Kalamazoo, Michigan
Kalamazoo County
26-42160
Kalamazoo is the largest city in the southwestern region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The city has about 72,000 inhabitants and is the administrative seat of Kalamazoo County. Together with the City of Portage, it forms the metropolitan Kalamazoo - Portage.
Name and location
The city's name is derived from the nearby Kalamazoo River, which flows into Lake Michigan. To date, however, it is unclear where the river itself gets its name; but it is assumed that it is derived from the language of the Potawatomi and Ottawa, who inhabited the region before the European settlers. Most of the city lies on the southwestern riverside in a loop, a small part ( about 7.3 km ²) on the opposite bank. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has an area of 65.3 km ².
The oddity of this name, especially for Anglo-American ears, has helped that he has become an expression of exotic places or places in a transferred sense in American popular culture. The U.S. generally common phrase "from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo " corresponds to the German mutatis mutandis as: " white - the - cuckoo - Did I forget ". Also why many pieces of music seemingly with reference to the name of the city, such as " ( I've Got a Gal in ) Kalamazoo " by Glenn Miller; the lyrics really mean but " Somewhere " as directly in " I've been everywhere" by Johnny Cash.
Also a guitar model from Gibson is named after the city, referred to in the song " Down on the Corner " by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Today in Kalamazoo T -shirts are sold with the imprint: "Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo " ( "Yes, there really Kalamazoo ").
History
The current urban area originally belonged to the homeland of the Hopewell culture. From this settlement today still shows a Mound in Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to dissolve in the 8th century; at the time when the first European settlers arrived in the region, lived there Pottawatomi Indians. In the late 18th and early 19th century held more often traders in the region, and from about 1820 there was a regular trading post. During the war of 1812 the British opened there a forge and a prison camp.
The Chicago Convention of 1821 stipulated that the entire area south of the Grand River should belong to the United States. The area around Kalamazoo, however, was initially reserved for the people of the Pottawatomi - Chief Match -E -Be - Nash - She- Wish, until finally in 1827 also fell to the United States. In 1829, Titus Bronson eventually built the first white settlers a hut on the present area. Bronson named the city after himself in. After he was found, however, in 1836, of stealing a cherry tree guilty, it was renamed in Kalamazoo. However, today both a park and a hospital are named after the city's founder.
In 1838, Kalamazoo was registered as a village out as a town in 1893.
On August 27, 1856, Abraham Lincoln spoke during a Congress of the newly formed Republican Party in Bronson Park to support the candidacy of John C. Frémont as U.S. president and the first Republican candidate; It was Lincoln's only public appearance in Michigan.
Economy and infrastructure
Traffic
Kalamazoo is located off Interstate 94, U.S. Highway 131 and the Michigan Highway M -43 and M -96. Via Amtrak is a connection to the railway network; by Greyhound, the city is connected to the national intercity bus system. In the city there is a provided by the Kalamazoo Metro Transit city bus network, also located at the southern end of the city of Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport.
Education
In Kalamazoo there are the Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College. The latter is one of the oldest schools of Michigan and is a pioneer in the field of co-education. In 2005, it won first place in the recruitment for the Peace Corps.
Furthermore, there is the Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Davenport University. Until 1992 there was also the Nazareth College.
Religion
Kalamazoo is the seat of the Diocese of Kalamazoo.
Business
The company Stryker Corporation has, among other things headquartered in the city. In addition, there are a number of local breweries.
In Kalamazoo was one of today's largest manufacturer of guitars, the Gibson Guitar Corporation, was established. When the company was founded in 1985 to Nashville, Tennessee, relocated, some former employees conducted in the old Gibson factory production crafted under the name Heritage Guitar continue. The products enjoy great popularity among guitarists.
The previously existing there pharmaceutical companies The Upjohn Company was founded in 1985 initially merged with the Swedish Pharmacia and eventually acquired by Pfizer in 2002. In 1932 the company went out of the still existing WE Upjohn Institute for Employment Research (WE Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) produced.
Twinning
Kalamazoo is twinned with the following cities:
- Jamaica Kingston ( Jamaica)
- Russia Pushkin ( Russia)
- Japan Numazu (Japan).
Sons and daughters of the town
- John Briley ( born 1925 ), screenwriter and film producer
- Arthur Brown (1843-1906), politician
- Kip Carpenter ( born 1979 ), a short-haul specialist skaters
- Robert Lynn Carroll ( born 1938 ), Paleozoic and Mesozoic expert on amphibians and reptiles
- Jay Denham, techno DJ
- Edna Ferber (1885-1968), writer of Hungarian origin
- Polly Horvath ( born 1957 ), children 's and teen book author
- Bill Hybels ( born 1951 ), founder and pastor of Willow Creek church in South Barrington
- Greg Jennings ( b. 1983 ), American football player in the NFL
- Alex Koroknay - Palicz (* 1981), an activist for the rights of youth
- Danny Lewis (born 1970 ), basketball player in the NBA
- Joseph McGinty Nichol McG ( born 1968 ), film producer and director
- Michael C. Reed ( b. 1942 ), mathematician
- Terry Rossio ( b. 1960 ), Writer
- Norman Shumway (1923-2006), a cardiologist and surgeon, pioneer of modern heart transplantation
- Allan C. Spradling ( born 1949 ), geneticist
- Narada Michael Walden ( born 1952 ), producer, drummer, singer and songwriter