Credit Unions in Kalamazoo, MI

About Kalamazoo, MI

Kalamazoo is the largest city in Southwest Michigan and is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,262. The total metro area has a population of 326,589 as of 2010. Kalamazoo  is home to Western Michigan University which in 2005, ranked #2 Wireless Campus in the U.S. in a national survey done by the Intel Corporation and Kalamazoo College.

In the past, Kalamazoo was known for its production of windmills, mandolins, buggies, automobiles, cigars, stoves, paper, and paper products. Agriculturally, it once was noted for celery and bedding plants. Although much has become suburbanized, the surrounding area still produces farm crops.

Kalamazoo was the original home of Gibson Guitar Corporation, which spawned the still-local Heritage Guitars. The company was incorporated as “Gibson Mandolin – Guitar Co., Ltd” on October 11, 1902, by the craftsman Orville Gibson. One budget model was named the Gibson Kalamazoo Electric Guitar. Operations were moved gradually from Kalamazoo to Nashville, Tennessee, (Electric Division) and Bozeman, Montana, (Acoustic Division) in the 1980s. Some workers from the original factory stayed in Kalamazoo to create the Heritage Guitar company.

Kalamazoo was once known as the “Paper City” because of the paper mills in and near the city. The Allied Paper Corporation operated several mills and employed 1,300 people in Kalamazoo during the late 1960s. As the forests of West Michigan were logged out, paper mills closed. Early in the 20th century, Kalamazoo was home to the brass era automobile company Barley.

Kalamazoo was also headquarters of the Checker Motors Company, the former manufacturer of the Checker Cab, which also stamped sheet metal parts for other auto manufacturers. Checker closed on June 25, 2009, a victim of the Late-2000s recession.

Life Sciences

The Upjohn Company was a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm founded in 1886 in Kalamazoo that is now part of the Pfizer Corporation. Most of Upjohn’s original facilities remain, many have been renovated and some new buildings have been constructed. The bulk of the facilities exist in Portage, Michigan, but many also exist in Downtown Kalamazoo.

Michigan State University has a branch of its medical school and several post-doctoral residency training programs in Kalamazoo. Resident training programs in Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, General Surgery, Family Medicine, Orthopedic surgery, Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, and a fellowship in sports medicine are centered at The Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies (KCMS) founded by Michigan State University.

The city is also home to the Stryker Corporation, a surgical and medical devices manufacturer.

Nearby Cities & Towns

Eastwood, Comstock, Westwood, Parchment, Cooper, Portage, Texas Charter Township, Galesburg, Plainwell, Ostego, Northwest, Vicksburg, Richland, Battle Creek