Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rapids yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Rapids is a hamlet (also a census-designated place) located in the Town of Lockport in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, Rapids had a population of 1,584. The ZIP code for Rapids is 14094. Rapids is located on the south edge of both the town and the county so that a small part of the community is in the Town of Clarence in Erie County. The hamlet lies at the junction of Tonawanda Creek Road, Rapids Road, and Goodrich Road. The community consists of a fire hall, a church, a few businesses, and many residences, primarily in Niagara County. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Its first post office opened in 1848. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,636 to 1,584 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Rapids, 1891–1906
Passages that mention Rapids, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan ... (With an appendix--History of Lowell, Michigan)1891 · page 161Read the page →
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1873. January 23 the Board of Supervisors and the Grand Rapids Bridge Company came to an agreement in the matter of toll on the Bridge street bridge, in which the bridge charter was extended nine years, with the right to take toll of all except foot passengers, the company to keep the bridge in repair and surrender it at the
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History of the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan ... (With an appendix--History of Lowell, Michigan)1891Read the page →
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The first bridge across Grand River in Grand Rapids was that at Bridge street, built in 1845, under authority given to the Supervisors of Kent County by act of the Legislature, March g, 1844. The grant was for "a free bridge," with an appropriation therefor as follows: "That six thousand acres of land be, and the same is, hereby appropri-
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History of Grand Rapids and its industries1906 · page 819Read the page →
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February 16, 1842, the name of the township was changed from Kent to Grand Rapids. The township of Walker was incorporated December 30, 1837, and originally included all that part Digitized by Google
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
