Why did the Fulton ramp stop filling these boxes?

I grew up in a rural area about 30 miles from downtown Grand Rapids, so we rarely went downtown. My dad worked in town, so most days we went there to visit him or watch a Griffins game. It was always a feeling of culture shock when we walked around these tall buildings even though the tallest building in my sphere of existence was my grandparents’ barn. Yeah.

However, the one thing I looked forward to when I was downtown was driving past the Fulton-Ottawa parking ramp on Ottawa Avenue because the garage had these little boxes full of little ones for lack of a better word, dioramas. If memory serves, these were usually used to announce things like upcoming shows at the Civic Theater and were unique to that building.

But over the years, the boxes were rotated less and less, and eventually, each box remained empty. The last year with anything in the boxes on Google Maps is 2019. Now all 7 look pretty sad.

I went to the r/grandrapids subreddit to see if anyone had any information on the boxes, and while everyone seemed to know as much as I did, one user whose account is now deleted had some interesting information. I haven’t validated this information, but it’s still interesting:

This building used to be a jewelry store and is where they set up the public exhibits. Don’t ask me why I know that. Or do it. It’s cool. A pair of pistols from a notorious Michigan murder were also displayed there about 100 years ago after his arrest.

I imagine that the City owns the boxes since they are connected to a City-owned parking lot, but in reality I don’t know. We are such an art-centric city. It would be nice to see art there again or find a way to promote small businesses or something. As things stand, this area represents a missed opportunity. Let’s add some color to these dull windows.

If you have any information about this that I couldn’t find, send it to me at [email protected]

Grand Rapids vintage: 1868-1920s