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Local History

Organizations

Alphadelphia Association

It was sustained for a mere four years, from 1844 to 1848, but history has not forgotten the effort put forward by a small collection of quixotic people situated in…

Children's Home

Officially incorporated in 1888, the Children’s Home was founded by one of Kalamazoo’s most eminent families, the Dewing’s (William Goss and Jane Amelia Tuttle).

Garden Clubs

The activities surrounding garden clubs and individual gardeners have been an established presence in the area for well over a century.

Kalamazoo and the Ku Klux Klan

If we are to be even marginally truthful with ourselves, inquiries about who we are and where we came from must also include a rendering of the warts and the…

Kalamazoo Home for the Aged

Today we have elder care housing facilities for citizens who can no longer live alone or with the help of family members. Yet, such public welfare institutions have not always…

Ladies' Library Association

The Kalamazoo Ladies' Library Association was the first woman’s club organized in Michigan and the third in the nation. Members held meetings in various places around the village between 1852 and 1879, when local builder Fred Bush completed...

Las Amigas Club

Organized on 28 February 1948 the African American women’s group Las Amigas (The Friends) Club emerged to provide a variety of civic services and social programs, mostly focusing on supporting young adults and their educational pursuits.

Local Black Fraternal Orders

Fraternal orders were at one time one of the most important social phenomena in American cultural life after the U.S. Civil War. Local blacks were just as interested in organizing within these clubs for the services they provided.