GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — West Michigan is full of rich history. Walking down the street of College Avenue in the Heritage Hills, one can easily get lost in time. The houses murmur tales of the past and if you listen closely enough, you can hear them.
One of these homes is lost forever, unable to share the story of its former occupants. The Bissell Mansion once stood on the home of what is now WOOD TV8’s property on College Avenue. The home was bought by the Bissells in 1889. In that year, Anna Bissell’s husband, Melville, died from pneumonia and she took over as the CEO of the Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company. She raised her children there until 1912.
All three stories laid with oak floors once squeaked in protest under the bustling feet of a prominent West Michigan family until it was bulldozed to the ground to make way for parking. Only the carriage house that once housed servants of the mansion remains…