Before It Was Grand, The River Was Great

For a brief time, the Grand River was the Great River. At least according to one 1814 map.

Is it better to be Great or Grand? Great seems like it's pretty good, but Grand has a kind of classy tone about it.

The map library at Michigan State University posted a map from the year 1814 this week, which showed that a surveyor at that time named Mathew Carey was referring to the Grand River, from which our city gets its name, as the Great River.

It is the only time in history that any map showed it by that name, so maybe Mathew was just a little slow to get the news. Or maybe he was being sarcastic. Who knows?

I kind of am favoring Great Rapids over Grand Rapids right now, how about you?