KALAMAZOO COUNTY. 263 



Merritt, was examined during that year by the orchard committee of the 

 State Pomological Society, who found it in an unhealthy condition, appar- 

 ently from tlie effect of extreme cold, in an unfavorable locality. 



A nursery was established at Battle Creek by Mr. Willis about the year 

 1840 ;■ also one at the same place by Mr. Penniman about 1847; both of which 

 have long since been discontinued. 



Calhoun county, according to the census of 1884, had of apple orchards, 

 9,759 acres, 288,148 bearing trees, yielding in 1883, 167,711 bushels of fruit. 



Peach orchards, 255 acres, 13,734 bearing trees, yielding in 1883, 527 bush- 

 els of fruit. 



The value of orchard products of all kinds sold or consumed in 1883 was 

 $71,804. ^ 



Vineyards, 25 acres : grapes sold in 1883, 14,407 pounds. 



wine made in 1883, 31 gallons. 



Nurseries, 4 acres; products sold in 1883, $915. 



Market garden products sold in 1883, 114,012. 



KALAMAZOO COUNTY. 



This county was set off and named by act of the Legislative Council of the 

 Territory, approved October 29th, 1829. It was organized in pursuance of 

 an enactment of that body which was given effect from and after October 1st, 

 1830. Its name is derived from the Indian name of the river — Ke Kenama- 

 200 — meaning the boiling pot. 



The county seat was located at Bronson, in January, 1831, by commission- 

 ers appointed by Governor Lewis Cass; and such location was confirmed by 

 proclamation of Secretary and Acting Governor Stevens T. Mason on May 

 12th, 1831. The name — Bronson — was subsequently changed to Kalama- 

 zoo. 



George Torrey, at page 207 of the first volume of Michigan Pioneer Collec- 

 tions, says: "The first settlement of Kalamazoo county dates back to 1828. 

 In the fall of that year Bazil Harrison, with his family of sons and daughters, 

 with a desirable collection of household goods, arrived on Prairie Konde and 

 settled on the timbered marge, by the side of a little lake which he called 

 after his name. Harrison was born in Maryland; wect, when young, to 

 Virginia, then to Pennsylvania, then to Clark county, Ohio; and, in his 

 fifty-eighth year, came to Michigan, where he lived till August 30th, 1874, 

 dying at the great age of one hundred and three years. He was a nephew of 

 Benjamin Harrison, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 

 and cousin of President Harrison." 



A portion of the laud occupied by the present city of Kalamazoo was pre- 

 empted by Titus Bronson, known at the time as ''Potato" Bronsou, he 

 having imporied and widely disseminated the Neshanuock (Mercer) potato. 

 Such pre-emption occurred in 1829, the lauds not being yet in market. In 

 1831 he platted and recorded this land under the name Bronson, subse- 

 quently changed to Kalamazoo. 



A County Agricultural Society was organized as early as 1845, which has 

 maintained its existence till the present time. 



