Wyoming is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 76,501 at the 2020 census. Part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area, Wyoming is bordered by Grand Rapids to the northeast and, after Grand Rapids, it is the second most-populous city in West Michigan.
European-Americans settled the area in 1832 along Buck Creek, and it was organized as Wyoming Township in 1848 after separating from Byron Township. Through the 19th and early 20th centuries, Wyoming remained a rural area providing goods to Grand Rapids, until the Grand Rapids, Holland and Chicago Railway spurred suburbanization. After Grandville was incorporated in 1933 and the General Motors Stamping Division Plant opened, Wyoming faced annexation disputes with Grand Rapids and Grandville until incorporating as a city in 1959.
As a city, Wyoming became a regional retail and entertainment hub on the 28th Street corridor with the opening of Rogers Plaza and Studio 28. Development declined in the 1980s. Growth then shifted to Wyoming's southwest near RiverTown Crossings and later around Metro Health Hospital after 2007, though the GM plant closed in 2009. Since the mid-2010s, the city has focused on redeveloping 28th Street through the 28 West project and repurposing the 74-acre former GM property, now called Site 36.
History
Native American settlements
left|thumb|Mound H of the [[Norton Mound group]]
Native Americans of the Hopewellian culture inhabited the region from ca. 400 B.C. to A.D. 400. Classified as the Goodall focus, a Hopewell sub-grouping, they created a series of structures known as Norton Mound group with the mounds probably being constructed in the first century AD. Odawa tribes were established in the area near present-day Wyoming, with the village of the ogema Black Skin, natively known as Muck-i-ta-oska or Mukatasha, ranging from the southwest present-day Grand Rapids to the Grand River across from the Norton Mound group, with the mouth of the Black Skin Creek leading into the Grand River across from the mounds. Where what is now Grandville, Michigan, a prairie existed west of Wyoming where up to ten native families under the ogema As-to-quet, who were friendly with early settlers in the area, held planting grounds.
Little Prairie settlement
In the late 1700s, French fur traders traversed the Grand River Valley. Lucius Lyon, a Yankee Protestant, was contracted by the federal government to survey the Grand River Valley in the fall of 1830 and in the first quarter of 1831, the federal survey of the Northwest Territory reached the Grand River, setting the boundaries for Kent County, named after prominent New York jurist James Kent. Lyon would also survey "Township Nº VI West, Range Nº XII North", which would become Wyoming. The area that is now the city of Wyoming was the second location settled by European-Americans in Kent County. Robert Howlett, Luther Lincoln, Amos Gordon and Stephen Tucker were some of the first settlers in the fall of 1832.
Lincoln built the first log shanty in the area in the fall of 1832 and began to prepare his plot with livestock and crops before the winter. A framed house was constructed by Rogers in the spring of 1836 and was expected to accept his wife upon their return, though the home was discovered destroyed by a tornado in September 1836 when they returned.
The following year in 1837, the launch of the pole boat propelled by a quant, the Cinderella, was celebrated as a major development for the town. At the time of division, about 500 people lived in Wyoming while fewer than 200 lived in Byron. At the time, Dutch and Irish immigrants were scapegoated for the prevalence of "Michigan ague", or malaria, which had begun affecting the area.
Fisher's Station
thumb|Fisher's Station, 1876
David Fisher arrived in Wyoming in 1857 and acquired land from Gordon's estate, replacing Gordon's old Buck Creek mill, which had burned down, and built a replacement. Fisher would then construct cabins along the west side of Burlingame Avenue which housed Fisher and the millers he employed. Operations for Fisher would expand further south on Buck Creek where he would extract lime and peat, later building a second mill on a plot of land he purchased from William Ferry in the southeast portion of the township. In 1869, a station on the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad was constructed, and in 1870, Fisher had a town platted called "Fisher's Station," which would develop around the railroad station. A post office was constructed in 1871 and the area was platted in December 1873. The population of Wyoming Township grew to 2,008 in 1874 while the population of Fisher's Station was 65 in 1888. with much of the city's population moving southward in the early 1900s. Materials from the cancelled picric acid plant were taken and used to construct some of these cheap houses, which had tarpaper roofs and lacked basements. The construction of these affordable home developments in Wyoming provided a cheap workforce for Grand Rapids. Citizens already established in the Grand Rapids and Wyoming area deplored the new residents who moved to the Home Acres and Division corridor, referring to the area as "Shanty Town" and as a place of crime. White Protestants in Wyoming also prevented African Americans from residing in the township, engaging in housing segregation and redlining, with some sales agreements explicitly stating that a property "shall never be occupied by a negro," extending such agreements to second parties, heirs and others. As a result of suburbanization the population of Wyoming had grown about 200% between 1920 and 1930, from 5,702 to 16,931 and the unorganized zoning of the township would cause issues for Wyoming throughout its future.
With Wyoming developing at such a rapid pace, the Grand Rapids city officials and affiliated business leaders attempted to deter the development of industry in Wyoming, fearing that Grand Rapids would lose skilled workers and wages would increase. Wyoming teachers took a 45% pay cut and children had to share textbooks in school. A poor fund was established in 1931, though by September 1932, the $44,000 collected – the – was insufficient for the project. Small construction projects by the Township provided some funds for residents, though they were only temporary measures, with tax deadline extensions from the Township becoming common throughout the Great Depression as individuals could not afford to pay taxes. By mid-1933, about 20% of Wyoming's workforce was unemployed.
During the depression, many residents of Wyoming grew disillusioned with the existing unchecked capitalism, small government practices and the laissez-faire economic system that relied on local governments, churches, and charities to provide the care for citizens. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal and federal social welfare programs – including the Civil Works Administration, Public Works Administration, and Federal Emergency Relief Administration to the United States, city residents strongly approved of these actions by his government. It was reported that men in Wyoming were grateful and wept when they were told that they would have a job for the first time in years as a result of Roosevelt's welfare programs. Roosevelt's program helped Wyoming pay workers to construct new bridges, parks, roads, schools, and sewers; with Ideal Park, Johnson Park, and the first township office being constructed with federal funding.
thumb|[[General Motors Stamping Division Plant, opened in 1936]]
Former Mayor of Grand Rapids George P. Tilma was elected supervisor of Wyoming Township in 1932 and was tasked with modernizing the developing suburban community from a rural town system. In 1933, Grandville was separated from Wyoming and was established as its own city. In the winter of 1933, Tilma was also able to circumvent the Emergency Banking Act in a technicality to purchase 555 tons of coal that was distributed to the poor to heat their homes. General Motors sought to construct a new facility in Grand Rapids, though there were no areas for development or future expansions, so the cities of Grand Rapids and Wyoming collaborated to have General Motors purchase land in Wyoming while Grand Rapids supplied utilities to the site.
As Wyoming moved towards cityhood, the Township purchased of land from Judy Devine in December 1947 on the northeast corner of 28th Street and DeHoop Avenue, establishing the area known as the town center of Wyoming due to the increased development on 28th Street. In May 1948, a committee was created by the Township which recommended incorporating Wyoming into a city. On November 6, 1958, voters approved the incorporation of Wyoming into a city. The neighboring Wyoming Village Mall opened later in 1961 and was anchored by Wurzburg's. Gordon Food Service moved from Grand Rapids to Wyoming in 1962. In July 1966, the Lake Michigan pipeline to Wyoming began to supply water to the city, a major accomplishment after years of difficulties with low-quality wells. Rivertown Crossings Mall opened in 1999 near the southwest border of Wyoming, causing many commercial tenants to leave the 28th Street corridor. In response, Wyoming unveiled a redevelopment plan for their city center that they hoped would revitalize businesses on the 28th Street corridor. For Rogers Plaza, the exterior was remodel and the former Montgomery Ward anchor store was demolished and replaced with a Family Fare supermarket. Much of the commercial atmosphere of 28th Street also dwindled, with Studio 28 closing in 2008 and vacancy rates up to nearly 40% in 2011.
In the mid-2010s, development spread to southern Wyoming. Gordon Foods expanded its headquarters in 2012 and development occurred near the recently built Metro Health Hospital. The 28 West plan was also initiated to make 28th Street a more pedestrian-friendly corridor while also centralizing the development of food, retail, and entertainment projects in the city's center, effectively creating a downtown area. 28 West Place Street, a street similar to Wyoming's 2002 proposal, was approved by the City and Wyoming Mall's owners in 2016, opening to the public in October 2017. In 2019, Magnus Capital Partners was approved to construct apartments, named HōM Flats at 28 West, with the first residents moving into their homes in early 2020.
In 2022, Franklin Partners purchased the former land of the General Motors plant, known as Site 36, from the City of Wyoming for $5.25 million and started development discussions with four local companies and a few entities based outside of Michigan.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.88%) is water.
The city is situated southwest of Grand Rapids and south of the Grand River. Buck Creek spans the city and created a valley of dark loam soil that was used historically for farming, while elevated land above the valley is dense clay soil.