.com/powers-theatre/

LISTEN:

PART 1

PART 2

DOWNLOAD:

GRHistory_Part1    GRHistory_Part2

I do hope you'll have a chance to tune in! I'm really looking forward to introducing you to folks around West Michigan every week who are helping to positively shape our area with their music, their art, their bold business ideas, and the causes they're passionate about!

~Paul Jendrasiak