Park Building

132 W. South Street

Known over the years under three different monikers, the last one being the Park Building, downtown Kalamazoo became just a little less historical in 2006, when the five-story structure was demolished in order to build an office complex for a law firm and financial services company.

Erected just east of the Presbyterian Church at 132 W. South Street in 1903-04, the original occupant was the Kalamazoo Telegraph newspaper. The move into the new facility was only a short distance from their previous location, which was just around the corner on the 200 block of S. Burdick. Chief rival of the Kalamazoo Gazette throughout the 19th century, the Telegraph’s editors boasted that the new building would be the “best newspaper plant in Michigan outside Detroit.” Considered tall for its day, the Telegraph Building predated the rise of Kalamazoo’s “first skyscraper” by three years. Its height forced the fire department to purchase their first aerial ladder, one that could reach the building’s roofline if needed. Despite the Telegraph outselling the Gazette during the later years of the 1800s, the latter publication ultimately won the battle of circulation when it bought out its rival in 1916.

Ten years after the dissolution of the newspaper, the Telegraph Building was renamed the Pythian Building when the fifth floor was taken over by the Knights of Pythians Lodge. Over the decades, the building’s occupants were a broad assortment of businesses and professions. According to the 1937 city directory, its suites housed a lawyer, dentist, doctor, women’s clothing shop, pottery shop, an engraver, and a leather maker. For many years, Gilmore Enterprises used the handsome building for its headquarters. In 1962, the building was painted white, and the name was changed to the Park Building.

Written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, November 2025