Dutch Reformed Churches in and near Grand Rapids, 1840-90

This is a brief chronological overview of the various Dutch Reformed churches in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from 1840 to 1890. Unless otherwise noted, congregations initially worshipped in Dutch before 1895, English thereafter. Unless otherwise specified, congregations listed in notes are sponsors of the new church.

Note two common patterns: starting daughter churches about one mile from the mother church or an English-language church near its Dutch-language parent(s).

RCA refers to Reformed Church in American congregations (marked by red type). CRC refers to Christian Reformed Church congregations (marked by blue type). Other Dutch Reformed traditions are in green type.

Year	Congregation	Original Location	Sponsor or Note
1840	First Reformed	Michigan and Ottawa NW	English merged 1918
1849	Second Reformed	Bostwick near Lyon NE (initially shared space with 1st)	Supported by First Reformed merged 1918
1857	Spring Street CRC (now First)	Commerce near Oakes SW	Separated from Second Reformed
1859	First Reformed, Grandville	3060 Wilson SE
1870	First Netherlands Reformed	Division near Michigan NE
1875	Third Reformed	Hermitage and Diamond SE (a mile east of 2nd)	Second Reformed
	Fourth Reformed	Ionia near Walbridge NW (a mile north of 2nd)	Second Reformed
	Kelloggsville CRC	610 52nd Street SE	rural congregation
1876	Netherlands Reformed	Turner near Eleventh NW
1879	East Street CRC (now Eastern Avenue)	East Street and Logan SE (a mile southeast of 1st)	First CRC
1881	Alpine Avenue CRC	Alpine and Eleventh NW (west of Grand River, a mile northwest of 1st)	First CRC merged 1992
1882	Coldbrook CRC (now Beckwith Hills)	Ionia and Barnett NW (a mile north of 1st)	Seceded majority of Fourth Reformed
1886	Fifth Reformed	Church near Pleasant SW (a mile southwest of 2nd)	Second Reformed
1886	Fourth CRC (now LaGrave Avenue)	LaGrave near Oakes SE (three blocks east of 1st)	English, First CRC
1887	Fifth Avenue CRC (later Franklin Street)	Fifth and Oakland SW (a mile southwest of 1st)	First CRC merged 1966
1889	Crosby Street CRC (now West Leonard)	Crosby and Garfield NW (a helf-mile northwest of Alpine)	Alpine Ave. CRC
	Sixth Reformed (later Oakdale Park)	Adams near Kalamazoo SE (1.5 miles south of 3rd)	Third Reformed merged 1974
	Free Dutch Reformed	Clancy near Cedar NE
1890	Seventh Reformed	Leonard near Jennette NW (west of Grand River, a mile west of 4th)	Fourth Reformed
1890	Oakdale Park CRC	Hancock and West Butler SE (a mile south of Eastern)	Eastern Ave. CRC

Much of this data comes from Gathered at the River by James D. Bratt and Christopher H. Meehan. Additional sources include annual CRC Yearbooks and Historical Directory of the Reformed Church in America, 1628-1992.

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