Page 86 - Poat_to_Poot_Engels

LIFE IN KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN

Kalamazoo was an energetic small city and county of nearly 20,000
people in the town and twice that number in the overall county. The
town was entering a period of transition from a rural western town to a
semi-urban city of great opportunity. The years ahead were full of
growth. Although agriculture continued, hundreds of factories were
being constructed. UpJohn Pharmaceutical opened in 1886, and was
becoming a major employer. Other important factories made furniture,
paper, gas lamps, stoves, and horse drawn buggies. When the Poots
arrived, the downtown area was busy installing sidewalks, gas lines,
street paving, and sewers. These improvements were to spread
throughout the city over the coming years.

Only one in four residences had running water. Most relied on one of
over 2,000 private wells or used rain-barrels to collect water. This
resulted in a serious risk of disease. Typhoid and cholera were common,
the result of unsanitary water. Only one in 15 homes had a sewer
connection. Nearly everyone used one of the 3,000 outhouses and
cesspools. These contaminated the groundwater, much to the concern
of local health officials. Water from the kitchen sink emptied out a pipe
in the wall and usually watered a garden.

Most communication relied on the post office or telegraph. However,
many businesses downtown had recently installed local telephone
service. There was no long distance service and the telephone was still a
novelty, not an essential of everyday life.

The town was quite proud of several miles of new streetcar tracks on the
main streets of town. The 30 horse-drawn streetcars had 22 miles of
track available in 1887. In a few more years they would be run on
electricity. In 1886 electricity had arrived for some two dozen downtown
businesses and ninety gas street-lamps were changed to electric.

Upon their arrival, the Poots were taken to their temporary home on
West Street. This was west of downtown and near the train station and
the college. Then began the tumultuous project of bathing and dressing
seven sweaty and excited children. Finally they were welcomed with a
bounteous supper of strange and exotic foods. There were tomatoes,
olives, celery and concord grapes. Willem could smell the fields of celery
and grapes, and decided he did not care for them. The strangest foods
were the cantaloupes, watermelons, peaches, and red and black
raspberries. He had never seen most of these before.

During their stay in Kalamazoo, Willem developed an intense dislike for
celery. There were large fields of it all around, and the distinctive aroma

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