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'Hummingbird' Steamboat Pilot's Wheel, Grand River
Identifier:
1986.55.1Description:
This is a pilot's wheel from the steamboat the "Hummingbird." The "Hummingbird" was a passenger and freight vessel that traveled in the Grand River. It was built in 1847 by Henry Stele of Stele's Landing, now known as Lamont. An August 3, 1962 article in the Grand Rapids Press tells the story of the discovery and the history of the vessel.The wheel is twisted and damaged due to the explosion of the boiler that happened on board September 2, 1854 killing the pilot and crippling a Grand Rapids resident while on route to Grand Haven. The wheel was dredged up in 1962 and Grand Rapids Public Museum Director Frank DuMond and local Historian Home L. Burch went to collect it from a bridge construction site for the extension of the Interstate 196 after a tip from a local citizen that it had been found.
Date:
1848 – 1852Materials:
MetalCurrent Location Status:
On ExhibitCollection Tier:
Tier 2Source:
Gift Of Maccombs, Mrs. VirginiaExhibit/Program:
Furniture City (1994 – 2013)Furniture City was one of the signature core exhibits installed at the Grand Rapids Public Museum's new Van Andel Museum Center when it opened in 1994. At approximately 10,000 square feet, the exhibit occupied a significant portion of the museum's second floor and contained hundreds of pieces of Grand Rapids Furniture. The exhibition was accompanied by the authoritative book on the subject, "Grand Rapids Furniture", by GRPM curator Christian Carron. The Furniture City exhibit told a comprehensive story of the Furniture Industry in Grand Rapids, from its origins in the years after the Civil War, up to the present day with office and fixed seating manufacturers like Steelcase and American Seating. The exhibition was significantly reduced in size in 2013 to make room for a new gallery and was closed in 2019.