The dam was built in the late 1890s by the Army Corps of Engineers to improve navigation on the Wabash River.

The Wabash Navigation Company was originally commissioned to build the Grand Rapids Dam.

[3] Eventually the state of Indiana allowed the Wabash Navigation Company in 1849 to construct the first timber crib structure as part of it.

As it happened, he recommended a site next to property that he owned, which would give him access to the water power provided by the dam.

In 1922, Frederick Hinde Zimmerman built the Grand Rapids Hotel next to the dam to take advantage of this attraction.