In the post Civil war era and the early 20th Century many businesses gained wide recognition yet later disappeared.  Others like Kalamazoo Cart Co., Allen Buggy and Kalamazoo Corset are less well remembered.

Kalamazoo Corset ad, 1906

Kalmazoo One Seat Buggy

Michigan Buggy ad from Munsey's Magazine for the Michigan automobile

Kalamazoo Cart Company's 1880's one passenger buggy, the "ACME" constructed by "... only skilled mechanics whose craftsmanship cannot be surpassed" with "second-growth timber" and "Swede steel, oil tempered, and warranted"

Kalamazoo was home not only to O M Allen Buggy, but a number of wagon and buggy manufacturers, among them Michigan Buggy.  In 1886 Michigan Buggy occupied a large factory (see http://www.kpl.gov/history/vfile/01_0297.jpg ) at  the southeast corner Porter & East Willard on Kalamazoo's north side where much of the city's industry was located.  As late as 1887 Michigan Buggy produced 47,000 units of buggies, wagons and other horse drawn vehicles.  Buggy and wagon manufacturers began to face competition from automobile and truck production.  In 1909 Michigan Buggy launched its own automobile, the "Mighty Michigan" , but in 1913, the company failed - Kalamazoo, the place behind the products, Massie and Schmidt.

Other now defunct companies like Barley Motor Car, manufacturer of the Roamer automobile, and Kalamazoo Stove are still remembered.

Barley Motor Car factory 1908

Roamer Ad 1920

The Kalamazoo Stove Factory, 1910

Other well known Kalamazoo industries included the Gibson Guitar Company, Henderson Ames,  Checker Motors, the Shakespeare Company, and Fuller Transmission (acquired by Eaton Corp. in 1958).

Shakespeare Fine Fishing Tackle Shakespeare Company , manufacturer of sport fishing equipment

HENDERSON AMES

Manufacturer of ceremonial uniforms and regalia. The building shown here was located at Michigan Avenue and North Park Street.

Henderson - Ames Company 1910

Henderson - Ames Uniform

GIBSON GUITAR COMPANYY

Orville H. Gibson was born in 1856 Chateaugay, New York. By 1890, Gibson had settled in Kalamazoo and had taken up the hobby of making musical instruments. He worked as a clerk at A.P. Sprague's shoe store at 118 East Main Street, then as a clerk at Butters Restaurant on 216 East Main. .In the 1870's he acquired a small workshop, and began building mandolins based on violin construction techniques. In 1896, Gibson filed for his first and only patent for the construction of a mandolin with a carved top and back, and with sides that were cut from a solid piece of wood rather than being bent from thin strips. Gibson continued to make musical instruments on his own until 1900 when his was approach by businessmen who wanted to manufacture mandolins and guitars following his patented design resulting in The Gibson Mandolin Guitar Manufacturing Company. Gibson, in poor health, sold his patent rights to the company and remained only as a paid advisor. Eventually Gibson returned to New York. He died there in 1918.Orville H. Gibson was born in 1856 Chateaugay, New York. By 1890, Gibson had settled in Kalamazoo and had taken up the hobby of making musical instruments. He worked as a clerk at A.P. Sprague's shoe store at 118 East Main Street, then as a clerk at Butters Restaurant on 216 East Main. .In the 1870's he acquired a small workshop, and began building mandolins based on violin construction techniques. In 1896, Gibson filed for his first and only patent for the construction of a mandolin with a carved top and back, and with sides that were cut from a solid piece of wood rather than being bent from thin strips. Gibson continued to make musical instruments on his own until 1900 when his was approach by businessmen who wanted to manufacture mandolins and guitars following his patented design resulting in The Gibson Mandolin Guitar Manufacturing Company. Gibson, in poor health, sold his patent rights to the company and remained only as a paid advisor. Eventually Gibson returned to New York. He died there in 1918.

Click on link to read about Orville H. Gibson 1856-1917

Gibson Guitar

Gibson Guitar 2

Gibson Workbench

In 1917, the Gibson company established its manufacturing plant at 225 Parsons Street. The company concentrated on mandolins during the 1920's. In the 1930's and 1940's production shifted to guitars. Gibson Guitar reached its peak in the 1950's and 1960's. In 1981 the company moved to Nashville and closed its Kalamazoo plant in 1984.In 1917, the Gibson company established its manufacturing plant at 225 Parsons Street. The company concentrated on mandolins during the 1920's. In the 1930's and 1940's production shifted to guitars. Gibson Guitar reached its peak in the 1950's and 1960's. In 1981 the company moved to Nashville and closed its Kalamazoo plant in 1984.

However, guitar making continues in Kalamazoo: some former Gibson employees founded the Heritage Guitar Company.

The Melody Maidss, all-woman mandolin band was made up entirely of Gibson Guitar Company employees that played in Kalamazoo and surrounding area. , all-woman mandolin band was made up entirely of Gibson Guitar Company employees that played in Kalamazoo and surrounding area. 

CHECKER MOTORS

Checker Motors Corp, founded in 1922 by Morris Markin, a Russian immigrant, makes its home in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Markin purchased the Hadley-Knight Chassis Plant and the Dort Body Plant, then produced the first Checker taxicab in June, 1923. Subsequently, Checker Motors produced models other than the taxi:  the Checker Limousine, the Landau , and a station wagon that could be converted to an ambulance, During WWII Checker Motors made specialty vehicles, including a few Jeeps. In 1962 Checker rolled out the Marathon, a regular passenger vehicle version of the venerable taxi as both a sedan and a station wagon. The Marathon was a rugged automobile with extra wide doors and a roomy interior. In the 1970's when oil prices began to rise, cab companies began buying cheaper, lighter, more fuel efficient vehicles. On July 12th 1982, Checker Motors Made its last cab, but Checker remains in business as an automotive parts supplier.

Checker Cab	Checker Cab	Checker Cab
Checker Cab	Checker Cab

GENERAL MOTORS

GM Plant Sprinkle Road

In the mid-1960s, General Motors built a large stamping plant south of I94  on Sprinkle Road in Comstock Township , but it was closed in 1999.

LITTLE BROTHERS FEED AND GRAIN

Agriculture became a smaller part of the economy traditional agriculture service businesses such as and Little Brothers Feed and Grain gave way to new companies located further away from heavily populated areas.

Little Brothers Feed and Grain

THE PAPER COMPANIES

The Paper Industry:  As the importance of celery diminished, Kalamazoo became known for papermaking: it was no longer the "CELERY CITY", it was the "PAPER CITY".  Papermaking was so important that a city in the county, Parchment, was named in honor of the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company.

The "Paper City" - three of nine paper mills in the area at the height of Kalamazoo paper making.	Superior Paper 1905	Superior Paper 1934
Rex Paper 1911	Bryant Paper 1911	Parchment The Paper City Est. 1939

Kalamazoo's papermaking reached its zenith in the 1950's.  Fifty years later only a handful of mills remained, but the Kalamazoo River which made the industry possible will retain the discharges forever.   Kalamazoo River View

Rolling machine in Mill no. 2 at the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company in 1951.Each machine had a capacity of one mile of paper every six minutes.  The machines operated 24 hours a day, 6 days a week.

Kalmazoo Valley Paper Rolling Machine

Two views of Kalamazoo paper mill processing probably taken early in the 20th century circa 1920: 

Paper Mill Acid Vats

Paper Mill Dusters

Kalamazoo Valley Paper Lab

The following article by Maggie Snyder that appeared in the Vicksburg Commercial in February, 2001, tells the story of the Lee Paper Company in Vicksburg.  The history of Lee Paper similar to many of the mills in Kalamazoo County:

"Vicksburgs Lee Paper Company, later Simpson Paper Co. and  most recently known as Fox River Paper Co., was originally built to fill a need for a rag-content paper mill in the Kalamazoo Valley paper producing region. Vicksburg was selected because it had a good supply of clean water, two railroads and was centrally located to possible paper markets. Scores of workers of Polish ancestry, some of whom had papermaking experience, were brought to the mill from Chicago and other area. When construction was completed in 1905,  production was 35,000 pounds per day. There were 205 employees whose wages ran from 20 cents per hour to 32-1/2 cents an hour. Girls earned 10 cents an hour sometimes working 50 to 60 hours a week. Textiles in the form of worn-out clothing and other rags formed the raw material for rag-content paper. Women sorted the rags, removed buttons and foreign objects in the Rag Room. The cloth was shredded, cooked and processed into fine-quality writing papers.  

Under Manager Norman Bardeen, the mill managed to operate throughout the Great Depression, though hours were cut and the available work was spread around so that as many employees as possible could take home a paycheck, however small.

Eighty-percent of the mills production was directed at the war effort during World War II. The post-war era brought a boom in business and major plant expansions. By this time the emphasis was on producing paper from wood pulp rather than rags, and in 1959 Lee Paper Company merged with a division of Simpson Timber Co. to form Simpson-Lee Paper Company, which in later years became simply Simpson Paper Company.

Lee Paper Company and its successors has had a tremendous effect on the greater Vicksburg area as its largest employer and biggest benefactor for many years. Housing construction boomed because of the mill. The Catholic Church was established here specifically to serve the mills Polish workers. The Vicksburg Foundation was formed with a $19,500 donation from the mill in 1943.

In 1996 the mill was purchased by Fox River Paper Company, who has announced its closing by March 1 of 2001. The fate of its beautiful buildings, among the oldest manufacturing structures in the area, is unknown."

see the Vicksburg Depot Museum Lee Paper Co.