Grand Rapids. <1> City (2020 pop. 198,917), seat of Kent co., SW central Mich., on the Grand River; inc. 1850. The second largest city in the state, it is a distribution, wholesale, and industrial center for an area that yields fruit, dairy products, farm produce, gypsum, and gravel. Furniture manufacturing (begun in 1859) remains important. Among the city's other manufactures are appliances, electronic equipment, automotive parts, aircraft and space navigation systems, and paper products. It has the Gerald R. Ford Museum, art and furniture museums, a botanical garden, a symphony orchestra, and an opera company. Also in Grand Rapids are Aquinas College, Calvin College, and several seminaries. <2> City (2020 pop. 11,126), seat of Itasca co., NE Minn.; founded c. 1872. Located on the Mississippi River, it was a logging center. A large paper mill operates there. A gas pipe rupture in 1991 spilled approx. 1.7 million gallons of oil into the area, the largest inland spill in the U.S. to date. The Forest History Center is located there.
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