Kalamazoo, MI

Kalamazoo's 1959 conversion of part of Burdick Street into the country's first outdoor pedestrian shopping mall gave the city a downtown experiment that remains visible today. Two of the mall's original four blocks later reopened to traffic, but the Kalamazoo Mall still organizes a corridor of shops, restaurants, public art, and events. The city began as Titus Bronson's 1831 village and took the Kalamazoo River's name in 1836. Arcadia Creek and Portage Creek wind through the city toward that river. Kalamazoo had 73,598 residents in 2020 and is the seat of its namesake county in southwestern Michigan. Its manufacturing history ranges from paper, windmills, and stoves to mandolins, buggies, and early automobiles, while Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College remain major institutions in the present city. For families in Kalamazoo Public Schools, the college-town identity includes an unusual financial commitment.

The Kalamazoo Promise, announced in 2005, offers resident district graduates up to 100 percent of tuition and mandatory fees at more than 60 eligible Michigan colleges, universities, trade schools, and vocational programs; the benefit depends on how long a student attended the district. Downtown, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts holds more than 4,600 works, presents ten to fifteen exhibitions a year, and operates the Kirk Newman Art School, where classes span ceramics, printmaking, photography, fiber, jewelry, and other media. Outdoor travel also reaches beyond neighborhood parks. The free, paved Kalamazoo River Valley Trail currently spans 24 miles and uses a signed downtown connector between its main segments. On the west side it meets the Kal-Haven Trail network, a 33.5-mile rail trail following an 1871 railroad bed toward South Haven and Lake Michigan.