Germans didn't come to the United States simply because they wanted a change of scenery, they wanted opportunities to meet more people, have their own businesses, and help influence a community and its economy. Many German Businesses thrived pre-war, and some remain today.

Grand Rapids Brewing Company

One of the most notable things about German culture if you ask an outsider is the beer and brewing industries, which did and continues to thrive thanks to immigrants coming to Grand Rapids. In 1893, six local breweries joined forces to create the original Grand Rapids Brewing Company (1). The six breweries included Kusterer Brewing, Tusch Brothers, George W. Brandt, Veit & Rathman, Adolph Goetz, and the Frey Brothers (2).

Grand Rapids Brewing Company originally was at the corner of Michigan Street and Ionia Avenue in downtown. This brewery was a major part of the East side skyline until it was torn down in the 1960s for new city planning.

Due to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s, Grand Rapids Brewing company left town with other breweries and closed for many years. In 2012, Mark Sellers of BarFly Ventures brought back the major brewery just blocks away from its original location. To make matters more interesting, it opened 79 years [to the day] after the prohibition of alcohol was repealed (1).

Today, the Grand Rapids Brewing Company is widely regarded as a 'beer destination' in Michigan due to its variety of stouts. Inside of the location on Ionia Avenue in downtown, they have 18 different drinks on tap, a full menu to fill you up, as well as a game room full of classic arcade games (1,3).

Notably, one of the more famous drinks to get here is named the "Silver Foam". This drink was a brew from the original Grand Rapids Brewing Company, so when they revived the company in 2012 they decided to bring it back and revamp it (1).

Reeds Lake Avenue Company

The gravel roads and the industry that followed it was once a major part of Grand Rapids' business. In the 1890s, there were at least eight businesses that took care of gravel roads, and among those was one founded by some German immigrants in the area. (2)

The Reeds Lake Avenue Company was founded on August 20, 1873. Its stock investment at the time was $25,000, or for an updated cost, in 2019 would have been roughly $540,665 (2,4).

The main purpose of this company was to make gravel roads "from the city limits at East street to the junction of two roads on section 29 in the town of Grand Rapids, from which point it divides into two branches, one running on the south side of Reeds Lake about two miles in length, the other leading past the north side of the lake to the town line between Grand Rapids and Cascade, about five miles long, making a total of about eight miles," according to its description in Baxter's History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1891.

Among its trustees and incorporators were Erastus Spaulding, J.W. Boynton, J. Kleinhans, and Byron G. Stout. The directors and officers at the time of the book's publishing were Wm. H. Anderson, Chas. W. Garfield, Joseph Houseman, John Youell, and J. Kleinhaus (2).

Kusterer Brewing

Kusterer Brewing was founded by immigrant Christoph Kusterer in 1850. Christoph Kusterer was known in Germany for being a 'reared brewer', so coming to Grand Rapids meant clearing out competition and making incredible authentic brews (2).

Around 1849, Kusterer Brewing bought the only other brewer (ran by Englishman John Pannell) in the area's stock in trade and manufacturing. With this, he removed the competitor's old location and moved it into his at the corner of East Bridge and Ionia Street (2).

Kusterer Brewing became known for its light malt liquors and rich brews and later went on to join with a handful of other local breweries to form the Grand Rapids Brewing Company (1,2).