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Kalamazoo College history
Kalamazoo College company history timeline
The charter bill for the school had been introduced in the Michigan Territorial Legislative Council on January 18, 1833, and signed into law by Governor George B. Porter on April 22, 1833.
Its charter was granted on April 22, 1833, the first school chartered by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan.
Another treaty with the Native Americans in 1833 arranged the exchange of five million acres of their land for $40,000 in trinkets and trappings.
In 1833, with the ambitious assistance of Judge Caleb Eldred, Merrill’s dream became real, and the history of Kalamazoo College formally began.
Built in 1835 by the county's first doctor, Nathan Thomas, this house once was a link in the network of safe houses that hid former slaves.
The first classroom building for the Michigan And Huron Institute,now Kalamazoo COLLEGE, was erected on this site between June and September of 1836.
Instruction at the Institute began in fall 1836.
At present the county boasts four institutions of higher learning - Kalamazoo College, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Davenport University. Its first building was erected in 1836 on Cedar Street between Park and Westnedge and over the years, the Institute evolved into the well-respected Kalamazoo College.
In 1837, the name of the fledgling college was changed to the "Kalamazoo Literary Institute" and school officials made their first attempt to secure recognition as a college from the state of Michigan.
In 1838, however, the University of Michigan opened the Kalamazoo Branch of the University of Michigan, providing a local competitor to the Literary Institute.
The first distinct era in the history of Kalamazoo College began in 1843 with the arrival of Doctor J. A. B. Stone and his wife Lucinda Hinsdale Stone.
In 1845 the present campus was purchased.
The first plank roads were built around 1845 with the most important one stretching from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids.
With the support of the Baptist church, classes at the Kalamazoo Theological Seminary began in 1848 with 11 students.
As early as 1850 an iron furnace to smelt bog ore was founded in the county.
The institution changed its name to Kalamazoo College in 1855, when it earned the ability to grant degrees.
Did you know? Abraham Lincoln's only visit to Michigan was at Bronson Park in 1856.
The Euro Society was founded in 1856 by Lucinda Stone and was the first literary society for women on campus and in the state of Michigan.
Kalamazoo College also served as a pioneer in coed education, granting its first degree to a woman, Catherine V. Eldred, in 1870.
In 1877, Kalamazoo College students published the first edition of The Index, a student-run newspaper that continues to publish today.
Did you know? Kalamazoo was once the manufacturing domain for Checker cabs, Gibson Guitars, Kalamazoo Stoves, Kalamazoo Corset, Kalamazoo Sled, and Shakespeare fishing rods and reels. It is the oldest women’s club in Michigan and the third oldest in the United States Did you know? The Ladies Library Association building, built in 1879, was the first to house a women’s club in the nation.
After the Civil War, paper manufacturers began setting up shop in the Kalamazoo River Valley and in 1885, a physician from Hastings, Michigan, invented a pill making machine and developed the first readily dissolvable pill.
Did you know? The United Kennel Club, the nation's second oldest and second largest all-breed dog registry, was founded in Kalamazoo in 1898.
Although not known as an athletic powerhouse in the football realm, K did play a memorable Thanksgiving Day game in 1898, which it won 17-0.
The most important events in the progress of Kalamazoo occurred when a new institution of higher education, now known as Western Michigan UniversityWestern Michigan University, was founded in 1903 as memorialized in the following historical marker::
Jamaican-born brothers Solomon and John Williamson were the first black graduates from "K," receiving their diplomas in 1911.
In 1929 Kalamazoo celebrated its centennial with a parade, pageant, and many speeches - see the Centennial Program Pages
Did you know? Kalamazoo Civic Auditorium was built in 1929, Michigan's oldest Civic Auditorium.
Did you know? The Kalamazoo Mall opened on August 19, 1959, as the nation's first downtown pedestrian mall.
For further information on the history of Kalamazoo County and its communities, the book "Kalamazoo and How it Grew" by Willis F. Dunbar, Western Michigan University, 1959, is very helpful.
In the early 1900s, three ships were also christened Kalamazoo. It's been called "The Paper City," for its many paper and cardboard mills; "The Celery City," after the crop once grown in the muck fields north, south, and east of town; and "The Mall City," after construction of the first outdoor pedestrian shopping mall in the United States in 1959.
Later they funded a new women’s dormitory, which was dedicated in 1964 and was named for Mrs.
Kisslinger, Frank E. Kalamazoo College, typescript, 1976.
In 2005 the school appointed its first female African-American president, Doctor Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran.
On January 3, 2006, Kalamazoo College opened the new Upjohn Library Commons which includes the completely renovated skeleton of the older library, and an extension which adds to its volume capacity.
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Kalamazoo College competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsdale College | 1844 | $200.4M | 1,094 | 3 |
| Albion College | 1835 | $56.3M | 795 | 14 |
| Hope College | 1866 | $112.3M | 1,804 | 14 |
| Lawrence University | 1847 | $29.0M | 869 | 12 |
| Lake Forest College | 1857 | $63.2M | 396 | - |
| Simpson College | 1860 | $63.8M | 623 | 12 |
| Hiram College | 1850 | $15.0M | 556 | 25 |
| Olivet College | 1844 | $50.0M | 407 | 17 |
| Oberlin College | 1833 | $8.6M | 1,500 | 112 |
| Mercyhurst University | 1926 | $93.2M | 500 | 16 |
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Kalamazoo College may also be known as or be related to KALAMAZOO COLLEGE, Kalamazoo College and Kalamazoo College Endowment Fund.