The Grand Rapids Public Museum, located on the bank of the Grand River in downtown

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

, is among the oldest

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

museums in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was founded in 1854 as the "Grand Rapids Lyceum of Natural History". The museum includes a

cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

, a

gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collec ...

, and a 1928 Spillman carousel, which is situated in a pavilion over the Grand River. A

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

#157

Band Organ A fairground organ (french: limonaire) is a French pneumatic musical organ covering the wind and percussive sections of an orchestra. Originated in Paris, France, it was designed for use in commercial fairground settings to provide loud musi ...

that plays 165 rolls provides the carousel's music. The Museum building also houses the

Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium The Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium, named for astronaut Roger B. Chaffee, was constructed in the early 1960s as part of the Public Museum of Grand Rapids. The facility initially featured a plaster dome and a Goto Optics mechanical star projector ...

. The current Pearl Street N.W. location, built in 1994, replaced the former

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

location on Jefferson Avenue S.E.; that building now serves as a high school and is connected to the GRPM Collections and the City of Grand Rapids Archives. The GRPM brings in a variety of traveling exhibitions annually ranging among topics related to science, history and culture.

Core exhibits

* Anishinabek: The People of This Place **The story of the Native American culture of West Michigan *The Streets of Old Grand Rapids **1890s-era three-quarters scale recreation of an allegorical Grand Rapids business district. *West Michigan Habitats **A look at both the ecosystems of Western Michigan along with the history of the museum as an interpreter of the natural world as well as a mounted skeleton of a

Mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

. *Collecting A through Z **This alphabet-linked exhibit provides a means to bring out artifacts from many of the museum's collections e.g. "D is for Dolls" *Newcomers: The People of This Place **Showcases the variety of ethnic groups that have contributed their unique imprints to the greater Grand Rapids community.

Voigt House Victorian Museum

Heritage Hill Voight House Victorian Museum grand rapics

The museum also maintains the Voigt House Victorian Home, located at 115 College Ave. SE. The Voigt House (built in 1896 & last furnished in 1907) was the residence of the Carl Voigt family for over 76 years. Donated to the Grand Rapids Foundation upon the death of the youngest child Ralph Voigt in 1971, the property came into the eventual possession of the museum. The Voigt house is a time capsule to the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, having never been remodeled by the family over the decades.

External links

Grand Rapids Public MuseumVoigt House Victorian Museum
{{authority control Museums in Grand Rapids, Michigan Education in Grand Rapids, Michigan Natural history museums in Michigan History museums in Michigan Native American museums in Michigan Museums established in 1854 1854 establishments in Michigan