Baxter

The civic anchor here predates the neighborhood association itself. In the late 1960s, members of Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church set up a small operation in office space above Bierling Bakery, then moved in 1969 into the former Baxter Christian School building, where it remains. They hired Herschell Turner — a painter and athlete of some local renown — as the first executive director, and the Baxter Community Center has been the organizing hub of this part of southeast Grand Rapids ever since, running youth programs, playground rebuilds, and volunteer drives. Neighborhood organizing grew alongside it. Residents formed the Baxter Neighborhood Association to push beautification projects, cleanups, and affordable-housing work, giving the streets between Wealthy and Franklin a collective voice at City Hall. The association's calendar leans practical: cleanup days, tree and flower plantings, and meetings where zoning notices and street projects get hashed out before decisions are made downtown. Landmarks give the work a backdrop. The Wealthy Theatre, built in 1911 along the northern edge, went dark for years before a restoration returned it to use in 1998, and it now hosts film, music, and community gatherings. Franklin Street carries historic churches and storefronts that have been brought back into service one at a time. Fuller Avenue closes the eastern edge near the Davis Technical Center. What ties it together is stewardship rather than boosterism — a community center that has kept its doors open for more than half a century, and neighbors who show up for the unglamorous work of maintaining a place. To read about the streets, parks, and housing of the area itself, see the Baxter neighborhood page.