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 Pere 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 Pere Marquette railway) and iron foundries, and manufactures wagons, pottery, furniture and clothing . The water-works 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 .