Grand Rapids Structures Significant to President Ford

President Gerald R. Ford

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum

303 Pearl St. NW
Grand Rapids, MI
616/254-0500 or www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov
Open daily from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. (Closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day).

Admission is $7.00 for adults, $6.00 for senior citizens and military service members, $5.00 for college students with ID, $3.00 for youth ages 6-18, and free for children under the age of 5. Free parking is available.

The permanent exhibits are the core of the Museum's program. They allow visitors to participate in history, not just view it, while reviewing the highlights of the lives of President and Mrs. Ford. In addition to the permanent exhibits, a succession of temporary exhibits draws upon the rich holdings of the entire Presidential libraries system, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, and others.

Burial site

On January 3, 2007, President Ford was interred on the grounds of the museum. Visitors may pay their respects during regular museum hours.

Monument of Senator Vandenberg

Located at the corner of Pearl Street and Monroe Avenue.
President Ford considered Senator Arthur Vandenberg, who served from 1928 to 1951, a political mentor. The monument was sculpted by Toby Mendez and erected in 2005. The inscription at the base remembers the senator as "Architect of Bipartisan Foreign Policy, Instrumental in Creation of United Nations, Marshall Plan, North Atlantic Treaty Organization."

South High School (now the Gerald R. Ford Job Corp)

110 Hall St. SE, Grand Rapids
Gerald Ford attended South High School from 1928 to 1931. The school graduated its last class in 1968.

East Grand Rapids Library

746 Lakeside Dr. SE
East Grand Rapids
www.kdl.org
Open Monday - Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. (closed Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day).

The historical room in the East Grand Rapids (EGR) Library includes memorabilia of President Ford who lived in EGR with his family during his youth.

Grace Episcopal Church

1815 Hall Street, Grand Rapids
www.gracechurchgr.org
Gerald R. Ford Jr. and Betty Bloomer Warren married in Grace Episcopal Church on October 15, 1948. On January 3, 2007, President Ford's final funeral service was held at Grace Church. Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn accompanied Mrs. Ford and the Ford family aboard the aircraft from Washington DC to Grand Rapids. Vice President Dick Cheney and former Ford White House Chief of Staff and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld joined the Ford family in Grand Rapids. Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus also attended the funeral

The Motorcade Route of the Funeral Procession

At 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 2, 2007, President Ford lay in repose for public viewing throughout the night. Military officials estimated 60,000 mourners turned out to pay their final respects. The line snaked from the museum's east doors, across a Grand River bridge, into an amusement-park-like maze in DeVos Place, back out and down the street.
At 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 3, the museum closed.
At 1:15 p.m. the President Ford's processional departs the museum to Grace Episcopal Church along the following route:

• East on Bridge St. to Monroe
• South on Monroe to Fulton
• East on Fulton, veer right onto Lake Drive.
• Continue on Lake Drive to Breton.
• South on Breton to Hall Street.
• West on Hall to Plymouth Ave. to Grace Episcopal Church at the corner of Plymouth and Hall.

At 3:00 p.m. the family leaves the church to return to the museum for private interment ceremony.

The historic homes of Gerald Ford

• 1960 Prospect (originally called Terrace), Grand Rapids. Ford lived here with his mother from 1913 to 1917.
• 630 Rosewood, East Grand Rapids. The Ford family lived here from 1922 to 1923.
• 649 Union Street, Grand Rapids. The Ford family lived here from 1923 to 1930. This home is in the area now known as the Heritage Hill Historical District.
• 2153 Lake Drive, East Grand Rapids. The Ford family lived here from 1930 to 1933. It is believed that the actual house Gerald Ford lived in has since been demolished.
• 1011 Santa Cruz Drive, East Grand Rapids. Ford's parents lived here beginning in 1933. He stayed here while on college breaks and before joining the navy.
• 330 Washington Street, Grand Rapids. Residence of Gerald and Betty Ford from 1948 to 1950.

Gerald R. Ford Council, Boy Scouts of America

3213 Walker Ave. NW
www.bsagrfc.org
President Ford was the only Eagle Scout to become president, a source of pride among scouts throughout West Michigan.

Gerald R. Ford Federal Building

29 Pearl St., NW

Gerald R. Ford International Airport

The airport entrance is located at the corner of 44th Street and Patterson Avenue. In 1999 the Kent County International Airport was renamed the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in honor of the 38th President. www.bsagrfc.org

The Gerald R. Ford Freeway

Interstate 196 in Kent, Ottawa and Allegan Counties

Ford Fieldhouse

Grand Rapids Community College
143 Bostwick NE
www.grcc.edu
Opened in 1976, this facility serves at the athletic center of the college.