Reformed Churches in Grand Rapids

a historical overview

These maps chart the growth of the various Reformed denominations in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Red dots show Reformed Church in America (RCA) congregations, blue dots show Christian Reformed Church (CRC) congregations, and green dots show other churches in the Dutch Reformed tradition.

To minimize extraneous information, the map does not show streets, railroads, or city limits. Only the Grand River and the church locations are shown. Years shown are year of organization for the church. The bullet lists indicate new congregations.

You can click on any map to see a larger version. (You'll need to use your browser's back button to return to this page.)

This was a time of transition, as Dutch-speaking mother churches planted English-speaking daughters, which undoubtedly delayed the older church's transition to English. This helps explain the clustering of two or three churches of the same denomination.

By 1895, you can already see the major growth paths following Leonard Street on the north, Grandville Avenue to the southwest, Fulton to the east, and the Eastern Avenue/Kalamazoo Avenue corridor to the southeast.

1895 The early 1890s saw a new phenomenon: in addition to planting new churches in outlying areas, English-language daughter congregations were begun in several Reformed strongholds. These were Bethany Reformed and Broadway Avenue CRC. First Reformed moved to 164 Fountain St. NE in 1891. Eighth Reformed (1891), 851 Burton St SW Grandville Avenue CRC (1891), 1537 Grandville Ave SW Ninth Reformed (1892), 67 Deloney SW Bethany Reformed (1893), 739 Baldwin St SE Dennis Avenue CRC (1893), 48 Dennis Ave.SE Broadway Avenue CRC (1893), 1142 Braodway Ave NW

1900 The tide had turned: from here on out, only English-language churches were started in the city. Grace Reformed was the English-language daughter of Fifth Reformed. (Note the strategic location between Fifth and Eighth, both Dutch churches.) Grace Reformed (1897), 892 Caulfield SW

1905 Only one new congregation, the Burton Heights CRC, was organized in this five-year period. As the map shows (blue dot nearest bottom), it was geographically isolated from other churches. Community Reformed, Ada (1902) Burton Heights CRC (1905), 2106 Horton Ave. SE

1910 Several more English-language churches were planted, often near Dutch-speaking mother churches. The Crosby Street CRC relocated to 1053 Leonard NW and became the West Leonard CRC. The Coldbrook CRC moved to 7 Barnett St. NW. Bethel Reformed (1906), 1700 Coit NE Immanuel Reformed (1907), 654 Eastern Ave SE Sherman Street CRC (1907), 1000 Sherman St SE Trinity Reformed (1908), Alpine Ave NW at Myrtle

1915 The process of English-language daughter churches continued with Bethel and Creston CRCs. First CRC left the downtown area, moving to 650 Bates St. SE. Plainfield Reformed (1913) East Paris Reformed (1913) Bethel CRC (1913), 724 Shamrock SW Knapp Street Reformed (1914), 3161 Knapp St NE Beverly Reformed (1915) Calvary Reformed (1915), 1515 E Fulton Neland Avenue CRC (1915), 940 Neland Ave SE Creston CRC (1915), 1431 Plainfield NE