1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ionia (Michigan)

IONIA, a city and the county-seat of Ionia county, Michigan, U.S.A., on the Grand river, about 34 m. E. of Grand Rapids. Pop. (1904) 5222; (1910) 5030. It is served by the Grand Trunk and the Père Marquette railways. The greater part of the city is built on the bottom-lands of the valley within an area 2 m. in length and 1 m. in width, but some of the finest residences stand on the hills, which form an irregular semicircle behind the city, and command extensive views of the valley. Much of the building material is a brown sandstone obtained from quarries only 3 m. distant; white clay, also, is found in the vicinity. The city is a trade centre for a rich farming district, has car-shops (of the Père Marquette railway) and iron foundries, and manufactures wagons, pottery, furniture and clothing. The waterworks are owned and operated by the municipality. Ionia was settled in 1833 by immigrants from German Flats, near Herkimer, New York. It was incorporated as a village in 1857, but the charter was allowed to lapse; it was again incorporated as a village in 1865, and was chartered as a city in 1873.