Wyoming is a city in
Kent County in the U.S. state of
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. The population was 76,501 at the
2020 census. Wyoming is the second most-populated community in the
Grand Rapids metropolitan area
The Grand Rapids metropolitan area is a triangular shaped Metro Triplex, in West Michigan, which fans out westward from the primary hub city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the other two metro hubs of Muskegon and Holland. The metropolitan area ...
and is bordered by
Grand Rapids
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 ...
on the northeast. After Grand Rapids, it is also the second most-populated city in
West Michigan
West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pe ...
.
The area was the second location in Kent County settled by European-Americans in 1832 on the edges of
Buck Creek and was organized as Wyoming Township in 1848 when it was set off from the northern half of
Byron Township. Through the 1800s and into the early 1900s, Wyoming served as a
rural area
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...
providing goods to Grand Rapids, though with the introduction of the
Grand Rapids, Holland and Chicago Railway
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
* Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist
* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
* Grand, Vosges, village and co ...
, the township experienced
suburbanization
Suburbanization is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence of the movement of households and businesses out of the city centers, low-density, peripheral urba ...
. After
Grandville separated from the township in 1933 and Wyoming experienced more growth with the opening of the
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
Stamping Division Plant, Wyoming was engaged in annexation conflicts with Grand Rapids and Grandville until the township became incorporated as the city of Wyoming in 1959.
After obtaining cityhood, Wyoming served as an entertainment and retail destination on the
28th Street corridor with the opening of
Rogers Plaza and
Studio 28. Into the 1980s, the quality of development in Wyoming began to falter and with the 1999 opening of
RiverTown Crossings
RiverTown Crossings is a two-story enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Grandville, Michigan. It has four anchors: Macy's, Kohl's, JCPenney, and Dick's Sporting Goods with two vacant anchors last occupied by Younkers and Sears.
History Desig ...
in Grandville, retail businesses in the city were upended. Development in Wyoming then shifted towards the southwest panhandle near RiverTown Crossings in the early 21st century and has continued in the area surrounding
Metro Health Hospital
University of Michigan Health-West, formerly known as Metro Health – University of Michigan Health, is a nonprofit health system affiliated with University of Michigan Health, with primary and specialty care services at 30 locations in West Mi ...
following its opening in 2007, though General Motors closed the stamping plant two years later in 2009. Since the mid-2010s, the city has focused on redeveloping its center on 28th Street with the 28 West project as well as the of former General Motors land, now known as Site 36.
History
Native American settlements
![Norton_Mound_Group_2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Norton_Mound_Group_2.jpg)
The
Norton Mound group was the center of a
Goodall focus Hopewellian culture in the area, from ca. 400 B.C. to A.D. 400, with the mounds probably being constructed in the first century AD.
Odawa
The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...
tribes were established in the area near present-day Wyoming, with the village of the
ogema Black Skin, natively known as Muck-i-ta-oska or Mukatasha, ranging from the southwest present-day Grand Rapids to the Grand River across from the Norton Mound group, with the mouth of the Black Skin Creek leading into the Grand River across from the mounds. Where what is now
Grandville, Michigan
Grandville is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 15,378 at the 2010 census.
Grandville is just southwest of the city of Grand Rapids and is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. It was first settled i ...
, a prairie existed west of Wyoming where up to ten native families under the ogema As-to-quet, who was friendly with early settlers in the area, held planting grounds.
Little Prairie settlement
In the late 1700s, French
fur traders
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
traversed the Grand River Valley.
Lucius Lyon
Lucius Lyon (February 26, 1800September 24, 1851) was a U.S. statesman from the state of Michigan. Along with Louis Campau, Lucius Lyon is remembered as one of the founding fathers of Grand Rapids, Michigan, the state's second-largest city. A D ...
, a Yankee Protestant, was contracted by the federal government to survey the Grand River Valley in the fall of 1830 and in the first quarter of 1831, the federal survey of the
Northwest Territory
The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...
reached the Grand River, setting the boundaries for Kent County, named after prominent New York jurist
James Kent James Kent may refer to:
*James Kent (jurist) (1763–1847), American jurist and legal scholar
* James Kent (composer) (1700–1776), English composer
*James Kent, better known as Perturbator, French electronic/synthwave musician
*James Tyler Kent ...
.
Lyon would also survey "Township Nº VI West, Range Nº XII North", which would become Wyoming. The area that is now the city of Wyoming was the second location settled by European-Americans in Kent County.
Robert Howlett, Luther Lincoln, Amos Gordon and Stephen Tucker were some of the first settlers in the fall of 1832.
Gordon left
Wayne County, Michigan
Wayne County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, the United States Census placed its population at 1,793,561, making it the 19th-most populous county in the United States. The county seat is Detroit. The coun ...
to arrive at the mission in Grand Rapids to build the first mill at Indian Mill Creek, later leading a scouting group of Howlett, Lincoln and Tucker in birch canoes down the Grand River in the summer of 1832. The group found a
Buck Creek emptying into the Grand, determining the creek was strong enough for a mill, with many of Wyoming's first settlers establishing themselves near the creek.
Lincoln built the first log shanty in the area in the fall of 1832 and began to prepare his plot with livestock and crops before the winter.
Lincoln and Tucker would stay at the mission through the winter; Tucker and Native Americans later constructed the first established house for his family in March 1833.
Lincoln's cabin, however, was built in close proximity to the Norton Mounds and was likely burned down by Odawa natives according to settler Roswell Britton. The first settlers had a successful harvest, constructing
gristmill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...
s and
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
s on Buck Creek a year in 1833 and by April 1834, a community called "Little Prairie" had been established.
On May 24, 1834, the first
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
was established at Little Prairie. In 1835, competing lumber mills on Buck Creek that supplied wood to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
– one owned by Albert and Joh Bull and the other by Nathanial Brown – starved the water flow to Gordon's mill, resulting with Gordon building a new mill on what is now the southwest corner of 44th Street and Burlingame Avenue. Through the 1800s, Wyoming would primarily remain an agricultural location and its development occurred near transportation routes in the region.
Byron Township (1836–1848)
The boundaries of Township 5 North, Range 12 West and Township 6 North, Range 12 West, surveyed by Lyon, were consolidated and designated to be organized as Byron Township in 1835 by the
Michigan Territorial Legislature. In late 1835, the first wedding occurred between Sylvester Hills and Harriet Burton.
The town was first organized as Byron Township on May 2, 1836, was called "Oakesville" as it was headquartered at the home of Charles H. Oakes, though when Oakes moved to the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...
, the name was changed to
Grandville.
It was this year that one of Wyoming's most notable pioneers, Justus Charles Rogers, established his homestead on what is now the southwest corner of
28th Street and Clyde Park Avenue.
A framed house was constructed by Rogers in the spring of 1836 and was expected to accept his wife upon their return, though the home was discovered destroyed by a tornado in September 1836 when they returned.
The following year in 1837, the launch of the
pole boat propelled by a
quant, the ''Cinderella'', was celebrated as a major development for the town.
The first story of what would become Rogers Mansion was then constructed in 1837, with the second story being finished in 1839.
For three weeks, settlers had to live without flour and late in the year, the first metal casting occurred at the Jame McCray foundry. In 1839, the township's final land patents south of the Grand River were issued for plots near the salt springs adjacent to the Norton Mounds and Section 16. Plaster Creek first powered plaster operations in the township in 1841 on land leased by Daniel Ball from De Garmo Jones. In May 1843, Gordon died in
Plainfield Township, Michigan.
Wyoming Township (1848–1959)
On April 3, 1848, the township of Byron divided in half during, with the name of Wyoming being used for the northern portion where the majority of the population was settled.
with many settling near
Buck Creek.
At the time of division, about 500 people lived in Wyoming while a little less than 200 lived in Byron.
The name came from the
Wyoming County, New York
Wyoming County is a county in the U.S. state of New York in the state's western area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,531. The county seat is Warsaw. The name is modified from a Lenape (Delaware) Native American word meaning "bro ...
from which the majority of the residents came during the first 16 years.
During the
Great Famine in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, Irish immigrants began to appear in Wyoming in 1849, with the Whalen family being among the first Irish families in the township. Michael Avenue is named after Michael Whalen. Dutch immigrants arrived in greater numbers and created
agricultural cooperative
An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity.
A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperati ...
s on smaller parcels of land, creating closed groups among themselves. In 1850, the population of Wyoming Township was counted at 543 people.
At the time, Dutch and Irish immigrants were
scapegoated for the prevalence of "Michigan ague", or
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
, which had begun affecting the area.
Fisher's Station
![Fisher's Station, Wyoming Township, 1876](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Fisher%27s_Station%2C_Wyoming_Township%2C_1876.png)
David Fisher arrived in Wyoming in 1857 and acquired land from Gordon's estate, replacing Gordon's old Buck Creek mill, which had burned down, and built a replacement. Fisher would then construct cabins along the west side of Burlingame Avenue which housed Fisher and the millers he employed. Operations for Fisher would expand further south on Buck Creek where he would extract lime and peat, later building a second mill on a plot of land he purchased from William Ferry in the southeast portion of the township. In 1869 a station on the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad was constructed and in 1870, Fisher had a town platted called "Fisher's Station", which would develop around the railroad station. A post office was constructed in 1871 and the area was platted in December 1873.
The population of Wyoming Township grew to 2,008 in 1874 while the population of Fisher's Station was 65 in 1888.
Fisher, along with his brother and business partner James, would retire in Grand Rapids and lived as wealthy men for the rest of their lives. During the township's early history, the then rural community would often produce agricultural goods and travel to Grand Rapids to sell their products.
Suburban growth
Gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...
mines in northeast Wyoming along Plaster Creek occurred for decades and became more refined in 1880 when the Alabastine Company acquired much of the gypsum, later opening the
Alabastine Mine in 1907. began to grow as a suburb of Grand Rapids in 1890 with the city's next major area of development occurring in the northeast section of the township closest to Grand Rapids
with much of the city's population moving southward in the early 1900s.
The City of Grand Rapids started annexing portions of the township and by 1891 had annexed one square mile () of the city from Division to Clyde Park and from Hall to Burton.
In 1902, the
Grand Rapids, Holland and Chicago Railway
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
* Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist
* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
* Grand, Vosges, village and co ...
promoted the creation of more plats in the Galewood, Urbandale and Burlingame (GUB) neighborhoods, with the railway providing transportation to downtown Grand Rapids in fifteen minutes.
From 1890 to 1906, thirty-two
plat
In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...
s were in the GUB neighborhoods with communities bordering Grand Rapids developing into suburban areas where
Dutch Americans
Dutch Americans ( nl, Nederlandse Amerikanen) are Americans of Dutch descent whose ancestors came from the Netherlands in the recent or distant past. Dutch settlement in the Americas started in 1613 with New Amsterdam, which was exchanged with ...
predominately resided.
In the GUB area, the
Christian Reformed Church expanded with its Dutch churchgoers. Another section of Wyoming was annexed by Grand Rapids in 1916 that involved half-mile from Burton to Alger and from Clyde Park to Division.
The growth of Wyoming saw the emergence of profitable businesses in Wyoming, including the
Leonard Refrigerator Company, the Pierre Marquette railroad car repair shop and gypsum mines. Gravel pits operated by Grand Rapids Gravel Company lined the western side of present-day Byron Center Avenue from
28th Street (then Beales Road) in the south to the north near Lamar Park – its nearby lakes being former pits – also provided jobs and gravel for roads in the expanding township. With the United States entering
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the federal government began construction of a
picric acid
Picric acid is an organic compound with the formula (O2N)3C6H2OH. Its IUPAC name is 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP). The name "picric" comes from el, πικρός (''pikros''), meaning "bitter", due to its bitter taste. It is one of the most acidic ...
on the west side of 44th Street and Clyde Park Avenue, employing thousands of people in the area and attracting others after rumors of an airplane factory on the site were spread, though construction would end following the
Armistice of 11 November 1918
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
. In the late 1910s and early 1920s in the GUB neighborhood,
Hackett and later
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...
automobiles were manufactured at a factory on Beverly and Burlingame Avenues.
Into the 1920s, Wyoming saw its population nearly triple, experiencing its period of largest growth, with city officials accustomed to rural affairs being overwhelmed with new developments, taking on tasks and issues as they occurred. Farmers in Wyoming began to sell their farms for development as prices for their produce declined, with farming families either assuming jobs in Grand Rapids or leaving the area. Since Wyoming did not have adequate
zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
regulations like neighboring Grand Rapids,
land speculators
In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.)
Many s ...
began the
plat
In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...
ting of small, cheap residential properties, especially the neighborhoods of Godwin Heights, Home Acres, Wyoming Park and along Division Avenue, with plat proposals occurring during every town meeting at the time.
Materials from the cancelled picric acid plant were taken and used to construct some of these cheap houses, which had tarpaper roofs and lacked basements. The construction of these affordable home developments in Wyoming provided a cheap workforce for Grand Rapids. Citizens already established in the Grand Rapids and Wyoming area deplored the new residents who moved to the Home Acres and Division corridor, referring to the area as "Shanty Town" and as a place of crime. White Protestants in Wyoming also prevented African Americans from residing in the township, engaging in
housing segregation
Housing segregation in the United States is the practice of denying African Americans and other minority groups equal access to housing through the process of misinformation, denial of realty and financing services, and racial steering. Housing ...
and
redlining
In the United States, redlining is a discriminatory practice in which services (financial and otherwise) are withheld from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as "hazardous" to investment; these neighborhoods have signif ...
, with some sales agreements explicitly stating that a property "shall never be occupied by a negro", extending such agreements to second parties, heirs and others. As a result of suburbanization the population of Wyoming had about 200% between 1920 and 1930, from 5,702 to 16,931 and the unorganized zoning of the township would cause issues for Wyoming throughout its future.
With Wyoming developing at such a rapid pace, the Grand Rapids city officials and affiliated business leaders attempted to deter the development of industry in Wyoming, fearing that Grand Rapids would lose skilled workers and wages would increase.
One major incident of Grand Rapids preventing industrial development in Wyoming occurred in the early-1920s when
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
attempted to purchase the unfinished picric acid factory that was being constructed during World War I.
Kendall Furniture quickly purchased the property before Ford could acquire the site, later selling the property to repay
back taxes
Back taxes is a term for taxes that were not completely paid when due. Typically, these are taxes that are owed from a previous year. Causes for back taxes include failure to pay taxes by the deadline, failure to correctly report one's income, or n ...
.
Great Depression and General Motors
As the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
affected the world's economy in the 1930s, Grand Rapids saw little industrial development as there was no demand for luxury furniture, the city's main economic product.
During the economic depression, the cheap furniture laborers residing in Wyoming were laid off and at least twenty-five percent of citizens were unemployed.
Wyoming teachers took a 45% pay cut and children had to share textbooks in school. A poor fund was established in 1931, though by September 1932, the $44,000 collected – the – was insufficient for the project. Small construction projects by the township provided some funds for residents, though they were only temporary measures, with tax deadline extensions from the township becoming common throughout the Great Depression as individuals could not afford to pay taxes. By mid-1933, about 20% of Wyoming's workforce was unemployed.
During the depression, many residents of Wyoming grew disillusioned with the existing unchecked
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
,
small government
Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice ver ...
practices and the
laissez-faire
''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...
economic system that relied on local governments, churches and charities to provide to care for citizens. When President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
introduced the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
and federal
social welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...
programs – including the
Civil Works Administration
The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a short-lived job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression in the United States to rapidly create mostly manual-labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers. The jobs were ...
,
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...
and
Federal Emergency Relief Administration
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a program established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, building on the Hoover administration's Emergency Relief and Construction Act. It was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progress Adm ...
– to the United States, city residents strongly approved of these actions by his government. It was reported that men in Wyoming were grateful and wept when they were told that they would have a job for the first time in years as a result of Roosevelt's welfare programs. Roosevelt's program helped Wyoming pay workers to construct new bridges, parks, roads, schools and sewers, with Ideal Park, Johnson Park and the first township office being constructed with federal funding.
Former
Mayor of Grand Rapids
This is a list of mayors of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The current mayor is Rosalynn Bliss, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2016.
References
{{Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat ...
George P. Tilma was elected supervisor of Wyoming Township in 1932 and was tasked with modernizing the developing suburban community from a rural town system. In 1933, Grandville was separated from Wyoming and was established as its own city. In the winter of 1933, Tilma was also able to circumvent the
Emergency Banking Act
__NOTOC__
The Emergency Banking Act (EBA) (the official title of which was the Emergency Banking Relief Act), Public Law 73-1, 48 Stat. 1 (March 9, 1933), was an act passed by the United States Congress in March 1933 in an attempt to stabilize th ...
in a technically act to purchase 555 tons of coal that was distributed to the poor to heat their homes.
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
sought to construct a new facility in Grand Rapids, though there were no areas for development or future expansions, so the cities of Grand Rapids and Wyoming collaborated to have General Motors purchase land in Wyoming while Grand Rapids supplied utilities to the site.
Tilma's expertise was instrumental in both secretly negotiating with Grand Rapids on utility work and with obtaining approval of the site by General Motors.
The General Motors plant began construction on January 22, 1936 and Roosevelt's New Deal funding helped construct the sewer and water system for the factory.
The first enrollment date for employees on April 6, 1936, saw a line of workers spanning nearly from the factory's entrance west of Buchanan Avenue and 36th Street, east to Division Avenue and then north to 28th Street, with the first metal stamps were shipped from the factory on June 1, 1936.
Following the construction of the General Motors stamping plant, development on Division Avenue increased extensively, with a new
Kelloggsville High School being opened in September 1936 and a new
Godwin Heights High School being approved in January 1937.
Supervisor Tilma died suddenly in his office in April 1937 with his death being attributed to an
intracerebral hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into Intraparenchymal hemorrhage, the tissues of the brain, into its Intraventricular hemor ...
.
As World War II began,
Reynolds Metals
Reynolds Group Holdings is a New Zealand based packaging company with roots in the former Reynolds Metals Company, which was the second-largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third-largest in the world. Reynolds Metals was acquire ...
opened a plant in the township that was initially to develop airplane material in 1942.
Post-war growth, push towards cityhood
Following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Wyoming developed so rapidly that
mobile home
A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Us ...
s began to appear on vacant properties throughout the city, with an ordinance being passed in 1947 to prevent this.
In 1946, General Motors Diesel Equipment Division , which was later known as
Delphi Automotive
Aptiv PLC is an Irish-American automotive technology supplier with headquarters in Dublin. Aptiv grew out of the now-defunct American company, Delphi Automotive Systems, which itself was formerly a component of General Motors.
History
The com ...
and today known as
GM Components Holdings
GM Components Holdings is an automotive components producer and distributor based in the United States. It is a subsidiary of General Motors. GMCH was created in 2009 as a result of the bankruptcy filings of both Delphi Corporation and General ...
, began operations in an area of that was former swampland which was drained for a
muck farm.
As Wyoming moved towards cityhood, the township purchased of land from Judy Devine in December 1947 on the northeast corner of 28th Street and DeHoop Avenue, establishing the area as the town center of Wyoming due to the increased development on 28th Street.
A year later in 1948, Lake Alexander was drained and converted into what is now Jackson Park.
In May 1948, a committee was created by the township which recommended incorporating Wyoming into a city.
As Wyoming pursued incorporation, Grand Rapids increased annexation attempts, with the annexation of GUB being defeated in April 1949.
The 1950s was the decade of Wyoming's fastest development, with homes developing so quickly that the township experienced difficulties providing proper utilities to homes.
Multiple wells were drilled throughout the area to provide water to the developing community after the water supply from Grand Rapids was discontinued, temporarily sparking political controversy surrounding water supplies.
The township board approved of a route for
U.S. Route 131
US Highway 131 (US 131) is a north–south United States Highway, of which all but 0.64 of its 269.96 miles (1.03 of 434.46 km) are within the state of Michigan. The highway starts in rural Indiana south of the state line as a sta ...
through Wyoming in July 1952 and 28th Street was widened from two to four lanes shortly after.
In August 1956, a vote for incorporation into a city was narrowly defeated and the Ivanrest area was annexed by Grandville.
Rogers Department Store, one of the largest department stores in Michigan at the time, opened on 28th Street in 1955.
On November 6, 1958, voters approved the incorporation of Wyoming into a city.
City of Wyoming (1959–present)
Entertainment and retail destination
In the 1960s, the city was able to launch several projects. The first was a sewage plant to take care of issues from the state in regards to dumping it in the Buck Creek and
Grand River. The next was the completion of the Water Plant in
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
with a pipeline to the city.
New developments occurred over the decade on 28th Street, with free vehicle parking drawing some shoppers away from Grand Rapids.
One major project was
Rogers Plaza, which opened in August 1961 as the first indoor
shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
in Michigan and one of the first in the United States, including stores such as
S. S. Kresge,
W. T. Grant
W. T. Grant or Grants was a United States-based chain of mass-merchandise stores founded by William Thomas Grant that operated from 1906 until 1976. The stores were generally of the variety store format located in downtowns.
History
In 1906 the ...
,
Kroger
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincin ...
,
A&P,
Cunningham Drug and
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...
.
The neighboring Wyoming Village Mall opened later in 1961 and was anchored by Wurzburg's.
Flowerland Fruitbasket also opened in 1961 providing lawn care tools, flowers and outdoor furniture for the developing suburban homes.
Gordon Food Service
Gordon Food Service (GFS) is a foodservice distributor based in Wyoming, Michigan serving the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest regions of the United States and coast-to-coast in Canada. It also operates stores in Florida, Illinois, I ...
moved from Grand Rapids to Wyoming in 1962.
Three annexation attempts by Grand Rapids were also defeated in that year; the
Kent County Airport, the Blackburn neighborhood and Buchanan neighborhood.
Studio 28 opened on the 28th Street corridor in 1965 and expanded in size over decades into the world's first
multiplex
Multiplex may refer to:
* Multiplex (automobile), a former American car make
* Multiplex (comics), a DC comic book supervillain
* Multiplex (company), a global contracting and development company
* Multiplex (assay), a biological assay which measu ...
and the largest multiplex in the world in 1988. In July 1966, the Lake Michigan pipeline to Wyoming began to supply water to the city, a major accomplishment after years of difficulties with low-quality wells.
By the end of the decade, the city faced fund shortages and multiple income tax proposals were turned down.
Wyoming began to establish many municipal facilities in the 1970s, including a public works building, a centralized fire station, a combined Police-Justice building and a new public library.
By the 1980s, the city became concerned about the quality of developments, with adult bookstores and
massage parlors
A massage parlor (American English) or massage parlour (Canadian/British English) is a place where massage services are provided for a fee. In the 19th century, the term began to be used in English as a euphemism for a brothel.
Context
In 189 ...
appearing.
In 1990, Reynolds Metals closed their operations in the city.
Great Recession and redevelopment
After over a decade of negotiations with the City of Grandville, including a promise by the developer to not build into Wyoming,
Rivertown Crossings Mall
RiverTown Crossings is a two-story enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Grandville, Michigan. It has four anchors: Macy's, Kohl's, JCPenney, and Dick's Sporting Goods with two vacant anchors last occupied by Younkers and Sears.
History Desig ...
opened in 1999 near the southwest border of Wyoming, many commercial tenants left the 28th Street corridor.
In response, Wyoming unveiled a redevelopment plan for their city center that they hoped would revitalize businesses on the 28th Street corridor.
For Rogers Plaza, the exterior was remodel and the former Montgomery Ward anchor store was demolished and replaced with a
Family Fare
Family Fare is an American supermarket chain. A division of SpartanNash, it has operated stores in Michigan since 1966, and also operates in North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
History
The first Family Fare store ...
supermarket.
A street was also planned to stretch from Rogers Plaza across Michael Avenue to Wyoming Village mall and further down to Studio 28, with commercial and apartment developments anticipated.
The owners of Wyoming Village Mall ultimately disagreed with plans to tear down a portion of their building to develop the street.
In October 2003, the Delphi Automotive plant on Burlingame Avenue and Burton Street notified neighbors in the area that
vinyl chloride
Vinyl chloride is an organochloride with the formula H2C=CHCl. It is also called vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) or chloroethene. This colorless compound is an important industrial chemical chiefly used to produce the polymer polyvinyl chloride (PVC ...
had spread to the groundwater about to the north following the plant's use of
trichloroethylene
The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a halocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is a clear, colourless non-flammable liquid with a chloroform-like sweet smell. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, ...
as a degreaser, with traces of the chemical detected since the 1980s.
The once-popular Rogers Department Store closed in 2003.
More business was lost in the late-2000s into the 2010s during
the great recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...
, with the GM Fisher Body Plant closing in 2009 due to budget cuts by
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
. Much of the commercial atmosphere of 28th Street also dwindled down, with Studio 28 closing in 2008 and vacancy rates up to nearly 40% in 2011.
In the mid-2010s, development spread to southern Wyoming.
Gordon Foods expanded its headquarters in 2012 and development occurred near the recently built Metro Health Hospital. The 28 West plan was also initiated to make 28th Street a more pedestrian-friendly corridor while also centralizing the development of food, retail and entertainment projects in the city's center, effectively creating a downtown area.
28 West Place Street, a street similar to Wyoming's 2002 proposal, was approved by the city and Wyoming Mall's owners in 2016, opening to the public in October 2017. In 2019, Magnus Capital Partners was approved to construct apartments, named HOM Flats at 28 West, with the first residents moving into their homes in early 2020.
In 2022, Franklin Partners purchased the former land of the General Motors plant, known as Site 36, from the City of Wyoming for $5.25 million and was in development discussions with four local companies and a few entities based outside of Michigan.
Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.88%) is water.
The city is situated southwest of Grand Rapids and south of the
Grand River.
Buck Creek spans across the city and created a valley of dark
loam
Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...
soil that was used for historically used for farming, while elevated land above the valley is dense clay soil.
In the northern area of Wyoming just south of the Grand River, pockets of gravel and gypsum also exist. Some areas in Wyoming had
cavern
A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...
s and
sinkhole
A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...
s in the past, possibly created by water pockets eroding
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
and
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
, though most of these features have likely collapsed due to their volatility.
Major highways
* runs along the northwestern edge of the city.
* passes briefly though the northwest corner of the city.
* runs north–south though the center of the city.
* runs along a small portion of the southern edge of the city.
* runs west–east through the center of the city.
Climate
Economy
As of the 2000 census, there are presently 10 types of industries in the city. Manufacturing accounts for 30%, retail 16%, education, health, and social services 15%, with the next five industries accounting for 6%, and transportation, warehousing, utilities accounting for 3% of business in the city. The manufacturing segment is unique in that it is the largest in West Michigan. It currently produces auto parts, industrial machinery, commercial printing, plastics, food processing, electronics, tool and dies, concrete supplies, and fire engines.
After Grandville allowed development of a new 6-anchor shopping complex, Rivertown Crossings Mall, and the related development, many major retail businesses in Wyoming folded, including long-standing Roger's Department Store, its successor, and most tenants of
Rogers Plaza. The city of Wyoming formed a Downtown Development Authority in an effort to help support the city in keeping businesses in the area in 1999.
In the 2000s, plans were being made to revitalize the 28th Street corridor.
In 2013, the City of Wyoming introduced the 28 West plan, a plan to develop downtown Wyoming along 28th Street into a more pedestrian friendly environment that will provide food, retail and entertainment.
In June 2016, plans began moving forward on the 28 West plan with the demolishing of part of the Wyoming Village Mall and the creation of a new road through the surrounding parking lots to attract developers.
Largest employers
![Metro Health Hospital](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Metro_Health_Hospital.jpg)
According to the city's 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the largest employers in the city are:
Arts and culture
![Metro_Cruise_2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Metro_Cruise_2022.jpg)
The city has 21 parks that cover about which offer a multitude of activities.
The parks department has been active in the past decade in redeveloping the parks in the city. Many parks have been rebuilt which included adding new equipment, splash pads, and facilities. They have also added a few new facilities including a small skateboard park near one of the highest densities of the city. The city also offers a Senior Center that provides activities for the older citizens of the city and the region as a whole.
Along with the parks is the
Kent Trails system that converted abandoned rail lines to bike paths. It is a collaborative effort between multiple local governments.
The most recent addition to the Wyoming Park System is the Dog Park located next to Marquette Park at the very northern edge of the city. It is a privately funded park with access controls to restrict usage to registered members.
In 2002, the new Wyoming Public Library was built and is owned by the city but run by the
Kent District Library
The Kent District Library is a public library system located in Kent County, Michigan. With twenty branch locations and an annual circulation of more than 8.2 million items ''(2016 circulation data)'', the Kent District Library is one of the larg ...
System. It is a facility with over 112,046 items. The library branch is also the highest attended in the Kent District system with 670,842 items checked out and 439,599 visits in 2009. The library currently has around 76% of the population holding a card to use the facility.
The building houses the Wyoming Historical Commission that provides history of the city.
Along with Historical Commission room, it houses the library for the blind and an art gallery.
Starting in 2005, the Wyoming-Kentwood Chamber of Commerce put together the
28th Street Metro Cruise that draws in automobile enthusiasts from the region. It currently spans from its start in Grandville at Wilson and 28th where drivers gather and drive to the cruise's end in Cascade Township. The cruise runs on Friday and Saturday on the last weekend of August.
Religion
Christian Reformed
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
Dutch settlers established the first churches in Wyoming, with Grandville Avenue Christian Reformed Church being founded in 1891, with the church now being part of The Potter's House school.
Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church was created in 1908, serving as the place of worship for
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
s in Wyoming.
The
episcopal population established the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church at an old chicken coop in 1957.
The
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...
established a church in 1929 and moved to their current location on 44th Street in 1977, with the facility being able to seat 1,400 people.
Demographics
2020 census
''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.''
2010 census
As of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of 2010, there were 72,125 people, 26,970 households, and 18,128 families residing in the city. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was . There were 28,983 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 75.8%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 7.2%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.6%
Native American, 2.8%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 9.6% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 3.8% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 19.4% of the population.
There were 26,970 households, of which 37.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 14.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 32.8% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.22.
The median age in the city was 32.1 years. 27.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.9% were from 25 to 44; 23.5% were from 45 to 64; and 9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.3% male and 50.7% female.
2000 census
As of the census
of 2000, there were 69,368 people, 26,536 households, and 17,540 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,840.1 per square mile (1,096.8/km
2). There were 27,506 housing units at an average density of 1,126.2 per square mile (434.9/km
2). The racial makeup of the city was 84.32%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 4.85%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.59%
Native American, 2.92%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.04%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 4.70% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.59% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 9.66% of the population.
There were 26,536 households, out of which 35.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.6% were married couples living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.19.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 28.0% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 33.7% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $43,164, and the median income for a family was $50,002. Males had a median income of $35,772 versus $25,482 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,287. About 5.1% of families and 7.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.8% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.
Government
![Wyoming, Michigan City Hall and District Court](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Wyoming%2C_Michigan_City_Hall_and_District_Court.jpg)
The city has a
council-manager government with both an elected mayor and an appointed city manager. Currently, Jack Poll serves as Wyoming's mayor after defeating former council member Roger Haynes in 2009. The city council is composed of six members: three at-large and a representative from each of the three wards. The current council members are: Kent Vanderwood, John Fitzgerald, Sam Bolt (mayor pro-tem), Sheldon DeKryger (1st Ward), Marissa Postler (2nd Ward), and Rob Postema (3rd Ward). Meetings are held at the City Hall on the first and third Mondays of every month. Work sessions are held the second Monday of each month.
Politics
The first documentation of political parties in Wyoming was during the
1894 United States elections, with the majority of votes in the city supporting the
Republican Party.
Wyoming used a
caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...
election system that was frequently plagued with
ballot stuffing
Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...
until the township switched to a
primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
system in 1928.
Republican support was strong in Wyoming until the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
when
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
candidate
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
was elected
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
in the
1932 United States presidential election
The 1932 United States presidential election was the 37th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1932. The election took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover w ...
.
Prior to this, only Republican candidates would run for office in Wyoming, though in 1933 elections, members of the
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
and Democrats entered as candidates, with one Democrat being elected into local office.
The Communist Party would make its last run for local office in 1935. In 1937, voters in then Wyoming Township elected its first Democratic supervisor, Herman Wierenga.
In Wyoming's 1954 elections, citizens voted Democrats into every office, with the Democratic Party maintaining a strong position in the city since then.
Following the
2020 United States presidential election
The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...
,
MLive
MLive Media Group, originally known as Booth Newspapers, or Booth Michigan, is a media group that produces newspapers in the state of Michigan. Founded by George Gough Booth with his two brothers, Booth Newspapers was sold to Advance Publication ...
reported in 2022 that mayor-elect Kent Vanderwood was included among a Michigan contingent of Republicans allegedly involved in the
Trump fake electors plot
The Trump fake electors plot involved a scheme devised after the 2020 United States presidential election by former president Donald Trump and his allies in seven key states to create and submit fraudulent certificates of ascertainment that fa ...
, reportedly organized as one of the
in favor of incumbent President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
.
Public safety
![Wyoming Police Department - Michigan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Wyoming_Police_Department_-_Michigan.jpg)
On September 30, 2007,
Metro Health Hospital
University of Michigan Health-West, formerly known as Metro Health – University of Michigan Health, is a nonprofit health system affiliated with University of Michigan Health, with primary and specialty care services at 30 locations in West Mi ...
moved from southeast Grand Rapids to its current location on the south central section of Wyoming.
Spectrum Health
Spectrum Health System, commonly known as Spectrum Health, is a not-for-profit, integrated, managed care health care organization based in West Michigan.
Spectrum Health's subsidiaries include hospitals, treatment facilities, urgent care facilit ...
and St. Mary's also have urgent care centers located in Wyoming with their hospitals located in downtown Grand Rapids.
The
Wyoming Police Department has over eighty sworn police officers serving as of 2013.
In 2014, Wyoming Police Department and Wyoming Fire Department amalgamated their administrative offices into the Police Headquarters building, creating the new entity of Wyoming Department of Public Safety.
Education
![Wyoming High School](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Wyoming_High_School.jpg)
Currently the city is served by 8 school districts. In the southwest panhandle is served by
Grandville Public Schools, the south extension of the city by Metro Health is served by
Byron Center Public Schools, the central part is served by
Wyoming Public Schools
Wyoming Public Schools is a school district located in Wyoming, Michigan. The district serves 4,500 students
It contains one high school, two middle schools, four elementary schools, one preschool, and one alternative program.
On March 12, 20 ...
, the southeast is served by
Kelloggsville Public Schools, the area south of 56th St and East of the railroad tracks is served by
Kentwood Public Schools, a small annexed section by Hall St and Freeman Ave is served by
Grand Rapids Public Schools
The Grand Rapids Public Schools is a public school district serving Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) is Michigan's eight largest public school district. It is also the third-largest employer in the City of Grand Rapids ...
, the northeast is served by
Godwin Heights Public Schools, and finally the northern section of the city is served by
Godfrey-Lee Public Schools.
Of the eight districts only 4—Grandville Public Schools—does not have the majority of the buildings in the city. Grand Rapids Public Schools, Kentwood Public Schools and Byron Center Public Schools do not have any schools in the City of Wyoming. The remaining have 13 elementary schools, 3 out of 13 middle schools, 4 out of 8 high schools, with Godfrey-Lee providing a combination middle high school in the city.
The Potter's House
The Potter's House Christian Fellowship is a Pentecostal church based in the United States of America. It was established in Prescott, Arizona in 1970 by Wayman Mitchell. Originally a part of the Foursquare church, Mitchell split the church awa ...
, a Christian K-12 school, maintains its high school campus in Wyoming. Holy Trinity Lutheran School is a Pre-K-8 grade school of the
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee ...
in Wyoming.
The city is also served for college by
Grand Rapids Community College
Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) is a public community college in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
History
Grand Rapids Junior College was established on September 21, 1914, after University of Michigan faculty passed a resolution encouraging the ...
in downtown Grand Rapids. In
Allendale, northwest of the city, is
Grand Valley State University
Grand Valley State University (GVSU, GV, or Grand Valley) is a public university in Allendale, Michigan. It was established in 1960 as Grand Valley State College. Its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids. The universit ...
. Further universities can be found in Lansing, Big Rapids, and Kalamazoo. Also located in the immediate area is
Hope College
Hope College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Holland, Michigan. It was originally opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled. The first freshman college class matricul ...
in Holland,
Davenport University
Davenport University is a private university with campuses throughout Michigan and online. It was founded in 1866 by Conrad Swensburg and currently offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees; diplomas; and post-grad certification progra ...
in
Caledonia Township,
Calvin College
Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1876, Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reformed (Calvinist) ...
on the east side of Grand Rapids,
Aquinas College also on the east side of Grand Rapids,
Cornerstone University
Cornerstone University is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Cornerstone University has undergraduate and graduate programs, two seminaries (Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and Asia Biblical Theological Seminary based in ...
on the northeast side of Grand Rapids, along with
Grace Bible College Grace Bible College may refer to:
* Grace Christian University, known from 1961 to 2018 as "Grace Bible College"
* Grace Bible College (India)
* Ernest Angley's Online Bible College, formerly known as "Grace Bible College"
* Grace Bible College (K ...
in the city as well. The
Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
located in 4949 West Ivanrest Ave Wyoming, Michigan.
Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary website
prca.org; accessed December 23, 2014.
Infrastructure
Public transit
The city is part of the Grand Rapids-based Interurban Transit Partnership, called the Rapid. It currently runs Routes 1, 3, 8, 10, 16, 24, 28, and 44 in the city; that is 8 out of the 26 routes. Currently the U.S. Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
is funding a good portion of a new transit system for the area. It will run along Division Avenue on the east side of the city from its southernmost point to the downtown. It is a bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
system with only 5 projected stations on the route inside of the city. The new line will be run by the Rapid.
Utilities
Currently the city provides water and sewer to the majority of the citizens. Electricity is supplied by Consumers Energy with natural gas nominally supplied by DTE Energy. Garbage service is supplied by individual contractors to home owners and by law they are required to use the county incinerator although the city does provide a yard waste drop off center. For both phone and cable service is supported by both AT&T and Comcast. Cell phones carriers are on the whole fully supported with a number of towers.
Notable people
* Chris Kaman
Christopher Zane Kaman (born April 28, 1982) is a German-American former professional basketball player. Kaman stands 7'0" (2.13 m) and played the Center (basketball), center position. He was selected sixth overall in the first round of the 2003 ...
, professional basketball player
* Buster Mathis, professional boxer
* Buster Mathis Jr., professional boxer
* Drew Neitzel
Drew Neitzel (born May 7, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player.
Basketball career
High school
Neitzel attended Wyoming Park High School in Wyoming, Michigan. He holds the school career records for points (2,462) and assi ...
, professional basketball player
References
Bibliography
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External links
City of Wyoming official website
{{Authority control
Cities in Kent County, Michigan
Grand Rapids metropolitan area
1848 establishments in Michigan
Populated places established in 1848