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Kalamazoo is the county seat of Kalamazoo County in southwestern Michigan with a 2020 population of 73,598, serving as the principal city of the Kalamazoo-Portage metropolitan area with 261,670 residents. Originally named Bronson after founder Titus Bronson, the city and township were renamed Kalamazoo in 1836-1837 after a Potawatomi word first documented in a 1772 British report, with various etymologies proposed including "boiling water" and "otter tail." The city is home to three institutions of higher education: Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Kalamazoo's most notable landmark is the Kalamazoo Mall, an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall created in 1959 by closing part of Burdick Street to traffic, with two of its four blocks later reopened to vehicles in 1999. The area was historically inhabited by the Hopewell civilization before the Potawatomi, visited by French explorer La Salle in 1680, and ceded to the United States by the 1821 Treaty of Chicago. Battle Creek is a city in northwestern Calhoun County, Michigan, located at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers, with a 2020 census population of 52,731. Nicknamed "Cereal City," it is best known as the home of WK Kellogg Co and the founding city of Post Consumer Brands, where the Kellogg brothers accidentally invented the first cereal while attempting to make granola. The city was established around 1831 following westward migration from New York and New England after the Erie Canal's completion in 1824, with a post office opening in 1832 under Postmaster Pollodore Hudson. Battle Creek served as a major Underground Railroad stop in the antebellum era and became home to abolitionist Sojourner Truth, while also playing a prominent role in early Seventh-day Adventist Church history, hosting a founding convention in 1863 and the denomination's first hospital, college, and publishing office. The city was renowned for health reform during the late 1800s and early 1900s, particularly through the Battle Creek Sanitarium founded by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County, Michigan, located 46 miles southwest of Kalamazoo with a 2020 population of 9,103 in a metropolitan area of 156,813, and is part of the "Twin Cities" with nearby St. Joseph across the St. Joseph River. Founded in 1860 by Henry C. Morton, Sterne Brunson, and Charles Hull, the city was incorporated in 1866 under its current name to honor Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and was incorporated as a city in 1891 after a canal completed in 1862 transformed it into a shipping and manufacturing hub. The city experienced significant economic decline beginning in the 1950s when retail establishments relocated, with major civil unrest occurring during riots in 1966 and 2003 related to police interactions with Black residents, who comprise over 80 percent of the population. In 2018, Benton Harbor faced a public health crisis when testing revealed lead levels of 22 parts per billion in tap water from lead-based service lines, exceeding federal standards and prompting the distribution of free bottled water to residents and schools. The city is historically notable for being home to the House of David religious group, which once operated a local amusement park.