Books

Hub of Information: The General Store

The general store stocked a few of the most popular books of the day. When GossĀ & Darling was in business in 1848, their store might have carried The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. And of course the general store always had Bibles to sell. Kalamazoo's earliest settlers were mostly Baptist and Presbyterian, and while most had a family Bible in the home, they might buy a nice new one for a baby's baptism or a god child's birthday. The Bible displayed here was given to a young lady named Auguste Patterson by her grandfather. Because settlers were so far away from their loved ones and so far away from big cities, they craved information of all kinds. The general store was the place to go for that information. They could catch up on the latest news with their neighbors, pick up a Kalamazoo Gazette to read the news from far and near, or they could buy the latest edition of the Farmers Almanac, filled with helpful information like weather predictions, health remedies and farming advice. And before the day of door-to-door mail delivery, the general store was the place to pick up your mail. Settlers were always hoping to receive a letter from back home.

Kalamazoo Direct to You - Highlights
  1. Checker Cab
  2. Smelting Pot
  3. Gibson Guitars
  4. Homer Stryker and his Revolutionary Bed
  5. Upjohn's Pills
  6. A. M. Todd
  7. People of the Three Fires
  8. The General Store
  9. New Settlers to Kalamazoo: The Importance of the General Store
  10. Something for Everyone at the General Store
  11. The Finer Things in Life: Saving for the General Store
  12. Hub of Information: The General Store
  13. 1848 General Store Ledger
  14. Farm Life 1860-1940
  15. Entertainment 1860-1920
  16. "Wash Day"
  17. Food Preparation 1870-1930
  18. Squirrel Tailed Pumper
  19. The Kalamazoo Mall
  20. Victor Gruen: The Man with a Plan
  21. Dreams We Shared
  22. The 1980 Kalamazoo Tornado
  23. Lincoln's Speech
  24. Mystery of the Mummy