Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo, city, seat (1830) of Kalamazoo county, southwestern Michigan, U.S. It lies along the Kalamazoo River, some 50 miles (80 km) south of Grand Rapids. A fur-trading post known as Kikalamazoo—a Potawatomi name meaning “mirage,” “reflecting river,” or “boiling river,” referring to the rapids—was already established at the site where Titus Bronson built a cabin in 1829. The settlement, first known as Bronson, was renamed in 1836. The presence of a government land office and the arrival of the Michigan Central Railroad (1846) encouraged growth. In the 1850s Dutch farmers made the locality famous for celery; later it became known for the cultivation of annual bedding plants.

The city’s paper industry, which had been dominant since the 1870s, has been overtaken by diversified manufactures, including pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and plastic and metal products. Kalamazoo College (1833), Western Michigan University (1903), and Kalamazoo Valley Community College (1966) are located there. Kalamazoo Nature Center includes nature trails, a variety of live-animal exhibits, a barnyard, and a restored pioneer homestead. Novelist Edna Ferber and cardiac surgeon Norman E. Shumway were natives of the city. Inc. village, 1843; city, 1883. Pop. (2000) 77,145; Kalamazoo-Portage Metro Area, 314,866; (2010) 74,262; Kalamazoo-Portage Metro Area, 326,589.