Battle Creek
Emma Rasegan, 4th Grade, Brummer Elementary, South Lyon, MI

        I am doing my Michigan report on Battle Creek. I choose this topic because, it is listed as one of Michigan's top tourist attractions, and I wanted to find out why.
        Battle Creek is a city bigger than South Lyon . It is located in south central Michigan about 110 miles from Detroit. Battle Creek was settled in 1831 by the town-founder, Sands McCamly. It was chartered, meaning it became a city, in 1859.
        In the early 1800's many things brought people to the city of Battle Creek. In 1855, Ellen and James White, leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church moved from New York to Battle Creek with many of their followers. They were looking for a place they could find freedom to practice their faith. Over the next few years the church grew a lot. In the west end of Battle Creek is the historic Adventist Village. Adventist Village is a two block replication of nineteenth century Seventh Day Adventist life and houses. Now Battle Creek is known as the world's headquarters of the Seventh Day Adventist church.
        In 1877, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1860-1951) returned to his home in Battle Creek from medical school and became the director of the world famous Battle Creek Sanitarium that was originally founded by the Adventist church. A sanitarium was like a hospital, where many famous people thought they would go and get healthy. The Sanitarium was designed to be a place where people could go and restore their health and were taught to maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet. As part of this healthy diet, many products were developed in the Sanitarium's experimental kitchen, including peanut butter and ready-to eat breakfast cereal. The first ready to eat cereal was corn flakes. John Harvey Kellogg's and his brother made Kellogg's corn flakes by accident, after leaving a batch of boiled wheat soaking over night and rolling it out. That is how Kellogg's Corn Flakes were created. After creating corn flakes in 1906 he formed the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company (Kellogg's). Because of his good advertising and different kinds of cereal, he made Kellogg's in Battle Creek became the world's largest manufacturer of prepared breakfast cereal. This brought Charles Post, the creator of Post cereal to Battle Creek also. Kellogg's Cereal City USA opened in 1998. It is a fun interactive place that tells the story of the cereal industry, including a simulated cereal production line.
        In the mid 1800's millions of African Americans lived as slaves in the South. Many of them chose to run north to Michigan to find freedom. Many of them moved along the Underground Railroad, which was not underground and not a railroad. It was hiding places, houses and barns, where slaves could find a warm meal and a safe night's sleep. They hide during the day and traveled at night by foot or wagon. There were seven established routes through Michigan and Battle Creek was one of them. Many fugitive slaves chose to stay in Battle Creek. They built homes, established churches and founded businesses and became an important part of the city. Sojourner Truth, one of the nation's most famous abolitionists and social reformers, chose this village as her home for the last twenty-six years of her life. She was the first black woman to speak out against slavery after being born a slave in 1797 in the state of New York. In1828 she became free and started doing speeches against slavery. She settled in Battle Creek in the 1850's and continued her fight against slavery, helping to improve living for many black people.
        I traveled to Battle Creek myself with my family and visited most of their tourist attractions, like Kellogg's Cereal City USA and Oak Hill Cemetery where most of Battle Creek's earliest pioneers were buried. I also learned some of my own relatives are buried there. So if you are looking for a fun family trip not far from home you could be one of the millions of visitors to visit Battle Creek each year making it one of Michigan's top tourist attractions.


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