Kalamazoo 1884: A film about Kalamazoo, Michigan by John Urschel

"When Kalamazoo became a city in April 1884, it had a four-officer police station, an eight-person fire station, a mayor named Allen Potter and a strong business and manufacturing industry producing everything from pharmaceuticals to horse buggies.

To celebrate the city's 125th birthday, city employees made a film called Kalamazoo 1884 illustrating just what the city was like, from its educational system to its architecture to fashions worn by locals.

"It's a 40-minute glimpse into the past," said John Urschel, executive producer of the film and the city's records and information manager.

The film, supported by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation and the Kalamazoo Historic Preservation Commission, features music from the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and photos provided by the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, the Kalamazoo Public Library's Local History Room and the Western Michigan University Archives and Regional History Collection.

The film begins with a countdown of mayors, from today's Bobby Hopewell to Potter, then takes the spectator on a tour of 1884 Kalamazoo, mapping out early roads and water systems.

It also highlights events happening at that time around the world, like the release of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and the introduction of the Louisville Slugger.

Urschel said business and landmarks that can still be found today, like the Lawrence and Chapin Foundry building, the Ladies Library Association, the gatehouse to the Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital and the 100 block of E. Michigan Avenue, are featured prominently along with architecture and businesses that no longer exist.

The project began in April and took several interns and employees to make, many of them spending hours at a time sifting through archives and fact-checking to be sure the film was entertaining and educational.

"There was a lot of checking and rechecking. We wanted it to be as accurate as possible," said segment producer and former city intern Gretchen Sawatzki.

Local historians were involved in the whole process and even had their own screening of the film to check facts, Sawatzki said."

~Rex Hall Jr., Kalamazoo Gazette, 30 August 2009

The film's premiere public showing was at 6 p.m. on Monday, August 31, 2009, at the city commission chambers, 241 W. South Street, Kalamazoo, MI.

Digitized March 2016 by Kalamazoo Public Library. Presented here by kind permission of the filmmaker.

Credits
Executive Producer: John Urschel. Narrated by Dave Hess.
Photographs: WMU Archives and Regional History Collections, Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo Valley Museum, Kalamazoo Public Library, Kalamazoo Area Chamber of Commerce, US Library of Congress, City of Kalamazoo Archives, Cincinnati Enquirer, Louisville Slugger Museum, Oxford University Press Archives, A.M. Todd Company, Wright State University Medical Archives, Barbara Hamilton Miller, Caroline Ham, Sharon Ferraro, Holland's City Directory. Music by Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.

www.kpl.gov

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