Coming up on the holiday season, I've been looking for different gift ideas for friends in the area that aren't generic Kalamazoo gift ideas. I recently came across a book on Kalamazoo that shows the city in a way that is very rarely seen. What did the city look like 100 years ago? This book shows that, and so much more as they walk you down the full history of what made Kalamazoo so unique in the 1900's with images of the city that have very rarely been seen. Author David Kohrman details what this book has to offer anyone who loves Kalamazoo:

Since the arrival of its first settler in 1829, the story of Kalamazoo has been an interesting one. Out of the southwest Michigan wilderness, a small 19th century village quickly blossomed into a 20th century city. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a wide variety of industries made Kalamazoo a boomtown. Everything from paper, corsets, taxicabs, and pharmaceuticals allowed Kalamazoo to develop into a major center of manufacturing. At the same time, several colleges that would establish the area as a center for education were organized and expanded. Fortunately, much of Kalamazoo 's development has been well-documented through photographs and other visual illustrations. These images are the subjects of this
volume, which is organized to show the varied elements of Kalamazoo 's history. Gathered from local archives and private collections, most of these rare photographs have never before been published."

You can snag your copy of this book below. Happy reading.

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