BIG RAPIDS  , a

city and the county-seat of Mecosta county, Michigan, U.S.A., on both sides of the Muskegon river, 56 m . N. by E. of Grand Rapids, in the west central portion of the lower peninsula . Pop . (189o) 5303; (1900) 4686, of whom 881 were foreign-born; (1910, U . S. census) 4519 . It is served by the Pere Marquette and the Grand Rapids & Indiana railways . Big Rapids is the seat of the Ferris Institute (opened 1884, incorporated 1894), a large private co-educational school, founded by W . N . Ferris . The river, which falls 16 ft. within the city limits, is dammed a short distance south of the city, and 16,000 horse-power is generated, part of which is transmitted to the city . The principal manufactures are lumber and furniture, and saw-filing and filing-room machinery . Big Rapids, named from the falls of the Muskegon here, was settled in 1854, was platted in 1859 and was chartered as a city in 1869 .