2026 marks 200 years since the first permanent white settler arrived in modern day Grand Rapids. To commemorate, News 8 will produce a series of stories throughout the year profiling some of the city’s founders and those who helped shape Grand Rapids into what it is today.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Rev. Lyman Parks isn’t one of Grand Rapids’ founding fathers, but he is one of the city’s true trailblazers and influencers.
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Not only was he the first Black person to serve as the city’s mayor, but he was also one of the early players to help revitalize downtown Grand Rapids and was a prominent religious leader at a trying time.
Parks was born in 1917 in southern Indiana. He grew up in the church and became a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. His work as a minister is what first brought him to Grand Rapids…