MIDTOWN GR HOUSE STORIES 22 Grand Ave. NE - Home of Stephanie and Dennis Squibb.

In 2023, when Stephanie and Dennis Squibb bought 22 Grand Ave. NE, it was described as a captivating Midtown treasure! The expansive 4-bed, 1.5 bath home shouts charm and quality with gorgeous woodwork, stylish furniture, hardwood floors, and leaded glass windows. The home is located in the popular Midtown neighborhood just off East Fulton Street, a main east-west corridor. The neighborhood is adjacent to the Heritage Hill Historic District and just east of Downtown Grand Rapids.

Designed by one of Grand Rapids early self-trained women architects, Fanny Boylon, it was constructed by Boylon Builders. Fannie Boylon learned her profession from correspondence courses. The Boylons opened a building company while Fannie’s husband Fred, a railroad worker was recuperating from a job-related injury. Fannie asked him to help her renovate and flip their Fulton Street home, and they never looked back. By 1929, they had completed more than 1,200 homes and small buildings. After finishing one of their finest homes, 1505 Alexander SE in the Ottawa Hills neighborhood, Fred and Fred Jr. were tragically killed in a car accident en route to a Detroit business meeting. As a credit to the Boylon’s work, the appearance of the Governor at the funeral made the local news. Fannie set aside her overwhelming grief and finished all of the projects in process. Then she put away her drafting tools and retired.

In 1914 when Ralph N. Richards bought this house from Boylon Builders for $4,300, he was a supervisor at the American Corrugating Company—The American Corrugating Company was the brainchild of William A. Jack, a traveling salesman who sought to improve the packaging industry by manufacturing corrugated board containers for light and small freight. Jack found investors in Theron and John Goodspeed, who earlier founded a successful partner industry, the American Box Board Company. They poured in capital and corrugated board eventually became the industry standard. William Jack went from traveling shoe salesman to managing a company capitalized at more than $1,000,000. Homeowner Ralph Richards was supervisor at the American Corrugating Company during the two years he owned 22 Grand Ave. NE.

1916-1930 Attorney (Later Judge) H. Dale Souter and Lottie Shirts Souter —By about 1915, a 27-year old lawyer, H. Dale Souter and wife Lottie bought 22 Grand NE. Souter was a partner at Dilly, Souter & Dilly, a law firm with offices in the Michigan Trust Building that eventually included four generations of attorneys, including the late Thomas Dilly, noted Grand Rapids historian and postcard collector. Owner-attorney Dale Souter graduated from the University of Michigan in 1912 and embarked upon an impressive career ranging from Assistant District Attorney, a federal position, to Grand Rapids city attorney. After an unsuccessful race against George Welsh for mayor, Souter became a Grand Rapids circuit court judge. Dale and Lottie rejoiced in the birth of their son who arrived in 1925 while they lived on Grand Ave. Their busy social life included summers at their family cottage at Stony Lake near Lake Michigan (now owned by their grandaughter and this writer’s friend Libby Souter Brouwer). They were also two of the earliest Cascade Country County Club members and helped celebrated the burning of the country club’s mortgage in the 1940s. In 1932, after 15 years in this pretty Midtown home, Dale and Lottie moved to 542 Avalon Terrace.

1936 Photo taken during the city-wide inventory of houses completed by photographers and assessors and funded mostly by the WPA.

1932 to 1939 Nathan H. Bryant, Furniture Rep. & Florence Grimshaw Bryant—Mr. Nathan H. Bryant was a prominent furniture representative for the Widdicomb, Baker, West Michigan, and Holland Furniture companies. In the 1920s, he and his wife Florence Bryant lived on Gladstone Avenue and were prominent in social circles. Florence was president of the Cathedral league and they were members of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. She played bridge and majong with her church guild members. Three years later in 1928, when the Bryants announced that Nathan’s work was taking them to Chicago with their small son Nathan H. Jr., they were treated to a host of parties in their honor by some of the denizens of Grand Rapids. Mr. & Mrs. Noyes L. Avery hosted a dinner for them at their home on Plymouth in East Grand Rapids and the Brewers entertained them with an indoor picnic supper at their home on Cambridge. A luncheon in honor of Florence was held at the Women’s City Club. In 1932, when the Bryants moved back to Grand Rapids, it was to 22 Grand Ave. NE., where they once again took their place in society. From that perch Florence moved into a leadership position in the women’s needlework guild at Central Reformed Church. By the 1940s, the Bryants moved to 49 Union NE and by 1946, they had moved to Los Angeles, California. They returned annually at least until 1949 to attend the Grand Rapids furniture market and were often entertained by their very social friends. Nathan lived to be 90 years old and died while a resident at Grand Rapids Pilgrim Manor.

From 1940 to 1946, Mrs. Ethel C. Jones owned 22 Grand Ave. NE—Ethel was the widow of Lyman W. Jones and daughter of a farmer from Gratiot County.

1948-1969 John K. Keating and Helen G. Keating moved here after the end of the World War II. John K. was a salesman with John B. McMullen Real Estate in the Michigan National Bank building at 81 Monroe. Their son, a graduate of Catholic Central was already grown and had served as a Navy ensign in World War II. He trained at Northwestern University and was promoted to Lieutenant. The senior Keatings lived an active life on Grand Ave. NE. John served on the Grand Rapids Real Estate Board, representing over 200 realtors and took on the job of organizing the group;s annual Christmas parties. Helen was active in St. Andrew’s parish activities and they stayed on at 22 Grand Ave. even after retirement in 1969. They had moved away by 1970. John lived to be 85 and died at the Bertha Fischer Home in Detroit in 1971. Helen died in Spring Lake in October of that same year.

1970s through the 1990s—a variety of renters. By the late 1990s, the home was sometimes vacant.

2000s—Sometime before 2017, the owner was Lynne Germaine (Czerwinski) Goodspeed. Goodspeed, a professional proof reader who tutored Grand Rapids Community College students, and had four children, William, James, and Patrick Goodspeed & Dawn Spoelman. The next buyers were Dana VonTongeren in 2017 and Blaine R. Courts in 2019.

TODAY—Stephanie and Dennis Squibb bought this MidtownGR home after selling their Midcentury multi-level house in Grand Rapids Charter Township. Before that they owned a home in the Heritage Hills neighborhood and before that lived in the Los Angeles, California. After moving to Grand Rapids they opened Squibb Coffee and Wine Bar on Wealthy Street SE with their daughter Mallory and they now own two other Grand Rapids Squibb Coffee Bar locations. Stephanie teaches meditation in the beautiful light-filled enclosed porch in their Grand Ave. NE house.