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About Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo ( KAL-ə-mə-ZOO) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 261,670 in 2020. One of Kalamazoo's most notable features is the Kalamazoo Mall, an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall. The city created the mall in 1959 by closing part of Burdick Street to auto traffic, although two of the mall's four blocks have been reopened to auto traffic since 1999. Kalamazoo is home to Western Michigan University, a large public university, Kalamazoo College, a private liberal arts college, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, a two-year community college. == Name origin == Originally known as Bronson (after founder Titus Bronson) in the township of Arcadia, the names of both the city and the township were changed to "Kalamazoo" in 1836 and 1837, respectively. The name “Kalamazoo” comes from a Potawatomi word, first found in a British report in 1772. The Kalamazoo River, which passes through the modern city of Kalamazoo, was located on the route between Detroit and Fort Saint-Joseph (nowadays Niles, Michigan).