1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Grand Haven

GRAND HAVEN, a city, port of entry, and the county-seat of Ottawa county, Michigan, U.S.A., on Lake Michigan, at the mouth of Grand river, 30 m. W. by N. of Grand Rapids and 78 m. E. of Milwaukee. Pop. (1900) 4743, of whom 1277 were foreign-born; (1904) 5239; (1910) 5856. It is served by the Grand Trunk and the Père Marquette railways, and by steamboat lines to Chicago, Milwaukee and other lake ports, and is connected with Grand Rapids and Muskegon by an electric line. The city manufactures pianos, refrigerators, printing presses and leather; is a centre for the shipment of fruit and celery; and has valuable fisheries near—fresh, salt and smoked fish, especially whitefish, are shipped in considerable quantities. Grand Haven is the port of entry for the Customs District of Michigan, and has a small export and import trade. The municipality owns and operates its water-works and electric-lighting plant. A trading post was established here about 1821 by an agent of the American Fur Company, but the permanent settlement of the city did not begin until 1834. Grand Haven was laid out as a town in 1836, and was chartered as a city in 1867.