Best Web Design in Ferrysburg, MI (2026)

Web Design for Ferrysburg, Michigan

The smallest of West Michigan's 'Tri-Cities' alongside Grand Haven and Spring Lake, Ferrysburg sits on a sandy peninsula where the Grand River empties into Lake Michigan in Ottawa County. Founded by the pioneering Ferry family in the 1850s and built on 19th-century iron works and boiler shops, it still hosts Johnston Boiler Company (in business since 1864) next to towering forested dunes, waterfront condos, and marine terminals. That blend of heavy industry and protected dune preserves gives it a working-lakeshore feel unlike the resort strips nearby.

AppWT serves Ferrysburg and the surrounding Michigan area from Livonia, Michigan.

About Ferrysburg

Also known as. The Ottawa Peninsula. A Tri-Cities Community (with Grand Haven and Spring Lake).

History. The Ottawa and Potawatomi peoples inhabited the region before European settlement. Settlement began in the 1830s under Rev. William Montague Ferry and his family, who had earlier helped found neighboring Grand Haven. On January 26, 1857, Col. William M. Ferry Jr. and Thomas White Ferry platted the Village of Ferrysburg, named for the family. Industry grew early: William M. Ferry Jr. built a sawmill in 1849, and the Ottawa Iron Works (Ferry & Chandler) opened in 1855 to make steam engines and machinery for the lumber industry. In 1864, J. W. Johnston founded a boiler-works making marine boilers, barges, and tugs used to tow log rafts on the Grand River. Ferrysburg incorporated as a city in 1963 and merged its schools into the Grand Haven Area Public Schools district the same year.

Local economy. Manufacturing anchor Johnston Boiler Company has operated in Ferrysburg since 1864 and builds industrial firetube and Scotch marine boilers, a direct descendant of the 19th-century Johnston boiler-works. A mixed-use shoreline where waterfront condominiums and public parks sit alongside manufacturing plants and marine shipping terminals. Part of the Tri-Cities economy shared with Grand Haven and Spring Lake, giving it a working-port character rather than a pure resort strip. Public education is provided through the Grand Haven Area Public Schools; the 1954 Ferrysburg school became Lake Hills Elementary.

Culture and community. Outdoor recreation dominates: hiking the forested dunes, plus sledding and cross-country skiing at Coast Guard Park and the Kitchel-Lindquist-Hartger Dunes Preserve in winter. Boating and paddling on Spring Lake, the Grand River, and Lake Michigan. Old Boys' Brewhouse, founded in 1997 on the shore of Spring Lake, is a well-known area brewpub tied to the community. The Tri-Cities Connector Bike Path (opened 2001) links Ferrysburg with Spring Lake Village and Grand Haven for cyclists and walkers. Sits just north of Grand Haven, home of the annual Coast Guard Festival, within the same lakeshore community.

What makes Ferrysburg distinct. Co-founder Thomas White Ferry went on to become a U.S. Senator from Michigan and President pro tempore of the Senate, presiding over the disputed 1876 Hayes-Tilden electoral count. Pioneer Hezekiah Smith's farm around Smith's Bayou was a refuge for freed and escaped people traveling the Underground Railroad toward Canada. Most Ferrysburg addresses actually use the Spring Lake ZIP code 49456; the city's own 49409 ZIP is limited to PO Box service. Ferrysburg shares its police department with Spring Lake Township despite being an independent city. It holds one of the largest remaining wooded-dune assemblages in central West Michigan. With a median age around 52, it skews notably older, reflecting its waterfront and retirement appeal.

Ferrysburg Landmarks and Local Life

• North Ottawa Dunes County Park - a large forested-dune tract with about 10 miles of trails that help form a contiguous 1,800-acre protected corridor connecting to P.J. Hoffmaster State Park
• Kitchel-Lindquist-Hartger Dunes Preserve - begun in 1971 when the Lindquists and Harold Hartger donated 60 acres, now owned and run by the City of Ferrysburg
• Coast Guard City Park - on land conveyed from a former U.S. Coast Guard rifle range in 1973, with ball fields, courts, a dog park, and dune access near Lake Michigan
• Smith's Bayou and the historic Smith's Bridge - named for pioneer settler Hezekiah Smith
• The mouth of the Grand River at Lake Michigan.
• Johnston Boiler Company on Pine Street - a landmark of the city's industrial heritage