Mural is read from left to right and chronologically. Many modern day roadways were originally the footpaths of great Indigenous American traders and travelers like the Hopewell People, Grand Rapids is no exception. Evidence of this has been found in the Hopewell Mounds: copper from the UP, conch shells from the Gulf of Mexico, and shark teeth from the Atlantic Ocean. In the 1500s, the Anishinaabek used Wiigwaas-jimaanan (birchbark canoes) up and down the Owashtanong (the Grand River) for transportation and hunting. By the 1800s Europeans began to colonize the area, fur trade and lumber industries threw the Owashtanong’s ecology out of balance. By 1830 Indian Removal Act, steamboats, streetcars, and railways began to replaced flatboats and horse drawn transport as settlers moved more people and goods from larger cities. When the Great Depression hit, the city determined automobiles were more economically feasible; offering independence and convince. The dominance of automobiles meant the growth of residential neighborhoods beyond the city center and the demand for highways. Roads widened and footpaths were paved over. The Interstate Highway Act of 1956 led to national urban renewal. US-131 was constructed by 1962, this led to the displacement of many lower class, Black, Brown, and Indigenous citizens. Seen beneath the highway are dozens of homes that were destroyed in the name of progress.
