New Settlers to Kalamazoo: The Importance of the General Store

Traveling to Michigan’s wilderness in the 1830s was not an easy task. Settlers from New England travelled by way of the Erie Canal and Great Lakes on cramped barges and steamboats. Others from the south came through Ohio and Indiana on rough, narrow roads. Settlers brought little with them, only necessities like clothes, cooking pots, and a few tools to build their house. And perhaps they’d bring a few family treasures, like a dining table, a rocking chair, or a fiddle. Once they were settled, they would find the closest general store. There, they could find things that they couldn’t make themselves, items to make life a little easier on the frontier. Perhaps a lantern, a shovel, or a teapot. And they could find some very special items, too. A lady’s fan, a shaving brush, or a Bible. Some of the items sold in the general store were made or grown by the settlers and traded with the shopkeeper. Things like butter, fresh berries, or bars of soap. But most were brought in from New England and Europe by way of Detroit, then over land in wagons to towns like Kalamazoo, Schoolcraft, or Allegan.