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Battle Creek

Battle Creek, Michigan
City
City of Battle Creek
Downtown Battle Creek in November 2008
Downtown Battle Creek in November 2008
Official seal of Battle Creek, Michigan
Seal
Nickname(s): "Cereal City"
Location of Battle Creek within Michigan
Location of Battle Creek within Michigan
Battle Creek, Michigan is located in the US
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek, Michigan
Location in the United States
Coordinates: 42°18′44″N 85°12′15″W / 42.31222°N 85.20417°W / 42.31222; -85.20417Coordinates: 42°18′44″N 85°12′15″W / 42.31222°N 85.20417°W / 42.31222; -85.20417
Country United States
State Michigan
County Calhoun
Settled 1831
Incorporation 1859
Government
 • Type Council-Manager
 • Mayor Deb Owens
 • City Manager Rebecca Fleury
Area
 • Total 43.73 sq mi (113.26 km2)
 • Land 42.61 sq mi (110.36 km2)
 • Water 1.12 sq mi (2.90 km2)
Elevation 840 ft (256 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 52,347 (city proper)
 • Estimate (2012) 51,911
 • Density 1,228.5/sq mi (474.3/km2)
Time zone Eastern (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP codes 49014-49018; 49037
Area code(s) 269
FIPS code 26-05920
GNIS feature ID 0620755
Website battlecreekmi.gov

Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which encompasses all of Calhoun County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 52,347, while the MSA population was 136,146.

The Potawatomi and the Ottawa formed a joint village in the general area of Battle Creek, Michigan in about 1774.

Battle Creek was named for a skirmish between a federal government land survey party led by Colonel John Mullett and two Native Americans, likely Potawatomi people, who were historically prominent in this area since before European encounter.

According to various European-American accounts, while Mullett and his group were surveying an area several miles from the present city in the winter of 1823-1824, their camp was raided by Native Americans. Two members of the survey party who had remained at the camp were attacked by two Indians. The Indians were reported as trying to steal provisions from the survey team. They were likely hungry because annuities and supplies were late or insufficient; the Potawatomi had ceded their land to the United States by an 1820 treaty and been restricted to a reservation. The Army was notorious for failing to deliver supplies and annuities on a timely basis.

During the fight, the surveyors shot and severely wounded one Indian, subduing the other. Fearing more hostilities, the survey party promptly packed up and left the area. They did not return until June 1824, after Governor Lewis Cass had settled the issues with the Indians. European-American settlers later called the nearby stream Battle Creek River.

Native Americans had called the river Waupakisco, to which some attribute a folk etymology. By this account, the name Waupakisco or Waupokisco was a reference to an earlier battle fought between Native American tribes before the arrival of white settlers. However, Virgil J. Vogel establishes that this native term had "nothing to do with blood or battle".


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