KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI
GENEALOGY & LOCAL HISTORY
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MILHAM PARK
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note: this is not a government web site, for information about use of Milham and other Kalamazoo city parks please visit :http://www.kalamazoocity.org/government/departments/pr_amenities_list.php |
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be sure to see the Kalamazoo Public Library page about Milham Park
MILHAM PARK
| For the better part of one hundred years, people in Kalamazoo have enjoyed the park located at Lovers Lane and Kilgore Road on the south side of the City of Kalamazoo. |
Lovers Lane just north of Portage Creek, 1911
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| According to Willis Dunbar ( Kalamazoo
and How It Grew ), "During the term of Mayor Charles H. Farell,
in 1910, a park commission was created and the property which was
developed into Milham Park was purchased." The city had paid
$5000 for the sixty acres of future parkland, but the actual cost was
$10,000 - the $5000 difference was paid by the Park Commission Chairman,
Frank Milham (Living in Kalamazoo , Balls and Lassfolk )
- Frank Milham was the founder of the Bryant Paper Company
and, later, twice Mayor of Kalamazoo. The chief feature of Milham Park is Portage Creek, which runs through the length of the park. It was dammed to create water views and habitat for waterfowl. |
Portage Creek Dam in Milham Park
1931
1963
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| The wider creek that resulted from the dam gave opportunity for the picturesque stone bridges, many built in the depression times of the 1930's. |
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The bridges enhance the many beautiful water views:
2001
2001
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1940s
2001
2001
2001
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The creek featured a water wheel in the 1940's
The water vistas are complemented by winding pathways:
1940's
1940s
2001
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The creek was also used to create a bathing beach and wading pool.
1940s
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| Apart from the creek, a swimming pool was constructed - also, a bathhouse. |
1948
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"A zoo was opened in 1927 to which William P. Engleman donated two buffalo ( Dunbar, Kalamazoo and How It Grew ). The zoo was part of an improvement program that saw forty acres added to the park. During the depression of the 1930's the zoo was extensively improved through work relief programs that resulted in the many stone structures through out the park. In 1939 several African monkeys were donated to the park zoo. One immediately escaped to the delight of writers at the Kalamazoo Gazette who wrote stories with titles such as "Escaped Monkey Haughty After Capture." Monkeys escaped again in 1970 resulting in similar titles, "Monkeys Flee Zoo." In addition to the monkeys, the zoo also featured a bear pit. In 1974, the city decided to close the zoo and the last bear died in 1977.
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1945
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Over the years other park features have come and gone such as the log cabin.
1944
| But, the basic uses of the park have remained unchanged, picnics, family and school reunions, and simple outdoor activities of all sorts. |
1911
1942
1940's
| In 1958, Marie Lassfolk and Ethel Balls in their book, Living in Kalamazoo, gave a glowing, and justifiable, description of Milham Park: "Milham Park offers a variety of attractions. Outdoor grills and picnic tables make the park ideal for outdoor picnics. A zoo and wading pool for children add to the park's attractiveness as a recreation center". Although the park has changed since 1958, it remains an important recreation center for the City and County of Kalamazoo. |
2001
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There are a number of Milham Park views at Milham Park Improve Proposal website
Lillian Anderson Arboretum at Kalamazoo College
W K Kellogg
Experimental Forest - Augusta
Kalamazoo County Parks Photographs
The History of Markin Glen County Park
1. Cold Brook Park - Climax, East MN Avenue at South 42nd Street.
2. Markin Glen Park - Kalamazoo Township, North
Westnedge Avenue, just north of G Avenue.
3. Prairie View Park - Vicksburg, east of U.S. 131 on U Avenue, between Portage Road and Oakland Drive.
4. River Oaks Park - between Comstock and Galesburg, Morrow Lake, just off M-96 .
5. Scotts Mill Park - Scotts, south of East Q Avenue on 35th Street .
6. Recreation Park / Fair Grounds Lake Street off of Business Route I-94. The Fairground address is 2900 Lake Street see the County Fair page
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Portage Bicentennial Park page
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