Kalamazoo, Michigan Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Name origin == {{Main|Etymology of Kalamazoo}} Originally known as Bronson (after founder [[Titus Bronson]]) in the township of Arcadia, the names of both the city and the township were changed to "Kalamazoo" in 1836 and 1837, respectively.<ref>Living in Kalamazoo, Balls & Lassfalk, 1958{{full citation needed|date=February 2019}}</ref> The name “Kalamazoo” comes from a [[Potawatomi language|Potawatomi]] word, first found in a British report in 1772. The [[Kalamazoo River]], which passes through the modern city of Kalamazoo, was located on the route between [[Detroit]] and [[Fort St. Joseph (Niles, Michigan)|Fort Saint-Joseph]] (nowadays [[Niles, Michigan]]). French-Canadian traders, missionaries, and military personnel were quite familiar with this area during the French era and thereafter. The Kalamazoo River was then known by Canadians and French as ''La rivière Kikanamaso''. The name "Kikanamaso" was also recorded by Father [[Our Lady of the Assumption (Windsor, Ontario)|Pierre Potier]], a Jesuit missionary for the Huron-Wendats at the Assumption mission (south shore of Detroit), while en route to Fort Saint-Joseph during the fall of 1760.<ref>{{cite book |last = Potier |first = Pierre |date = 1996 |title = Les écrits de pierre potier, ed |location = Ottawa |publisher = University of Ottawa Press }}{{full citation needed|date=February 2019}}</ref> Legend has it that "Ki-ka-ma-sung", meaning "boiling water", referred to a footrace held each fall by local Native Americans, in which participants had to run to the river and back before a pot boiled.<ref>Kalamazoo and how it Grew...and Grew, Dunbar, 1959{{full citation needed|date=February 2019}}.</ref> The word ''negikanamazo'', purported to mean "otter tail" or "stones like otters", has also been cited as a possible origin of the name.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0258/report.pdf |title=Origin of certain place names in the United States |last=Gannett |first=Henry |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1905 |edition=Second |series=USGS Bulletin, No. 258, Series F-Geography |location=Washington |page=171 |language=en |type=Book, Internet Resource |oclc=1156805}}</ref> Another theory is that it means "the mirage or reflecting river".<ref name="Romig">{{cite book |first1 = Walter |last1 = Romig |title = Michigan Place Names |location = Detroit |publisher = [[Wayne State University Press]] |year = 1986 |page = 297 }}</ref> Another legend is that the image of "boiling water" referred to fog on the river as seen from the hills above the current downtown. The name was also given to the river that flows almost all the way across the state. The name Kalamazoo, which sounds unusual to English speakers, has become a [[metonym]] for exotic places, as in the phrase "from [[Timbuktu]] to Kalamazoo".<ref name="Trinidad">{{cite journal |url=http://dsc.discovery.com/adventure/want-to-go-from-timbuktu-to-kalamazoo.html |title = Want To Go From Timbuktu to Kalamazoo? |first1 = Erik |last1 = Trinidad |publisher = [[Discovery.com]] |date = August 8, 2011 |access-date = December 27, 2011 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111201120513/http://dsc.discovery.com/adventure/want-to-go-from-timbuktu-to-kalamazoo.html |archive-date = December 1, 2011 }}</ref> Today, T-shirts are sold in Kalamazoo with the phrase "Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo".<ref>{{cite web |url = http://store.kazoochamber.com/index.php?page=shop.cart&func=cartAdd&product_id=38&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=31 |title = "Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo" t-shirt, at Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce. |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131212234747/http://store.kazoochamber.com/index.php?page=shop.cart&func=cartAdd&product_id=38&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=31 |archive-date = December 12, 2013 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page