Grand Rapids Business College, Ledyard’s Block, Grand Rapids, Michigan

A stereoview by Schuyler C. Baldwin showing Grand Rapids Business College in Ledyard’s Block. The front caption and reverse heading identify the same building, while the reverse places the college at the corner of Ottawa and Pearl streets in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The four-story corner block has closely spaced ornamental window surrounds, an elaborate cornice and a roofline punctuated by finials. People look out from numerous upper windows, and several figures stand outside the ground-floor drugstore. Signs identify Shepard & Hazeltine, druggists, and a Singer storefront. Unpaved streets, plank walks, a streetlamp and a foreground picket fence complete the view. The inscription “1874” is visible high on the corner façade; the photograph itself is undated.

The pink printed reverse serves as an advertisement for the college, naming C. G. Swensberg as principal and proprietor and stating that the institution was established on January 24, 1866. It describes a free library and reading room in the building and a first-floor coffee and lunch room operated by the Ladies’ Temperance Union. Its recruitment pitch ends with an offer to refund visitors’ traveling expenses if, after comparing other institutions, they do not find this one superior.

Two photographic images are mounted side by side on an orange card with rounded corners. A small dark circular blemish lies near the lower inner corner of the right-hand image, away from the building; a few small stains appear on the reverse. Otherwise sound, with clear architectural detail and readable printing.