East Grand Rapids was first settled in the early 1830s by the Reed Family from New York, New York. Miss Sophia Reed and Miss Euphemia Davis opened a school in 1834 near Reeds Lake. Close by, in 1835, perhaps one of the first schoolhouses built in the Grand River Valley, was built near Reeds Lake, with Francis Prescott as the teacher. Originally part of Paris Township, South of Hall Street, and Grand Rapids Township, North of Hall Street, residents voted to establish the Village of East Grand Rapids in 1891. The village was incorporated into a Home Rule City in 1926 when the population was approximately 1,300.