From the first days after our move to Midtown in November 2023, we were in love with the house and the neighborhood. Nothing is better than sipping coffee on our 1916 front porch while the tulips bloom. Soon, a long-time resident from Midtown’s Brikyaat sub-neighborhood shared that Betty Bloomer Ford grew up just two blocks away on Fountain Street, which started a new research project.

Betty’s parents, Hortense Nehr Bloomer and William Bloomer, a salesman, moved to this house in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1920 from Chicago, where Betty was born in 1918. As Betty grew up, she became a part of the social whirl, and was a natural dancer all her life, performing and teaching around the city. Her father, William, died in 1934.

Betty graduated from Central High School in 1936 and worked as a model for Herpolsheimer’s Department Store. Her social life was rich, and she had many friends, but Betty wanted to attend college and dance professionally. After extended debates on the topic, Betty and her mother finally agreed that she would go to Bennington College, where she studied and performed and met and danced with the famous Martha Graham. Graham invited her to join the troupe in New York City in 1939 and she danced there as a member of Graham’s auxiliary dance troupe. Hortense remarried in 1941 to widower and banker Arthur Godwin and moved to 636 Fountain, his home. Then under intense pressure from her mother, Betty returned to Grand Rapids, she thought temporarily. Here, Betty became an assistant fashion coordinator at Herpolsheimers, taught dancing, and danced and choreographed local productions. She lived in the family home shown above. She helped empty out the house at 717 Fountain, which they sold and it was then divided into apartments. Betty lived with Hortense and Arthur at 636 Fountain before and after her first marriage which took her away from Grand Rapids. That marriage ended in divorce. Betty went back to work at Herpolsheimers, this time as fashion coordinator. She managed fashion shows at Herpolsheimers’ Department Store and lived at 636 Fountain NE. She met Jerry Ford and married in him in October 1947 after he won the primary, and together, they campaigned for his first term as U.S. Congressman representing Grand Rapids.

Compared to its 1937 photo, the house at 717 Fountain, although divided into apartments, did not change much after the Bloomers sold it. The one major change observed here is that the front porch originally had some prominent and stately reworked features, such as the front entry, the columns, and the front door.

When Betty Bloomer lived with her mother, Hortense, and Arthur Godwin, in Midtown in the house shown at the right, 636 Fountain NE. Arthur Godwin was a successful banker and built this attractive Greek Revival-style house with his first wife.

This charming right-sized house includes its original period-style features. Details include a covered porch, Greek-style columns and pilasters, multi-paned windows, and a second-floor balcony. The addition, placed on the back of the house, preserved the picturesque original exterior.