308 West North Street

A Community Building on the Move

For more than six decades, the single-story brick ranch-style building at 308 West North Street has been a centerpiece of care and guidance for residents of Kalamazoo’s Northside Neighborhood. It began as a funeral home on nearby Douglas Avenue, and was later given new life in a new location as the New Direction Outreach Center on West North Street. Now, Kalamazoo Public Library will give the building new life once again as a temporary home for the Alma Powell Branch Library.

Harper Funeral Home

In February 1969, Robert Selvy Harper, Jr. (1936-2021) established his funeral home business at 617 Douglas Avenue in a house just south of North Street, next door to the old Engine House No. 5 fire station. With a business degree from Howard University and a degree in mortuary science from Eckles College in Philadelphia, the Detroit native chose Kalamazoo as a place where he could raise his family, own his own business, and showcase his talents as a community leader.

Harper’s business grew rapidly and he soon found the need for larger quarters. In October 1970, Harper requested that two apartment-zoned lots on the northwest corner of Douglas and Jefferson be rezoned as commercial. That’s where Harper intended to build a new building for his funeral business, while continuing his family residence in the existing home. His request was approved and on Sunday, 29 August 1971, the “all new” Harper Funeral Home saw its formal opening at 521 Douglas Avenue.

By the 1990s, Harper’s business had grown substantially, and the family (by then incorporated with his son, Robert S. Harper III) looked again to expand. A new larger facility was erected adjacent to the existing funeral home, which opened in December 1999. This meant Harper’s 1971 building would need to be removed to make way for additional parking. But rather than demolish the older structure, Harper chose instead to donate the building to the Faith Temple Church of God to be used for church programs and outreach efforts.

New Direction Outreach Center

In October 1999, the 1,700 square foot former funeral home was moved from its original location on Douglas Avenue to a vacant lot on the northeast corner of Park and West North streets. The following spring, the New Direction Outreach Center (NDOC) opened its doors at 308 West North Street, offering parenting workshops, mentoring programs for at-risk youth, counseling services for women, church programs, and other services.

“NDOC is a non-profit, 501C(3) federally approved organization, committed to impacting and improving the quality of life of those less fortunate, by offering a variety of programs and services to low income and at-risk youth, adults, seniors and families. Two anchor programs include a feeding program for homeless and hungry residents, and a computer lab.”

—Faith Temple Church of God of Kalamazoo, Michigan

In 2013, the NDOC moved to a larger 46,000 square foot facility on South Westnedge Avenue. Since that time the North Street building has been used by a variety of local organizations, including the Society for History and Racial Equity (S.H.A.R.E.), Kalamazoo Public Safety (KDPS), and most recently, the Northside Association for Community Development (NACD).

Alma Powell Branch Library

In June 2024, it was announced that Kalamazoo Public Library, in partnership with the NACD, would begin renovating the building at 308 West North Street as a temporary location for its Alma Powell Branch Library, which had recently vacated its space inside the Douglass Community Center. The planned renovations would “ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)” and “meet standard security and safety requirements in line with the services and conditions provided at other KPL branch locations” (KPL). The library intends to use the North Street building for a period of time while plans for a new permanent location serving Kalamazoo’s Northside neighborhood are being developed.

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, July 2024