“Beeping of construction trucks”
Construction crews from Owen-Ames-Kimball, working on the south lawn of the Grand Rapids Public Museum along the Grand River, have uncovered a new piece of equipment: a centrifugal pump belonging to the Grand Rapids Electric Light and Power Company.
William T. Powers established the company in 1880 as the first hydroelectric power plant in the world to provide electricity for street lighting and private businesses, operating until 1956.
The pump was extracted from the construction site August 20.
Chief curator Alex Forist explains the resources he’s using to identify the artifacts being uncovered, starting with old maps.
“And we do research in old newspapers, talk to historians and urban architects and try to put that all together into sort of a fuller story or understanding of what we’re looking at.”
Staff are currently working with a construction management team to salvage the artifacts and plan to display them on museum grounds.
“So people just walking along the river or downtown Grand Rapids will be able to see some of this century-old industrial machinery and we’ll tell the story of the different mills and factories and businesses that were on the site previously.
Earlier this year on the museum’s north lawn, crews discovered remnants of turbines and a flume from the Voight flour mill which began operations in 1874.
The museum’s riverfront project is expected to finish next summer.
