Grand Rapids is the second-largest city in the state of Michigan.
The Polar Express[]
Grand Rapids, Michigan is the hometown of Hero Boy and Billy. The Polar Express stops at both of their houses, the latter of which is the last stop before the North Pole. At some point between the two stops, it passes by the Herpolsheimer's department store.
At the Communications Room, one of the elves tells another the last present is going to Grand Rapids, which peaks Hero Boy's interest. This is the only time in the film where the name of the town is mentioned. Like in the film, the train stops at Hero Boy's house in the original book, but it never states if the house is in Grand Rapids.
In real life, Grand Rapids is the hometown of Chris Van Allsburg, the author of the original book. A lot of the city's elements in the film were taken from its real-life counterpart, including Herpolsheimer's, which is a real-life department store that had locations around Michigan before going out of business in the 1980's. Hero Boy's house is based on Allsburg's own childhood home. Some elements came from the city of Chicago, Illinois, the hometown of director Robert Zemeckis.
