Schoolcraft, MI

Schoolcraft is a Kalamazoo County village on the prairie south of Kalamazoo, named for explorer and ethnologist Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Settlement reached the area in 1828, and the village's early map grew from a broad prairie opening in the timber. U.S. 131 carries the regional traffic, while the surrounding land remains a farm map of corn, soybeans, and open fields. The historic Underground Railroad house, First Presbyterian Church, and Ladies Library keep several nineteenth-century chapters visible. The annual Schoolcraft Fourth of July celebration has been held nearly every year since 1925, giving the village a tradition that reaches across generations. Schoolcraft is a place where a prairie road, old homes, and a long-running summer celebration all fit on the same small map.