Blood Brothers Machine Company was a universal joint manufacturing firm with factories in Allegan and Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Maurice, Clarence and Charles Blood and their nephew Howard Blood started a bicycle factory in Kalamazoo in the early 1900s. In 1914, the Blood Brothers purchased the Allegan Mirror Company and ventured into the racing car industry with the production of the unique chain drive Cornelian, one of which was driven by Louis Chevrolet in the 1915 Indy 500 race. Fewer than 100 of these vehicles were produced.
The company turned its Allegan operation into Blood Brothers Machine Company. In 1936 the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Standard Steel Spring Company of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. [1]
In 1975, it in turn became part of the Rockwell International operation. [2] Rockwell was in the business of building aircraft for the US Air Force.
In 1945, Blood Brothers started up what is now Allegan Federal Community Credit Union, originally monikered Blood Brothers Federal Credit Union. [3] Rockwell closed down the Allegan plant in 1991. [4]
James J. Green, From Blood Brothers Machine Company to Rockwell International (Allegan: Allegan Historical County Society, 1978).
Kalamazoo is a city in and the county seat of Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States. At the 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan area in southwestern Michigan, which had a population of 261,670 in 2020.
Allegan is a city and the county seat of Allegan County, Michigan Its population was 5,222 at the 2020 census. It’s located 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Grand Rapids and 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Kalamazoo, both via US 131. It lies within Allegan Township but is administratively autonomous.
North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, the XB-70 bomber, the B-1 Lancer, the Apollo command and service module, the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, and the Space Shuttle orbiter.
Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport is a county-owned public airport in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, US, 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Downtown Kalamazoo. The airport is located approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of the city of Battle Creek. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2023-27, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.
Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was an American racing driver, mechanic and entrepreneur who co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911.
The Kalamazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Michigan. The river is 130 miles (210 km) long from the junction of its North and South branches to its mouth at Lake Michigan, with a total length extending to 178 miles (286 km) when one includes the South Branch. The river's watershed drains an area of approximately 2,020 square miles (5,200 km2) and drains portions of ten counties in southwest Michigan: Allegan, Barry, Eaton, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Jackson, Hillsdale, Kent and Ottawa. The river has a median flow of 1,863 cubic feet per second (52.8 m3/s) at New Richmond, upstream from its mouth at Saugatuck and Douglas.
M-89 is an east–west state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan that runs from near Ganges to Battle Creek. M-89 starts at an interchange with Interstate 196/US Highway 31 (I-196/US 31) and passes through Allegan, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, and Calhoun counties. The highway also briefly crosses the southwest corner of Barry County before it terminates an at intersection with Business Loop I-94 on the northwestern side of downtown Battle Creek. In between the trunkline runs parallel to the Kalamazoo River through rural southwestern Michigan farmlands while also running through the middle of several smaller towns in the area.
M-40 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. The highway runs from US Highway 12 (US 12) near the Indiana state line in Porter Township north through Paw Paw and Allegan to end in the outskirts of Holland. The current northern end is near Interstate 196 (I-196) at an intersection with US 31/Business Loop I-196 (BL 196). In between, M-40 runs through mixed agricultural and forest lands and along lakes and rivers through Southwest Michigan.
Rockwell Automation, Inc. is an American provider of industrial automation and digital transformation technologies. Brands include Allen-Bradley, FactoryTalk software and LifecycleIQ Services.
The Cornelian was a 1914 American automobile built expressly for racing. It had chain drive and was the smallest such configuration to be raced at the Indianapolis Speedway.
Michigan's 4th congressional district is a United States congressional district located in the state of Michigan. The current 4th district contains much of Michigan's old 2nd district, and includes all of Allegan and Van Buren counties, as well as portions of Ottawa, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, and Berrien counties. In 2022, the district was redrawn to start in St. Joseph Township and extend north to Port Sheldon Township. The 4th is currently represented by Republican Bill Huizenga, who previously represented the old 2nd district.
The Blood was an automobile manufactured in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by the Blood Brothers Auto & Machine Company from 1902 to 1905. They produced a five-seater tonneau with a two-cylinder opposed engine, costing $1,800. The drive system had a four-speed transmission and transferred power to the rear axle by a shaft.
Charles Sedgwick May was an American politician and the 16th lieutenant governor of Michigan.
Dwight May was a politician from the U. S. state of Michigan who also served as officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
In 1990, the Allied Paper, Inc./Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River in southwestern Michigan was declared by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be a Superfund site – in other words, an abandoned industrial site containing significant amounts of toxic waste. The EPA and companies responsible for the waste in this area, which includes a three-mile section of Portage Creek as well as part of the Kalamazoo River, into which it flows, are currently involved in an effort to reduce the amount of toxic waste at the site, which is contaminated by PCBs from paper mills and other factories.
Battle Creek is a city in northwestern Calhoun County, Michigan, United States, 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.
The Allied Paper Corporation was created in 1921 by a merger of three paper mills in Kalamazoo and Otsego, both in South-West Michigan, USA. The company grew steadily over the next 40 years but when local forests had been logged off and when profits could no longer support further investments and updates it became uncompetitive. Allied mills were closed or sold during the 1970s and 1980s, and the corporation passed into history during 1988. Hundreds of millions of dollars have since been spent in South West Michigan cleaning up the last Allied Paper mill site and the PCB pollution caused by this company.
Aric Nesbitt is an American politician serving as a member of the Michigan Senate, representing the 20th district, which includes most of Van Buren County, Central Allegan County, Northern Berrien County and Byron Township & Gaines Township in Kent County. He serves as the minority leader of the Michigan State Senate and previously served as President pro tempore. He received the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award from Hillsdale College for being a conservative reformer. He previously represented the 66th District in the Michigan House of Representatives and served as the Michigan Lottery Commissioner from 2017 to 2018. Nesbitt was elected in November 2010 to the Michigan House of Representatives, served three terms, and served as the House Majority Floor Leader and chair of the House Committee on Energy & Technology. He is a member of the Republican Party and resides south of Lawton, Michigan with his wife, Trisha, daughter, Catherine, and son, William.
The Michigan Paper Company Mill Historic District, also known as the Plainwell Paper Company Complex, is a complex of industrial buildings located at 200 Allegan Street in Plainwell, Michigan. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.