← All Grand Rapids neighborhoods

The West Side's largest neighborhood, built along two business districts — West Leonard and Stockbridge — with Richmond Park at its centre.

Size

2.75 sq mi

city boundary

Built

1880–1950

river industry, then the streetcar

Residents

15,400

approximately · 2020 census

West Grand is outlined by the city limits to the north, the Grand River to the east, Bridge Street to the south, and Bristol Avenue to the west. Straight across the Grand River from downtown, and larger than it looks from the far bank — 2.75 square miles running north from Bridge Street to the city line.

What it’s like

Two commercial streets rather than one. Leonard runs east–west with most of the storefronts on it, and Stocking crosses it heading south toward Bridge — the neighborhood organisation calls them West Leonard and Stockbridge, and they read differently on foot. Richmond Park sits north of both, with the pool and the open ground, which is where the neighborhood spreads out on a warm day. Downtown is under two miles from the middle of it, across the river.

Eat & drink

• Blue Dog Tavern

  638 Stocking Ave NW, in the Stockbridge district. Back patio, and the dog is welcome.

• Two Scotts Barbecue

  536 Leonard St NW, at the river end of the West Leonard strip.

Also here

• The Art of Life

  1134 Leonard St NW. Locally made goods, and painting classes open to the public.

• Richmond Park

  1101 Richmond St NW. Playground, open ground, and one of only three outdoor pools the city runs.

Getting around

Downtown

Under two miles from the middle of the neighborhood, straight across the Grand River.

Two business districts, not one

West Leonard runs east–west; Stockbridge runs south along Stocking toward Bridge Street. Most errands land on one or the other.

Bridge Street is the edge

It bounds the neighborhood on the south rather than running through it, so the Bridge Street places people mean by “the West Side” are in the next neighborhood over.

The homes

• Victorian · late 1800s, nearest the river
• Four Square · early 1900s
• Bungalow · 1900s–1930s
• Craftsman · 1900s–1930s
• Cape Cod · 1930s–1950s

Late 1800s through the mid-1900s, on a grid either side of the two business streets. The commercial buildings stay on Leonard and Stocking rather than scattering through the residential blocks, so the step from a shopfront corner to a residential one is a street rather than a mile. The West Leonard Business Association calls its strip the longest commercial strip within the City, running over a mile and a half west from the River — worth knowing, because the business district and the neighborhood are not the same shape, and the western end of that strip is outside West Grand.

Good to know

The city grew west across the Grand River in the late 1800s, and the commercial strip that followed out Leonard Street is still the longest in Grand Rapids. The longer story.