Baxter

Set between Eastown and Heritage Hill on the southeast side of Grand Rapids, this pocket of streets takes its name from George Baxter, a 19th-century landowner who platted the blocks and put up early houses as the city's furniture industry pulled workers in. The layout still reads that way: a compact grid of modest lots, wood-frame houses, and porches close to the sidewalk, the kind of turn-of-the-century stock that went up quickly for a growing city. Wealthy Street runs the northern edge and does most of the heavy lifting for daily errands — the Electric Cheetah, Topper's Pizza, bakeries, and the century-old Wealthy Theatre sit within an easy walk, mixed in with older storefronts. Franklin Street to the south carries its own churches and refurbished shopfronts, and Fuller Avenue closes the east side near the Davis Technical Center. At the center is Joe Taylor Park, a two-acre green space with a KABOOM! playground, a water-play area, picnic shelters, and grills — the kind of spot that anchors a walkable block. Getting around is straightforward: you're roughly two miles from downtown, with Eastown's shops a short hop east and Heritage Hill's historic district just northwest. The streets themselves are the appeal — shaded, gridded, and dense enough that most of what you'd want on a given day is on foot. Sherman Street Church, well over a century old, marks one corner of the neighborhood's long history. For the story of the community center and the neighborhood association that organize life here, see the Baxter association page.