KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI
GENEALOGY & LOCAL HISTORY
COUNTY HISTORY PAGE 5
"Here I saw churches with steeples like hatpins"
Carl Sandburg, The Sins of Kalamazoo
 First Congregational Church, Bronson Park |
The Baptist Church in Kalamazoo was founded by a mission for the Ottawa Indians in charge of the Reverend L. Slater, a Baptist missionary who arrived in the Kalamazoo area in the early 1830's as noted in a historical marker next to the First Baptist Church next to Bronson Park:
 First Baptist Church 1911 |
 Baptist Church 1940 |
 2004 without the former steeple |
| First Baptist Church "Constructed in 1853, this is the oldest church building in Kalamazoo. Titus Bronson, the city's founder, donated this site on Church Square. The Baptist faith reached the Kalamazoo River Valley in 1826 when missionary Leonard Slater preached to the Indians. In 1836 fourteen settlers led by Jerimiah Hall, a Baptist minister from Vermont, met in the home of Ezekiel Ransom to organize the First Baptist Church. |
| First The history of the First Baptist Church and Kalamazoo College are closely interwoven. The same year that the church was organized, the Reverend Jerimiah Hall persuaded the Michigan and Huron Institute, now Kalamazoo College to settle in this city. The second pastor, Dr. James H. B. Stone, was an early president of the college and many of his successors in that office have been active in this congregation. Over the years the First Baptist Church has served as the parent church of several parishes in outlying areas. |
click on link to see photo !
 First Presbyterian Church, Bronson Park, 1963 |
 First Reformed Church, Bronson Park See the Dutch in Kalamazoo page |
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"The first Catholic settlers in 1844 used a log cabin mission. In 1852 a larger church was built, but by 1865 that too was outgrown In 1865, Father Anthony Tabel began construction of St. Augustine's Kalamazoo Avenue Church. Dedication took place on July 4,1969. It served as the center of Catholic life for 82 years. In 1923, Father H. J. Hackett came to St. Augustine's. As a Monsignor he supervised the construction of the Michigan Ave. Church, dedicated December 4, 1951." St. Augustine became a Cathedral in 1971. In 1980 the Cathedral school was struck by a tornado - see 1980 Tornado page |
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