[2] The city is named for the 3.5-mile (5.6 km) long rapids in the Mississippi River which was the uppermost limit of practical steamboat travel during the late 19th century.

[5] The Forest History Center,[6] located in Grand Rapids, MN, is a State Historic Site and a living history museum that recreates life as it was in a turn of the 20th century logging camp.

Miles of nature trails, educational naturalist programming, and an interpretive museum are also located on the site.

Old Central School, located in downtown Grand Rapids, was built in 1895 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style of architecture.

A community effort restored the building in 1984 and it now serves as a location for commerce and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the opposite direction, U.S. Highway 169 heads up the Mesabi Range passing through Hibbing and several smaller towns along the way until it reaches the city of Virginia.

The city of Grand Rapids has a Humid continental climate (Köppen Climate Classification Dfb) with warm summers and long, cold winters, typical of its location on the Mesabi Iron Range.

[19] Grand Rapids is represented at the federal and state level by: Historically, the local economy of Grand Rapids was based on timber harvesting; and, to this day, Blandin Paper Mill—now owned by the Finnish-based UPM paper company—has downtown paper-making facilities.

Ainsworth (formerly Potlach) produced oriented strand board and was located just outside the city limits until ceasing operations in September 2006.

Although technically and geographically a member of the Iron Range, Grand Rapids and its economy has been historically based on paper manufacturing and other wood products.

Although founded in Marcell, ASVI (All Season Vehicles Inc), now Yanmar Compact Equipment North America, has been a contributor to the Grand Rapids economy since the mid-1990's manufacturing compact track loaders at its Grand Rapids facility.

The contemporary economy also boasts a large tourist footing, with many local resorts, four golf courses, over one million acres (4,000 km2) of public and industrial forestlands that provide excellent regional hunting, and more than 1,000 lakes for fishing.

It also is the service center for 46,000 people due to a large seasonal and weekend population of summer residences on surrounding lakes, and a number of smaller bedroom communities located near Grand Rapids.