Battle Creek is a city in northwestern Calhoun County, Michigan, United States. It sits at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 52,731. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Calhoun County. Nicknamed "Cereal City", it is best known as the home of WK Kellogg Co and the founding city of Post Consumer Brands.
Toponym One local legend says Battle Creek was named after an encounter between a federal government land survey party led by Colonel John Mullett and two Potawatomi in March 1824. The two Potawatomi had approached the camp asking for food because they were hungry as the U.S. Army was late delivering supplies promised to them under the 1821 Treaty of Chicago. After a protracted discussion, the Native Americans allegedly tried to take food. One of the surveyors shot and seriously wounded one Potawatomi. Following the encounter, the survey party retreated to Detroit. Early white settlers called the nearby stream Battle Creek River and the town took its name from that.
Another folk etymology is attributed to the local river, which was known as Waupakisco by Native Americans. The Waupakisco or Waupokisco was supposedly a reference to a battle or fight fought between indigenous tribes before the arrival of Europeans. However, Virgil J. Vogel, Professor Emeritus of history and social science at Harry S. Truman College in Chicago, believes the native name has "nothing to do with blood or battle".
History
In about 1774, the Potawatomi and the Ottawa Native American tribes formed a joint village near the future Battle Creek, Michigan. The first permanent European settlements in Battle Creek Township, after the removal of the Potawatomi to a reservation, began about 1831. Westward migration from New York and New England had increased to Michigan following the completion of the Erie Canal in New York in 1824. Most settlers chose to locate on the Goguac prairie, which was fertile and easily cultivated. A post office was opened in Battle Creek in 1832 under Postmaster Pollodore Hudson.History and Direction of Calhoun County Accessed January 20, 2011 The first school was taught in a small log house about 1833 or 1834. Asa Langley and several workers (Adrian Godbey, Jackson Morgan, Ethan baker, etc.) built the first sawmill in 1837. A brick manufacturing plant, called the oldest enterprise in the township, was established in 1840 by Simon Carr and operated until 1903. The township was established by act of the legislature in 1839.Ringes, Laura (1913). "Battle Creek Township". In Washington Gardner, History of Calhoun County, Michigan, Vol. I, pp. 169-73. The Lewis Publishing Company.
In the antebellum era, the city was a major stop on the Underground Railroad, used by fugitive slaves to escape to freedom in Michigan and Canada. It was the chosen home of noted abolitionist Sojourner Truth after her escape from slavery.Heritage Battle Creek website, http://www.heritagebattlecreek.org/ Accessed August 29, 2013
Battle Creek figured prominently in the early history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It was the site of a Protestant church founding convention in 1863. The denomination's first hospital, college, and publishing office would also be constructed in the city. When the hospital and publishing office burned down in 1902, the church elected to decentralize, and most of its institutions were relocated. The first Adventist church (rebuilt in the 1920s) is still in operation.
World Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson was once arrested here for marrying his White wife and transporting her across state lines. He was detained in Battle Creek, where he visited a former acquaintance, went for a sleigh ride and spent the night at the house of patrolman John Patterson, Battle Creek's first African American police officer. Federal authorities from Chicago took him into custody the next day.
The city was noted for its focus on health reform during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Battle Creek Sanitarium was founded by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. In addition to some of his sometimes bizarre treatments that were featured in the movie The Road to Wellville, Kellogg also funded organizations that promoted eugenics theories at the core of their philosophical agenda, which was seen as a natural complement to euthenics. The Race Betterment Foundation was one of these organizations. He also supported the "separate but equal" philosophy and invited Booker T. Washington to speak at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in order to raise money. Washington was the author of the speech "The Atlanta Compromise", which solidified his position of being an accommodationist while providing a mechanism for southern Whites (and their sympathizers), to fund his school (the Tuskegee Institute).
W. K. Kellogg had worked for his brother in a variety of capacities at the B.C. Sanitarium. Tired of living in the shadow of his brother John Harvey Kellogg, he struck out on his own, going to the boom-towns surrounding the oilfields in Oklahoma as a broom salesman. Having failed, he returned to work as an assistant to his brother. While working at the sanitariums' laboratory, W. K. spilled liquefied cornmeal on a heating device that cooked the product and rendered it to flakes. He tasted the flakes and added milk to them. He was able to get his brother to allow him to give some of the product to some of the patients at the sanitarium, and the patients' demand for the product exceeded his expectations to the point that W. K. made the decision to leave the sanitarium. Along with some investors, he built a factory to satisfy the demand for his "corn flakes".
It was during this time of going their separate ways for good that Dr. John Harvey Kellogg sued his brother for copyright infringement. The U.S. Supreme court ruled in W. K. Kellogg's favor, due to the greater sales and public profile of W. K. Kellogg's company.
Inspired by Kellogg's innovation, C. W. Post invented Grape-Nuts and founded his own cereal company in the town. Battle Creek has been nicknamed "the Cereal City."
In the turbulent 1960s, Battle Creek was not immune to the racial issues of the day. Dr. Martin Luther King spoke here, as did Sen. Hubert Humphrey, President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Heavyweight Champion of the world Muhammad Ali. African Americans were subjected to "stop and frisk" procedures while walking, and housing covenants were in full force. No Blacks worked in the school systems, and only a few Blacks held mid-level manager posts in the local corporate sector. The Federal government sector was better at the Federal Center, and less so at the local Veterans' Administration Hospital.
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water, making Battle Creek the third largest city in Michigan by area, and one of only three incorporated municipalities in the state over in size.
Approximately 60% of the city's land is developed. Of the undeveloped land, 38% is zoned agricultural, 26% is zoned general industrial, 17.5% is zoned residential, 16% is the Fort Custer Army National Guard Base/Industrial Park, and 2.5% is zone commercial.Battle Creek Comprehensive Plan , Battle Creek Planning Department, accessed June 13, 2011 After Battle Creek Township merged into the city of Battle Creek in 1983, the city's declining population rose by nearly 18,000 new residents. Prior to the merge, the city measured . Battle Creek is variously considered to be part of West Michigan or Southern Michigan.
Climate
Nearby municipalities Bedford Charter Township Emmett Charter Township Pennfield Charter Township City of Springfield Urbandale
Demographics +Battle Creek, Michigan – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010% 2000% 2010White alone (NH)38,76135,91132,62172.64%68.60%61.87%Black or African American alone (NH)9,4409,3479,30617.69%17.86%17.65%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)3602922840.67%0.56%0.54%Asian alone (NH)1,0241,2542,6701.92%2.40%5.06%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)615120.01%0.03%0.02%Other race alone (NH)70812860.13%0.16%0.54%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)1,2281,9303,4792.30%3.69%6.60%Hispanic or Latino (any race)2,4753,5174,0634.64%6.72%7.71%Total53,36452,34752,721100.00%100.00%100.00%
In 1982, at the insistence of Kellogg's, the city annexed Battle Creek Township, nearly doubling the city's population. Kellogg's even went so far as to threaten to move their headquarters if the annexation failed to occur.
2020 census Nick Buckley wrote in the Battle Creek Enquirer: "The 2020 Census is critical for Battle Creek. Falling below the 50,000-resident threshold would mean a change from "urbanized area" to "urban cluster" and a loss of federal entitlement funding."
As of the 2020 census, Battle Creek had a population of 52,721. The median age was 37.8 years. 24.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.2 males age 18 and over.
98.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 2.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 21,466 households in Battle Creek, of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 35.0% were married-couple households, 21.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 34.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 23,515 housing units, of which 8.7% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.3%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 33,648 63.8% Black or African American 9,423 17.9% American Indian and Alaska Native 409 0.8% Asian 2,681 5.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 14 0.0% Some other race 1,880 3.6% Two or more races 4,666 8.9%
2010 census As of the census of 2010, there were 52,347 people, 21,118 households, and 12,898 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 24,277 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 71.7% White, 18.2% African American, 0.7% Native American, 2.4% Asian, 2.7% from other races, and 4.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 6.7% of the population.
In the 21,118 households 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.1% were married couples living together, 18.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.9% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 3.04.
The median age in the city was 36.3 years. 26.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.9% were from 25 to 44; 25.5% were from 45 to 64; and 13.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.9% male and 52.1% female.
As of April 2013, Battle Creek had the fifth largest Japanese national population in the state of Michigan, with 358.Stone, Cal. "State's Japanese employees increasing." (Archive) Observer & Eccentric. Gannett Company. April 11, 2013. Retrieved on May 5, 2013.
2000 census