The record
The Meijer segment on the Allendale campus, 17 km west of the university's downtown buildings.
Grand Valley State University's segment is one of three that the grocer Frederik H. C. Meijer bought from the Berlin Wall Commemorative Group and gave to Grand Rapids institutions; the other two went to the Van Andel Museum Center and the Gerald R. Ford Museum. By the Federal Foundation's account it was set into a base outside the university's James H. Zumberge Library and dedicated at a university convocation on 1 September 1992 by the president, Arend D. Lubbers, and by Meijer, who had never been able to go to college himself. A bronze plaque in English and German dedicates it to the German people's strength, determination and desire to be free. Lapham's Quarterly places it outside the Mary Idema Pew Library.
The university has buildings both downtown and at Allendale, 17 km west, and the two inventories put the segment in different places: the Federal Foundation's pin is on the Allendale campus, while the Berlin Wall Archive's listing, which names only the university, is pinned downtown. Every account read here gives the university one segment, so the two listings are one site.
How did it get here?
Given by Frederik H. C. Meijer, who bought it with two others from the Berlin Wall Commemorative Group and gave one each to the Van Andel Museum Center, the Gerald R. Ford Museum and Grand Valley State University; dedicated on 1 September 1992.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #201 and by the Berlin Wall Archive as #152.
List of Berlin Wall segments — Wikipedia ↗
A segment of the wall on the campus at Grand Valley State University, Allendale.
General referenceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Grand Rapids, MI – Gerald Ford Library and Museum — The Wall Net ↗
Meijer donated segments to the Van Andel Museum Center and Grand Valley State University as well as the Ford museum.
General referenceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Where Have All the Fragments Gone? ↗
Grand Rapids holds three fragments, all bought by Fred Meijer from the Berlin Wall Commemorative Group: one at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, one at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum and one outside the Mary Idema Pew Library at Grand Valley State University, dedicated in 1992 with a plaque reading that the wall should remind us of the gift of freedom.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
Meijer gave one of the segments he bought from the Berlin Wall Commemorative Group to Grand Valley State University; it was set into a base outside the James H. Zumberge Library and unveiled at a university convocation on 1 September 1992 by the president, Arend D. Lubbers, and Meijer, with a bronze plaque in English and German.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 201
Berlin Wall Archive ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 152
No photograph of this one has been published. If you have taken one, or know when it arrived or who gave it, we would like to hear. Contribute to this record