It is well known that Kalamazoo has a reputation for the variety of products that have been and still are made in our community. There were some that dominated, like paper and pharmaceuticals, but not many people know that melodeons (small reed organs), carriages, playing cards and even clothespins were once manufactured here. This area’s access to raw materials and transportation networks, predominantly railroads, was among the factors that led to the community’s dominance in certain products. While people might know the products, they might not know the individuals behind those products, some who attached their names to their creations and some who remained anonymous. Here are five of my favorite former Kalamazoo products:
Mandolin
Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co.
Even though this company has been gone from Kalamazoo for 40 years, it continues to capture the interest of people from all over the world. Orville Gibson, who arrived here in 1876, was known for his craftsmanship in creating mandolins and guitars. By 1902, a group of local businessmen decided to start a firm based on his designs, and the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co. was born. Orville left not long after, but the company continued for years, creating the vast majority of fretted stringed instruments sold in the United States. The headquarters moved to Nashville in 1981, and the Kalamazoo facility on Parsons Street closed in 1984. Since 1985, Heritage Guitars has operated at the former Gibson factory, and there are plans to develop this site into a hotel and entertainment venue that will pay tribute to the Gibson company and its contributions to the music industry.
Phenolax
The Upjohn Co.
When the Upjohn Pill and Granule Co. was established in Kalamazoo in 1886, its predominant product for many years was the friable pill, a tablet that dissolved easily in the body. Within 20 years, the company needed a new product, and the result was a laxative called Phenolax, a rectangular, pink, mint-flavored wafer first sold by the company in 1908. The marketing campaign for Phenolax included booklets with samples that were sent to physicians and large displays installed in pharmacy windows. Phenolax became an immediate hit, and 20 million Phenolax wafers were sold the first year. By 1924 the product generated 21 percent of Upjohn’s annual revenue. Not long after that, other pharmaceutical companies created competing products and Upjohn’s dominance ended, but not before Phenolax helped the company grow to new heights.
Fishing reel
William Shakespeare Co.
Kalamazoo resident William Shakespeare Jr. was a serious fisherman. Though he started his manufacturing career making photographic shutters, he wanted to improve on fishing reels so they would wind line evenly. His company was started in 1896 and by 1902 had 12 employees and was making fishing rods and reels, line, and baits and lures. The company continued to grow, and by 1913 it had changed its name to the Shakespeare Co., employed more than 100 people and had moved from Water Street to a stately brick building on the corner of East Kalamazoo Avenue and North Pitcher Street. Later, a second company was created, Shakespeare Products Co., which focused on products other than those related to fishing, including auto and aircraft parts. The company moved its headquarters to South Carolina in 1970 and left Kalamazoo by 1989. The name has been preserved locally by the Shakespeare’s Pub, located in what was once a Shakespeare Co. office building.
Croquet mallets and balls
Kalamazoo Handle Manufacturing Co.
The women in the photograph above are identified as staff members at the Michigan Asylum for the Insane, and they appear to have completed a round of croquet. Chances are good that they were using mallets and balls made by the Kalamazoo Handle Manufacturing Co. During the mid-19th century, Michigan was a leader in timber production, and Kalamazoo used that raw material for many products, including wagons, yokes, furniture, handles and even clothespins. Croquet was the rage at the time, with the Kalamazoo Gazette noting “exquisite” displays of the game in stores and croquet parties held at various houses. It was said the Kalamazoo Handle Manufacturing Co. could make 11 wooden balls in two minutes from a single block of wood.
Crystal White peppermint oil
A.M. Todd Co.
For many years, mint oil, which flavored medicines and food, was a product Kalamazoo was known for. The man behind this industry was Albert M. Todd. He was born in Nottawa, where in 1869 he started the company that bore his name, and he moved the company to Kalamazoo in 1891. He owned two large mint farms in Van Buren and Allegan counties and processed the oil at a plant at the southwest corner of North Rose Street and Kalamazoo Avenue and later at a facility on Douglas Avenue. By the turn of the 20th century, the A.M. Todd Co. produced 50% of the world’s mint oil. In the 1920s, due to the combination of fungus and wilt, the Todd Co. abandoned growing mint but continued to process it at the local plant. WILD Flavors GmbH, Switzerland, purchased the company in 2011, and ADM purchased WILD in 2014.
All products and images are from the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.
