Local History

Music

Snow, Leta G.

From the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame: Leta Snow (1880-1980), Kalamazoo’s “patron saint of fine music” was accomplished at every level of community endeavor and shared the lessons of her…

Ragtime in Kalamazoo

More than 27 million people visited the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, yet most were unaware of a new type of music being played there that would forever alter the face of popular entertainment. This new “ragged” rhythm soon became known as ragtime.

Roberson, Bryce

For a dozen years, Bryce Roberson worked as a musician and sound engineer for Chess Records in Chicago. He later moved to Kalamazoo and established Uncle Dirty’s Sound Machine Studios, where he recorded many of West Michigan’s best-known musicians.

Roots of Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra

The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra (KSO) officially began in 1921 under the shrewd leadership of business manager and president Leta G. Snow, with Chester Z. Bronson directing. But this was not Kalamazoo's first symphony orchestra nor was it Chester...

Schippers, Thomas

Born in Portage Township to Agnes and Peter Schippers in 1930, one of Kalamazoo’s most famous musical exports was the conductor Thomas Schippers, a popular figure whose career rose to…

Social Music in Nineteenth Century Kalamazoo

Before the days of the big bands; before jazz and ragtime; while military bands ruled street parades and open air concerts, Kalamazoo's many dance orchestras filled nineteenth century assembly halls and ballrooms with the sweet strains of the...

Systems & Technology in Music, Inc.

If you were a musician during the 1970s, searching for your own unique sound, you might have encountered some of the nifty effects devices made by a small but vital Kalamazoo-based…

That Gal in Kalamazoo

It was during World War II that a song helped immortalize Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Glenn Miller Orchestra introduced “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo” in the 1942 musical Orchestra Wives (20th Century-Fox Pictures) starring George Montgomery, Ann...

Trombley, George L. “Lem”

During the early years of the 20th century, George “Lem” Trombley became one of Kalamazoo's favorite musicians. His ragtime-era compositions sold thousands and his performances were inspiring, but his real dream was to organize a symphony orchestra.

Wallace S. White

Much of what is known about Kalamazoo’s outward appearance during the mid to late nineteenth century—its buildings, its citizens, and its events—can be attributed to the...

William S. Bronson (1854-1914)

William S. Bronson was an extremely active, highly regarded Kalamazoo musician who was involved with several early musical organizations throughout West Michigan during the decades around the turn of the twentieth century...