Local History

Transportation

Gull Prairie Road

After Bronson Village was established in 1831, “a diagonal road from Gull Prairie to Bronson” was surveyed, likely following the course of an ancient trail laid down long ago by the area’s native inhabitants. The trail is now known as Gull Road.

1924 Michigan Central Railroad Derailment

Early in the morning on September 24, 1924 a westbound Michigan Central passenger train derailed near Kalamazoo after striking a vehicle that had become immobilized on a private crossing at the entrance to the Hawthorne Paper mill. The resulting...

Chicago, Kalamazoo, & Saginaw Railroad

Kalamazoo’s own railroad began in November 1871 as the dream of a narrow gage railroad running from Kalamazoo into the north woods. By 1883 the firm had been recognized as the Chicago, Kalamazoo, & Saginaw Railroad Company, the “Cuss, Kick & Swear.”

Downtown Parking

One might ask why a mundane issue such as parking warrants examination. Yet parking in cities across the United States was a highly contentious issue following World War II. The rapid rise of the automobile jammed downtown streets with traffic...

Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad

In 1870, as if Kalamazoo could not get enough railroads, the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad (GR&I), bound for the far north and its timber wealth, gave Kalamazoo another north-south railroad and another connection with Grand Rapids.

Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad

By 1869, Kalamazoo stood at the important crossing point of railroads connecting Detroit, Chicago, and Grand Rapids, the second largest city in the state. Then came its first home-grown rail line with the construction of the Kalamazoo & South Haven.

Kalamazoo City Lines Co.

A comprehensive history of Kalamazoo’s various modes of transportation would be incomplete without a brief summary of the Kalamazoo City Lines Company, the city’s primary mass transit option from the…

Kalamazoo Motor Company

Automobile sales were booming in 1910. More than 25 makes of cars were being sold in Kalamazoo by that time, including several electrics. That’s when a group of Kalamazoo businessmen established the Kalamazoo Motor Company auto dealership.

Kalamazoo Railroad Velocipede Company

The railroad velocipede was a bicycle-like contraption that saw a variety of uses, from railroad track inspection to personal transportation. One of the world’s largest producers of such vehicles was the Kalamazoo Railroad Velocipede Company.

Kalamazoo, Lake Shore & Chicago Railway

Originally planned as an electric interurban, the KLS&C was designed to connect Kalamazoo with the lakeside ports in South Haven. The line became a rather roundabout yet useful steam train that rambled through Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

Kalamazoo's Railroads

It was the advent of the railroad that truly made Kalamazoo a crossroads of Southwest Michigan. Steam railroads connected the city to the large urban centers of Chicago and Detroit while Inter-urban rail lines connected Kalamazoo to the rural goods..

Lake Shore & Michigan Southern

The city’s second railroad was a feeder line for the Southern – now called the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. The railroad advanced on the city by leaps and bounds and is a good example of how bigger railroads gobbled up smaller ones.

Lindbergh Field

Today, the local airport hub is called The Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (coined in 1989), but as with most institutions that have endured almost a century, the airport has undergone…

Michigan Automobile Company

The Michigan Automobile Company was the first Kalamazoo-based automobile manufacturer to emerge in 1902. Despite the company’s relatively short existence and limited success, it remains an important part of Kalamazoo’s manufacturing history.

Michigan Buggy Company

Few things better illustrate Kalamazoo’s rapid growth during the late nineteenth century than the rise of the city’s carriage industry. By 1887 eighteen firms produced approximately forty seven thousand horse-drawn vehicles sold nationwide. In...

Nazareth Academy Bus Line

With streetcar service lacking along Gull Road, investors formed the Nazareth Academy Bus Line in April 1905 and purchased a new motorized "Wagonette" from the Olds Motor Works of Detroit to serve the Nazareth community.

Plank Roads

As railroads expanded across the state of Michigan in the 1850s, those not adjacent to railroad lines still hoped to gain access to the new technology. The Michigan Central Railroad, connecting Kalamazoo to Chicago and Detroit by 1852, was of...

Streetcar Service in Kalamazoo (Electric Cars)

In 1893, Kalamazoo’s antiquated horsecar system was converted to modern electric power and its service area expanded. Electric streetcars served Kalamazooans until the height of the Great Depression when bus service began.

Streetcar Service in Kalamazoo (Horse Cars)

Kalamazoo was incorporated as a city in April 1884 while construction of a new horse-drawn streetcar system was getting underway. Horses ruled the streets for nearly a decade until the system was converted to electric power in 1893.