County note shelf
Calhoun County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Calhoun County. This shelf has 5 practical notes and 19 local stories.
24 notes
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- OutdoorsPennfield's park plan became a half-mile walking loopPennfield now has a dawn-to-dusk walking park beside Hicks Cemetery, with a half-mile path, pavilion, benches, grills, and room for a quiet lap.
- History and cultureA cigar maker's café that outlived everythingSchuler's in Marshall began as a cigar maker's café, grew into a statewide restaurant chain under Win Schuler, and the original flagship still serves on Eagle Street.
- History and cultureA dozen free turkeys became TurkeyvilleCornwell's Turkeyville near Marshall grew from a neighbor's gift of 12 turkeys in the 1940s into a turkey-dinner empire with a dinner theatre and ice cream parlor.
- History and cultureA son's gift glowing in the middle of MarshallMarshall's Brooks Memorial Fountain, modeled on Versailles and lit by General Electric, was a mayor's 1930 gift to his town in memory of his father.
- History and cultureAlbion was a foundry town at the forksAlbion grew at the forks of the Kalamazoo River and ran on the Albion Malleable Iron Company from 1888 to 1967; the town still throws a Festival of the Forks every fall.
- OutdoorsFeeding a giraffe by hand south of Battle CreekAt Binder Park Zoo's Twiga Overlook, you can offer zoo-prepared romaine to a giraffe that chooses to come to the feeding deck.
- History and cultureHomer grew up around a sawmill on the KalamazooHomer was settled in 1832 by families who walked from Pennsylvania, grew around Milton Barney's sawmill and store, and incorporated as a village in 1871.
- History and cultureThe chief buried under the village's nameTekonsha carries the name of a Potawatomi leader whose remains are buried in the village, on land settled in the early 1830s where the St. Joseph River bends.
- History and cultureThe old San is now a federal fortressBattle Creek's Italian Renaissance health spa — Dr. Kellogg's famous Sanitarium — became an Army hospital, then a federal center named for three wounded senators.
- History and cultureThe Quaker store that ran the Underground RailroadErastus and Sarah Hussey helped more than 1,000 freedom seekers through Battle Creek; a bronze monument downtown now honors them alongside Harriet Tubman.
- History and cultureAlbion College and the forks of the KalamazooAlbion grew up at the forks of the Kalamazoo River and around one of Michigan's oldest liberal arts colleges.
- History and cultureBattle Creek, the Cereal CityBattle Creek became Cereal City after Sanitarium food experiments helped launch a cereal boom led by W.K. Kellogg and C.W. Post.
- History and cultureFireKeepers and the Nottawaseppi Huron BandFireKeepers Casino Hotel in Emmett Township is owned by the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, whose home is the Pine Creek Indian Reservation.
- History and cultureHistoric MarshallMarshall's 1991 National Historic Landmark district connects its near-capital story, Honolulu House, and downtown magic museum.
- History and cultureSojourner Truth made Battle Creek her homeSojourner Truth spent the last chapter of her life in Battle Creek, where a monument and Oak Hill Cemetery honor her legacy.
- History and cultureThe Calhoun County Fair's long Marshall historyMarshall's county fair traces its first gathering to 1839; after reorganizing in 1848, the agricultural society made it a yearly event beginning in 1849.
- History and cultureHow a former consul brought Hawaii to MarshallAfter returning from Honolulu in 1860, former Michigan chief justice and U.S. consul Abner Pratt built Marshall's Hawaiian-inspired Honolulu House.
- Money and taxesThree Calhoun cities have a local income taxBattle Creek, Albion, and Springfield each levy a local income tax on residents and nonresidents who work in the city.
- Home and propertyBuying on (or near) a Calhoun County lake?Calhoun County lake homes can come with legal lake levels, lake special assessments, lake associations, and lake-specific boating rules.
- History and cultureWhy Does Michigan Have So Many Places Named After Foreign Places?Michigan's map is full of foreign and classical town names — Paris, Moscow, Athens, Rome — left over from an 1800s naming boom, and locals pronounce most of them their own way.
- Home and propertyOutside town, you're probably on a well and septicMost rural Calhoun County township homes use private wells and septic systems, and sale-time inspections are something buyers need to ask for.
- History and cultureCereal bowls and time capsules: Calhoun County's two famous townsCalhoun County gave America its breakfast — the Kellogg story began in Battle Creek — and preserves one of the country's finest 19th-century towns in Marshall.
- Money and taxesBuying in a township? Watch for special assessments on top of your taxesMichigan township buyers should check for special assessments that can add separate road, sewer, water, lighting, sidewalk, or drain charges.
- Money and taxesIn Michigan, you get two property-tax bills a year — not oneMost Michigan property owners get separate summer and winter tax bills, with local rules deciding what lands on each bill.