Alger Middle School Alger Heights
A Historical Sketch

The beginning of the Alger Heights neighborhood goes back over 100 years, with the formation of a satellite community to downtown Grand Rapids. In the late 1880's and early 1890's, this community took shape around a street named Alger. (This was different than the present day Alger Road, according to local historian Dick Harms). Alger Road merchants provided local residents with a variety of goods, thus reducing their need for shopping trips to downtown.


The area became known as Alger Heights in the 1920's.

• 
  Russell Alexander Alger, Secretary
  of War Portrait Alger was a family name that was adopted for the street and later the whole neighborhood. Ohioan Russell Alexander Alger (1836-1907) married Grand Rapids native Annette Henry in the 1850's. The couple moved to Grand Rapids in 1859, raising twelve children. Russell Alexander Alger's career took him from the timber business, to army general, to Michigan's governorship (1885-1887), and finally to U.S. Secretary of War (1897-1899). He wrote The Spanish American War (New York: Harper & Brothers) in 1901.
• Heights indicated the neighborhood was slightly elevated above downtown, which was built in the Grand River valley.

Seymour School was the earliest school for children in the neighborhood. Having opened in 1857, it was named to honor Henry Seymour, a much-respected teacher in the area. Alger Park School developed later in the 1950's under the park school agreement. Construction on the existing school building was competed in 1952 within the 11.6-acre Alger Park. Other parks in the area included Cheseboro Park, given by Charles W. Garfield and wife on Oct. 3, 1931; and Seymour and Paris Parks, both platted as parkland when the area was subdivided.