Kalamazoo: A Typical Midwestern City

Cold War Effort for Hearts & Minds

In 1958, city officials and those connected with local business were invited to participate in the Berlin Industrial Fair, showcasing Kalamazoo’s success as a thriving, mid-sized, Midwestern city. The invitation came a year after a similar exhibition was organized in Manchester, England, called “Kalamazoo—Window of America”. In both cases, major products made in Kalamazoo were sent overseas to highlight and promote both the city’s economic success story, and features of its civic life. The exhibition was expected to have over a quarter million visitors. Various paper products, lighters, hot-water heaters, a special German-language edition of the Kalamazoo Gazette, and musical instruments were featured as part of the exhibition. But so too, were aspects of American social life that were promoted explicitly to counter the narratives and propaganda emanating from European nations under Soviet authority.

Sponsored by the United States Information Service and the U.S. Department of Labor, Kalamazoo was chosen over Topeka, Toledo and Evanston as representative of a medium-sized American city. A model of the Berlin exhibition was created by New York designer Will Burtin in June of 1958, and displayed at the Harris Hotel by the Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce for Kalamazooans to view, and for local business leaders to assess which locally-made products should be chosen. In addition to featuring products made in Kalamazoo, the exhibit was intentionally designed to emphasize the positive role that American labor played in Kalamazoo’s growth, and in doing so, whitewashed any acknowledgment of discord between workers and management. This idealized picture of social harmony also excluded any mentioning of the prevalence of racial discrimination in the local labor market.

“We expect this exhibit on Kalamazoo to draw more than a quarter of a million visitors, many of whom will be from East Germany. This is the group we particularly hope to reach. For that reason we are emphasizing the place of American labor in a typical middlewestern city. We will attempt to show the workers of both East and West Germany that the American working man and woman work at jobs which pay well and offer opportunity to those who work hard to gain it. We will show that the American worker is not chained to his job for life, as are those under Red domination. Freedom of movement, voice in labor-management, dignity and opportunity are the mark of modern American labor.”

–Kalamazoo Gazette, 19 June 1958

Both company management and selected workers traveled along with Mayor Glenn S. Allen Jr. to Berlin as part of the local delegation. Neil Van Stelle, Labor Council President of the local AFL-CIO, and mailman Robert Cooper (past President of the Kalamazoo Letter Carriers Assoc.) were chosen to tell their personal stories as part of the exhibition theme. Also in attendance were William Race, President of Sutherland Paper Company, and Theodore McCarty of Gibson Inc. Julius Bellson and Rembert “Rem” Wall, two employees of Gibson, Inc., were also flown to Berlin to play Gibson-manufactured instruments to exposition attendees.

“The pictures will include photo stories on some 25 typical Kalamazooans; presentations of the city’s unusual cultural, religious, industrial, governmental and educational background; and a vast array of the things Kalamazoo men and women make in about 50 local plants and businesses.”

–Kalamazoo Gazette, 17 August 1958

In total, approximately, 500,000 exposition visitors wandered through Kalamazoo’s exhibit. Kalamazoo Gazette reporter Dan Ryan, who was dispatched to Germany to cover the fair, returned to Kalamazoo and spoke about his observations.

Written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, March 2024