Updates on the Alma Powell Branch Library can be found on kpl.gov/pow

Education

Child Welfare League

Although a weak economy and high unemployment marked the beginning of 1914, an air of hope was spreading across the US. In Kalamazoo, the newly formed Child Welfare League seized upon an idea to acquire needed funds and hopefully to help provide jobs

Dawntreader School

The Parkway Program Model The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, published in 1952, is a high fantasy novel for children by the author C.S. Lewis. Inspired by Lewis’ tale of…

Kalamazoo Christian Schools

Ebenezer Christian School, 820 John Street, c. 1940. Local History Photo P-747 The first Kalamazoo Christian school was established in 1877 by the Walnut Street Church of Kalamazoo. Several other…

Kalamazoo College

The Michigan and Huron Institute was granted a charter from the territorial legislature of Michigan on 22 April 1833. Now, over 170 years later, Kalamazoo College is known far and wide as one of the premiere liberal arts colleges in the nation. The..

Kalamazoo School Case

“Old Union School,” Kalamazoo’s first high school, which stood on S. Westnedge Avenue on the site of the present Old Central High School. What is a public school education? Most…

Michigan Female Seminary

The Michigan Female Seminary was established in 1856 under the auspices of the Presbyterian Synod of Michigan. Located on a 31 acre bluff overlooking Gull Road and what is now Riverview Drive, the Seminary stood as a landmark in the city for more...

Parsons Business College

Parsons Business College was a small independent business school that came into prominence soon after the Civil War. Although the name has changed, the school lives on as one of Kalamazoo’s most important learning institutions.

Rural Schools of Kalamazoo County

Once there were six or eight one-room schools in every township. They are still fondly remembered by area residents, but all have disappeared under the pressure of expanding population, improved…

Spear, Marion R.

In the early years of the last century, a new approach to the treatment of mental and physical illnesses unfolded. Rooted in the earlier “Arts and Crafts” and “Moral Treatment”…

University of Michigan Branch

Yes, there really was once a University of Michigan branch here in Kalamazoo, and it occupied the northeast corner of Bronson Park (then called Academy Square), where S. Rose and…

Wilbur Home and School

The Wilbur Home and School for the Feeble-Minded Administered by Dr. Charles T. Wilbur, a physician who had been born and educated in Massachusetts, his Wilbur Home and School for…

Share: Facebook Twitter