John DeGraaf was the earliest owner of the building at 359 South Division which was constructed around 1890. The first floor frequently housed a grocery store on the corner with the other store front occupied by a saloon, barbershop, billiard parlor, or a hamburger shop, with apartments on the upper floors. In the early 1990’s through a gift of Peter Wege (Steelcase Corporation), who was born in an apartment here, Grand Rapids Catholic Secondary Schools rehabilitated the building for use as its corporate offices.

Location

[[address:=359 South Division]] is located in the Heartside-Downtown neighborhood. Geographic coordinates are 42.95782° N, 85.667717° WLatitude: 42°57′28.152″N
Longitude: 85°40′3.781″W.

References

Portions of this post were originally written by Heather Ibrahim for the Heartside Mainstreet Program, reproduced with permission.