All About Kalamazoo History
Award-winning Local History Articles
People & places that helped shape Kalamazoo
Learn about the history of your library, discover groundbreaking local businesses, dive deep into Kalamazoo’s rich musical and sports history, visit historic neighborhoods, explore commercial buildings and stately homes, and meet the people who helped make Kalamazoo what it is today.
Researched and written by Kalamazoo Public Library staff.
Recent Additions
- Upjohn Company Office Building: Built by Detroit architect Albert Kahn in 1935
- Henry Gilbert House: The founder of the Gazette’s Queen Anne residence on Lovell Street
- Vietnam War and Kalamazoo: The faraway conflict had a local impact
- Hawks Grove & the LaBelle Resort: Early summertime playgrounds at Gull Lake
- Alonzo T. Prentice House: Vine Neighborhood home exhibits Victorian and Gothic features
- Martin W. Roberts House: Designed and built by the 19th century architect
- Kalamazoo: A Typical Midwestern City: City showcases itself at the Berlin Industrial Fair
- Bassett House (154 South Burdick): Italianate-style home (built 1858)
- Kalamazoo Motor Company: Early Kalamazoo automobile dealership
- McDuffee Home (1012 West Main Street): Queen Anne-style home (c.1890-1958)
- Horace Haines House (1003 West Main Street): Queen Anne-style home (1887-1974)
- William L. LaCrone: The city’s first champion of parks
- LaVal Records / H. Victor Taylor: Kalamazoo-based Black Music & Comedy Record Label
- Kalamazoo Tank & Silo Company: One of the city’s longest operating manufacturers
- 2360 Sheffield Drive: A modern house for the post-war family
- Harold D. Landes: Kalamazoo painter and patron of the arts
- Annexation: For more than a century, through annexation, Kalamazoo’s borders expanded
- Congregation of Moses Synagogue: Located at 431 E. South Street since early 1900s
- The W.G. Bartholomew House: One of the city’s oldest homes
- Garden Clubs: Blossoming in the 1910s, garden clubs have a long history in Kalamazoo
- The Colored School: For ten years, KPS operated a segregated school in Kalamazoo
- Rising Floodwaters: Seasonal flooding in Kalamazoo since 1850
- William L. Welsh Terrace: Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983
- Las Amigas Club: African American women’s social club established after World War II
- Arend Bos & Sons: The last of Kalamazoo’s original blacksmiths
- The Blizzard of 1967: One of the worst winter storms in Michigan history
- Kalamazoo Christian Schools: Parochial education since the 1870s
- Paul W.H. Rawls: A student with a promising future
- Women’s Labor in the Progressive Era: Women enter factories in the early 20th century
- Abner D. Doubleday: Civil War veteran and paper manufacturer, but not the inventor of baseball
- John Gibbs House: Built with the money from the California Gold Rush of 1849
- National Register of Historic Places: Preserving the city’s heritage
- Henry L. Vander Horst: Kalamazoo’s 20th Century Builder
- Texas Township: The once sparsely populated township continues to grow
- Brownell and Hopkins: Long lost stations on the Kal-Haven railroad line
- Bush & Paterson: The partnership that built 19th century Kalamazoo
- New Deal Projects: WPA money funded Great Depression-era improvement projects
- Chester Z. Bronson: Existing article extensively revised & updated w/ new information and new images
- Kalamazoo City Lines Company: The city’s mass transit option for over three decades
- Pioneer Medicine: Sometimes referred to as the ‘saddlebag era’ of the medical profession
- William S. Lawrence House: First the home of an industrialist, it has been the Park Club since 1926
- Forrest M. Hill: Successful teamster who laid the foundation for the Douglass Community Association
- Frieda Blankenburg: One of Kalamazoo’s most actively engaged civic leaders
- The Humphrey Brothers: A family of ingenious inventors and entrepreneurs
- Salvation Army Building: Built along N. Rose St. in 1926 for the Salvation Army
- Ferraro Studio: Lance Ferraro was Kalamazoo’s post-war photographer
- Olympia Brown: Pioneering suffragist and the first woman to be ordained in America
- Mansion Row: W. Michigan Avenue was once home to grand, opulent mansions
- Kalamazoo Infant Welfare Station No. 1: Keeping the well babies well
- Streetcar Service in Kalamazoo: Electric Cars & Interurbans (1893-1932)
- Streetcar Service in Kalamazoo: The “Horse Car” Era (1884-1893)
- Ada Gilmore Chaffee: A pioneering artist who helped to form the Provincetown Printers
- America’s Pansy Capital: Large and small-scale farmers grew fields of pansies from 1920-1960
- Robinson Photography Studio: A family business of image makers
- Academy of Music: Kalamazoo Opera House & Theater (1882–1919) (updated)
- The Dutch Influence: The 19th century arrival and immigration of the Dutch
- Westwood Neighborhood: Part of both the township and the city
- David S. Walbridge: Local shipping magnate and leader of the Republican Party
- Wallace F. W. Stafford: Kalamazoo County’s first African American elected official
- Julius Caesar Burrows House: The longtime Congressman’s home on 315 Woodward Avenue
- Kalamazoo, Lake Shore & Chicago Railway: The Fruit Belt Line connected Kalamazoo with South Haven
- Beecher, Kymer & Patterson: One of Kalamazoo’s major booksellers
- Yorkville: Ross Township’s long ago hub
- Margaret Minott: a champion for educational equality and justice
- Oakwood Elementary School: Built in 1963 at 3410 Laird Street in the Oakwood Neighborhood
- Kalamazoo Paper Mills: Learn where the now-vanished mill buildings were located
- Children’s Home: Founded by Jane A. Dewing as a home for orphaned young women
- George Torrey Jr.: Pioneer newspaperman and local historian
- Kalamazoo and the Ku Klux Klan: The white supremacist organization moved into Kalamazoo in 1923
- Latvian Immigration Story: In 1950, a church helped to bring over hundreds of displaced Latvians
- U.S. Congressmen: Representing Kalamazoo County in Washington, D.C.
- Fire Houses: Built in the early 20th century, these stations were vital resources
- Globe Casket Company: One of the first companies to make cloth-covered coffins
- Hugh J. McHugh Building: The Irish contractor’s building mixes Italianate and Queen Anne styles
- Vine Street School: Since 1881, the Vine Street School has been located at Oak and Vine street
- University of Michigan Branch: In 1838, a local branch of U of M was established
- Allendale: Popular summertime resort on Gull Lake
- The Kalamazoo House: The young village’s first hotel and tavern
- Hezekiah G. Wells: The lawyer who invited Abraham Lincoln to Kalamazoo
- Milwood Neighborhood: Co-named for two 19th century families that farmed southeast of the city
- Kalamazoo Street Names: Hunting down the backstories of street names is not easy
- Names on the Land: Dictionary of Kalamazoo County place names
Awards
Kalamazoo Public Library received an Award of Merit from the Kalamazoo Historic Preservation Commission for the “All About Kalamazoo History” section of its website, as well as a prestigious State History Award for “outstanding contributions to the appreciation and understanding of Michigan history.
