Battle Creek
By Carol Bennett and Kurt Thornton
()
About this ebook
Carol Bennett
Carol Bennett, a reporter and actress, received her bachelor of arts from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and a professional library degree from McGill University in Montreal. She was the host of a weekly television program, Modern Maturity, that aired nationally on PBS from 1986 to 1988 and for twenty years was the Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Alabama Radio Network. She has traveled extensively in Canada, where she has many relatives. She lives with her husband, architect Ralph D. Bennett, Jr., in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Related to Battle Creek
Related ebooks
Warren Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHopkinsville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPine City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSykesville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShoreview, Minnesota Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFulton Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrentwood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle Creek Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMichigan State Fair Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSterling Township: 1875-1968 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Berkley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRed Shirt: The Life and Times of Henry Lafayette Dodge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPontiac Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAround Burnt Hills Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDowagiac Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grand Haven Area 1905-1975 in Vintage Postcards Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPolitical Terrain: Washington, D.C., from Tidewater Town to Global Metropolis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manistique Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHamtramck: Soul of a City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEscape Hatch: Newfoundland’s Quest for German Industry and Immigration, 1950–1970 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGenesee County: 1900-1960 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaltese in Detroit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsState of Rebellion: Reconstruction in South Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllen Park Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDetroit: A Postcard History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Native American & Pioneer Sites of Upstate New York: Westward Trails from Albany to Buffalo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlat Rock Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlymouth's Air Rifle Industry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlbion in the 20th Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Revolution by the Numbers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Photography For You
Just Kids: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extreme Art Nudes: Artistic Erotic Photo Essays Far Outside of the Boudoir Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Haunted New Orleans: History & Hauntings of the Crescent City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bloodbath Nation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Let Us Now Praise Famous Men Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Conscious Creativity: Look, Connect, Create Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Betty Page Confidential: Featuring Never-Before Seen Photographs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Book Of Legs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The iPhone Photography Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Photography for Beginners: The Ultimate Photography Guide for Mastering DSLR Photography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rocks and Minerals of The World: Geology for Kids - Minerology and Sedimentology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Photography 101: The Digital Photography Guide for Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patterns in Nature: Why the Natural World Looks the Way It Does Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fucked at Birth: Recalibrating the American Dream for the 2020s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Advancing Your Photography: Secrets to Making Photographs that You and Others Will Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Photography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Collins Complete Photography Course Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lincoln Highway Across Illinois Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Photography Bible: A Complete Guide for the 21st Century Photographer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Humans of New York: Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Native Mexican Kitchen: A Journey into Cuisine, Culture, and Mezcal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEdward's Menagerie: Dogs: 50 canine crochet patterns Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Photographer's Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5South Carolina's Lowcountry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnd Still I Rise: Black America Since MLK Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Digital Video Production Handbook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHumans of New York Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Battle Creek
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Battle Creek - Carol Bennett
Collection.
INTRODUCTION
The settlement eventually known as Battle Creek was founded in 1831 when a group of pioneer entrepreneurs chose the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers as a location for their venture. Robert Clark, John J. Guernsey, Lucius Lyon, and Sands McCamly had all purchased land at the site, but to get controlling interest, McCamly purchased Clark’s and Lyon’s options on the property for $100 each. Guernsey sold his interest to Nathaniel Barney, an innkeeper. Barney built his first local inn, Barney’s Tavern, on the northwest riverbank near the area where the rivers came together (now the site of the closed Kellogg’s Cereal City USA).
In 1835, McCamly hired men who had worked at digging the Erie Canal in New York State and local Native Americans to dig a one-and-a-quarter-mile-long millrace between the two rivers. The millrace used the two-foot drop between the rivers to move the rushing water (that is why it is called a millrace) to move the water wheels that powered the mills along the race.
The mills prospered and the community grew. The Michigan Central Railroad was extended to the village in 1845, making transportation of people and manufactured goods a financial boom to the city. Factories sprang up, and the city’s location between Detroit and Chicago contributed to making the area a financial success.
The name of Battle Creek was officially chosen for the city on December 31, 1858, when the citizens voted to become incorporated. Along with choosing incorporation, a choice on the ballet for naming the new city was up for vote. Among the possible names and number of votes cast for each choice were Peninsular City (9 votes), Wopokisco (50 votes), Calhoun City (93 votes), or Battle Creek (315 votes). On February 3, 1859, Battle Creek was officially a city, signed into law by Michigan governor Moses Wisner. The new city’s first election was held on March 7, 1859, where its first mayor, Elijah Pendill, a 47-year-old dairyman, temperance advocate, and Republican, was elected along with a city council.
Toward the end of the 19th century, Battle Creek was becoming nationally famous with its production of threshing machines, steam pumps, and printing presses. What really put Battle Creek on the map had its beginnings in 1861 when the Seventh Day Adventist Church moved its headquarters to the city and with them, the health reform movement. In 1894, a small accident occurred that profoundly changed the city (and the world). An experiment being performed at the Seventh Day Adventist–administered Battle Creek Sanitarium went awry. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother Will Keith Kellogg left some of their research unfinished overnight. The resulting mistake created the process for making flaked cereal. By 1902, over 40 companies were manufacturing cereal within the city limits, attempting to capitalize on the city’s fame as the Health Capital of the Midwest
to sell their product.
About this time, rapid color printing was becoming cheap and an easy way to advertise a product, a community, an idea, or a person. That along with the perfection of cheap efficient postal service led to the successful industry of souvenir postcards. Railroad service had long since made it easy to travel almost anywhere in the country, and people wanted to send messages to friends and family members that not only passed on the message but could show the wonderful sites being visited. Battle Creek had no shortage of such sites.
My mother, Frances Thornton, loved Battle Creek and was an avid collector of its history. When she was young, she began accumulating local postcards because they were cheap to attain and easy to store. As I grew up, I also enjoyed looking at the images and learning about this wonderful city’s history. At that time (the late 1960s and early 1970s) there were very few illustrated local history books and virtually no video tapes, DVDs, or computer search engines that could show you the rich heritage of this community. By the time I was in junior high school, I accompanied mom to garage sales, flea markets, antique auctions, and anywhere else we might find a postcard we had never seen before. When I was in high school, she had created a network of friends, antique dealers, and even the local Battle Creek gas repairman who would trade cards and other historic items at our dining room table. Not only did I get to see many images of historic Battle Creek, but also I listened to the stories told by many of her heritage dealers and authors,
who included John Buchmeier (History of the Battle Creek Federal Center), Mary Butler (Heritage Magazine), and Berenice Lowe (Tales of Battle Creek). I acquired a lot of local history at my mother’s side. As I said in my first book, Battle Creek, in the Images of America series produced by Arcadia Publishing, our house on Webber Street may not have been an archival repository, but I would be hard-pressed to say that mom’s collection was not thorough. The Frances Thornton Collection of Battle Creek postcards became one of the largest in the country. It has been a wonderful resource for this and my other Arcadia books.
We did the best we could researching information about the images we are displaying. We apologize for any errors and welcome comments and/or corrections so we can get it right in the future.
—Kurt Thornton
Coauthors Kurt Thornton and Carol Bennett are surrounded by some of the thousands of postcards they had fun sorting through for this book.
One
BUSINESS, BREAKFAST, AND INDUSTRY
This bird’s-eye view of downtown Battle Creek is from the roof of the Masonic temple, looking west. The image from the second decade of the 20th century shows, from left to right, the Post Building, the Post Tavern, the Battle Creek Sanitarium, the Ward Building, Battle Creek