Courthouse Square

Courthouse Square. . , On November 8, 1833, four years before Michigan became a state, three commissioners appointed by Territorial Governor George B. Porter designated this square as the seat of justice for Kent County. Five years later, with its population grown to more than 2,000, Kent County constructed its first courthouse on the square. , Capped by a cupola and a gilt ball, the 30x40-foot, two-story frame courthouse, built in the center of the square at a cost of $3,000, was the town's most prominent building until a fire burned it to the ground on July 12, 1844. Its replacement was a more modest frame building that also served as the home of the Grand Rapids Academy, a private school that offered the equivalent of today's middle school- and high school-level courses. On at least one occasion, the Courthouse Square was also the site of federal annuity payments made to the local Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi Indians in accordance with the treaties of 1825 and 1836. , By 1852, Kent County's population was nearly 15,000, and the courthouse had become inadequate. A building for county offices was built in 1860, but until a new county building was completed in 1892, court sessions were held in a series of rented spaces. , Though it ceased to be the center of county government, the square continued to serve as a community gathering place. After the Civil War it became a city park, thanks to the efforts of Thomas D. Gilbert who led the drive to fence off the entire square, level the grounds, plant trees and add other landscaping. , In 1926 two granite pillars were erected in the park to honor county residents who had died in World War I. Subsequent memorials were erected for those killed in World War II, The Korean War and the Vietnam conflict. In recognition of these additions, the square's official name was changed in 1957 from Fulton Park to Veteran's Memorials Park. , This marker is a gift to the City of Grand Rapids from the Grand Rapids Bar Foundation, 1991