Battle Creek

Battle Creek, city, Calhoun county, south-central Michigan, U.S. It lies at the juncture of Battle Creek with the Kalamazoo River, about 20 miles (30 km) east of Kalamazoo and about 45 miles (70 km) southwest of Lansing. Settled in 1831 and named in 1834 for a “battle” that had taken place on the riverbank between two Indians and two members of a surveying party, it became a flour- and woolen-mill centre and the headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. In 1866 the Adventists founded the Western Health Reform Institute (renamed Battle Creek Sanitarium, 1878, and Battle Creek Health Center, 1959). Under the direction (1876–1943) of the physician John Harvey Kellogg, the sanitarium experimented with health foods, leading to the manufacture of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, which became the city’s main industry. The Cereal Festival, with “the world’s longest breakfast table,” is an annual (June) event. In addition to the Kellogg, Post, and Ralston cereal plants, there are manufacturers of auto parts, packaging machinery, and metal and paper products. The U.S. government operates a defense logistics centre and a number of other agencies on the former grounds of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

Battle Creek’s reputation as a “health city” was furthered in 1930 when the W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established to improve the well-being of children. The city is the site of Kellogg Community College (1956), a branch of Davenport University (1990), Leila Arboretum, Kingman Museum of Natural History, and Pinder Park Zoo. The Kellogg Biological Station (a bird sanctuary and agricultural research laboratory) of Michigan State University is approximately 12 miles (20 km) northwest. Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883), the Black civil-rights pioneer, lived and is buried in Battle Creek, which was an active station on the Underground Railroad for escaped enslaved people. She is memorialized by a number of monuments in the city. The Kimball House Museum (built 1886) houses a collection of archival materials relating to Truth, the Kelloggs, and other prominent residents. The Kellogg Company has sponsored several projects to revitalize the city’s downtown, including a concert arena and a cereal-manufacturing theme park. Fort Custer National Cemetery (established as an army post in 1917 and dedicated as a national cemetery in 1984) lies just west of the city. Inc. village, 1850; city, 1859. Pop. (2000) 53,364; Battle Creek Metro Area, 137,985; (2010) 52,347; Battle Creek Metro Area, 136,146.