Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University is a Michigan historical marker in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, dedicated 1957.

W. Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo

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Established by legislative act in 1903 as Western State Normal School, the first classes were held in 1904. The first permanent building, completed in 1905, overlooked the city from Prospect Hill. By the 1920s Western had become one of America’s leading teachers’ colleges. Starting in 1934 general degree work was offered. An expansion program on the west campus began in 1944. Increasing enrollment and the addition of new departments and courses during the 1940s and 1950s made Western a multi-purpose institution and led to its designation as a university by an act of the legislature in 1957.

TodayHistorical map

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University of Michigan Library

Historical maps covering this location

1873 · (Map of Van Buren County, Michigan) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1897 · Southern Michigan. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1907 · Map of the original swamp areas of the lower peninsula of Michigan. : 1907. Compiled from… (University of Michigan Library)
1916 · Kalamazoo, Michigan (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1918 · Kalamazoo, Michigan (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1918, covering the location of Western Michigan University, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1918, covering this location. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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On the National Register nearby

The Oaklands290 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.