Happy Birthday Grand Rivers!

On Monday of this week I found a paper by Mike Grimes on the History of Grand Rivers. The paper outlined the development of our little town by the Grand Rivers Company. The Grand Rivers Company was a group of investors from Boston and Nashville that saw huge potential in this area for profits in iron ore. This group developed a prospectus that outlined the potential and the plans for the development of a great city. Mike’s paper noted that the Grand Rivers city government was organized on April 8, 1890. It is kinda weird that I would read this paper on our birthday week.

I read part of the Grand Rivers Company prospectus and it seems like our founding fathers have a lot in common with our citizens today; they dreamed big and saw huge potential in Grand Rivers. Here is the closing summary paragraph from the prospectus:

“No enterprise was ever commenced under brighter auspices or with a more favorable promise of success. There is an assurance in every feature of it which commends itself to the judgment of all, of the grand results that must attend it and the feasibility of their accomplishment. The mines are there with their inexhaustible wealth, the rivers are there with their wonderful adaptability to commerce, the great West is there with its demand for cheaper and more reliable supplies of iron and coal, capital is there for carrying out its plans, and energetic action is there to bring all together in a unity that shall make the city of Grand Rivers a phenomenal success.”

I love it. Happy Birthday Grand Rivers. I hope I look as good at 118 years old.