Our History - Over 100 Years Serving West Michigan!

We believe that Drs. Gundersen & Zuker is the oldest Optometric practice in continuous operation in the State of Michigan, and it is likely one of the oldest practices in the country.

Muskegon Office

Dr. Ernest Eimer began his practice in downtown Muskegon sometime in the 1890's. Dr. Louis Jullie purchased the practice from Dr. Eimer in 1941 and cared for patients for forty years. For a period of time, Dr. Jullie was in the Medical Arts building on the corner of Clay and Second Streets and later purchased a building on West Western Avenue where the current Muskegon Holiday Inn is located. Dr. David Gundersen and Dr. Ronald Zuker purchased the practice from Dr. Jullie in 1979. In 1983-84, Dr. Jullie's building was purchased by the City of Muskegon to be demolished to build the Muskegon Harbor Hilton (now the Holiday Inn). Drs. Gundersen and Zuker were fortunate to purchase their current building at that time and simply move down the block to our current location at 442 West Western Avenue. Our building is now the last remaining original building on the north side of this block of Western Avenue.  We are excited to be a part of the revitalized Downtown Muskegon.

Montague / Whitehall Office

Dr. B. Wayne Gillan established his private Optometry practice in Montague in 1949 after graduating from the Illinois College of Optometry.  His first office was in the old Franklin House and in 1952 he moved into the Montague Professional Building across the street from Todd’s Pharmacy.  At that time, the Professional Building was occupied by Dr. Gillan, Dr. Barnes (a family practice doctor), an attorney, an insurance agency and a barber.  Dr. Spencer Weersing started his dental practice at that location in the 1960’s and eventually Dr. Gillan and Dr. Weersing were the only two remaining in the building.  Dr. Gillan was both very community oriented and professionally oriented.  He served as the mayor of Montague from 1975 through 1984 and also served on the State Board of Examiners for Optometry from 1977 through 1984.  Drs. Gundersen and Zuker purchased Dr. Gillan’s practice in 1986, upon his retirement.  Due to space constraints and the inability to expand at the Montague Professional Building, Drs. Gundersen and Zuker moved to a larger office, their current location in Whitehall, in April 2009.  We celebrate 60 years of serving the eye-care needs of the White Lake area this year.

Shelby Office

Drs. Gundersen and Zuker opened their Shelby office in the spring of 1980.  The first office was in an old house at the corner of Oceana Drive and Bevier Street (the current location of Dr. Steven Lessens’ office).  When Dr. Lessens built his office and excavated for his parking lot, the house was moved over to Pine Street and Drs. Gundersen and Zuker rented space from Dr. Lessens on the lower level.  We moved to our present location at 24 S. Michigan in 1986.  The current location is formerly the Osborne house, which was renovated into several doctors’ offices at that time.  The other doctors seeing patients at the new office included ear, nose, and throat specialists, a urologist, and a podiatrist.  The other specialists have discontinued seeing patients at the Shelby office.  In 2010, Drs. Gundersen and Zuker will celebrate 30 years of serving the eye-care needs of Oceana County residents.