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HISTORY |
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The
City of Parchment traces its beginnings to the founding
of the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company in 1909.
The Company was started by Jacob Kindleberger in an old
sugar beet factory on the bank of the Kalamazoo River
a few miles north of Kalamazoo. The company made parchment
paper and hence the City's name of Parchment. |
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The
company's first employees lived in tents near the mill
or commuted in riverboats back and forth from Kalamazoo.
Others rented rooms from farmers.
As the Company grew, the community grew around it. In
1915 the Company built six houses along Riverview Drive,
later eight more were built. Plats were laid out and the
City's first street "Oak Grove" was built. |
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Mr.
Kindleberger and a committee of citizens worked out a
plan for a model village. In 1930 the population in the
mill area had grown to 511 residents. That year an election
was held and the Village of Parchment was carved out of
the northern part of Kalamazoo Township.
Under the guidance of Jacob Kindleberger, the mill, and
the Village Commission, great progress was made. New streets
were built, sewer pipes layed, signals installed and a
business district formed. Taxes were low as the mill still
bore the greatest part of the expenses for municipal services
such as police, fire, streets, water, sewer, and park
maintenance. When the mill was idled by adverse economic
conditions such as the depression of the 1930s, Mr. Kindleberger
would put the employees to work on town improvements ensuring
that everyone earned enough to feed their families. |
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By
a vote of 183 "yes" to 1 "no" the
citizens of the Village of Parchment voted to become a
5th class city in 1939.
Today the City of Parchment has a population of 1,936
people. |
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ESTABLISHED
IN |
| 1939 |
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FOUNDED
BY |
| Jacob
Kindleberger |
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