Antique 1909 KALAMAZOO MICHIGAN Picturesque Photo Book Souvenir Labadies History

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

Here is a historical document from 1909- "PICTURESQUE KALAZAZOO." This is a soft cover book with a string binding. It is a very nice, neat finding. It is advertising by Labadie's Souvenir. It contains historical sketch, views of the city and public buildings, school houses, churches, private residences, business streets, factories and a few of the many beauty spots in and around Kalamazoo, Michigan. "Published by E. E. Labadie; Proprietor Labadie Art Store, 146 South Burdick Street" "Gregory Labadie, grandfather of the publisher, came to Kalamazoo from Canada in 1837, lived here till 1856, then moved to Van Buren County, Michigan." I am from lower Michigan and I personally had family that lived in this area back then. I'm sure my family knew many of these historical sites (most I hope still exist today). There are sketches of Titus Bronson- Kalamazoo's first white settler, a sketch of his (and the areas) first log cabin built in 1829. There is a history of the area in this book with photos of major significance to the area. In 1909- it says that the city had more than 40,000 people and a county of 65,000. It says there was 21 million worth of property. Included in this book is also photos of the board of alderman, police and fire departments, postal city & rural carriers, national guard from 1909. lt really is a neat book of the area. Flipping through the pages, there is one page with a photo cut out, but the rest is intact. There is a map of the area in the back as well.I have also included with this a cut out I found in this book. It is a newspaper clipping from the Kalamazoo Gazette dated Thursday, May 10, 1923 ( about 93 years ago!). It says the newspaper was 22 pages. The front cover has articles and information such as a $1000,000,000 estate tangle of Levi Z. Ledter Leiter?, A suicide plea gets jolt in hazing death about a body found in the rocks by the pier- with speculators thinking the death was not a suicide by it was gang related, an article on "SEND U.S. ARMY TO CHINA, PLEA OF ELLEN STONE" with a photo of Stone who was a missionary held captive at a time by Bulgarian brigands, now urging the army to go to China to rescue Americans captured by Chinese bandits. The newspaper was cut out to show on the back page which is entitled "Weather Man Paints May Foliage with Coat of Snow". There is a photos of trees in a park setting with snow everywhere. The photos was taken May 9, 1923. The article says " Wednesday, May 9, 1923 will go down in history as the date Kalamazoo was visited by a freak snow storm which swept over Michigan, threatening crops and causing considerable damage to property. The storm broke just at a time when city folks were moving to the nearby lakes for the summer, and kiddies were teasing their mothers for permission to go barefooted. Baseball games and golf tournaments had to be called off and traffic was temporarily blocked. The accompanying photograph was snapped Wednesday morning, showing a picturesque scene the storm left in its wake in Bronson Park. The picture was taken from the Rose and South streets side, showing the snow ladened nows of the trees and shrubbery bending under the weight of the heavy drifts. It was the worst May snow storm ever experienced in Michigan as far as can be ascerted from the official weather bureau records at Lansing."I also included a little Kalamazoo Historical District walking tour guide. I'm not sure the age of this guide, but it was also discovered with this book- but it is a lot newer. It was sponsored b the Kalamazoo Commission of Historical Preservation.Thanks for looking! I hope someone who loves history of the area gets good use out of this book! read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.