History - Kalamazoo, MI | Stuart Avenue Inn | Bed and Breakfast
The Story of 229 Stuart
The story of 229 Stuart Avenue is one of prosperity, failure, conflict, mistrust, urban decline and
renewal, reinvention, neglect and rebirth. The story includes names familiar to Kalamazoo and
beyond. While there is still much to learn, some highlights are included here. If you know a
piece of the story, please share it with us.
Stuart Avenue Neighborhood
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History - Kalamazoo, MI | Stuart Avenue Inn | Bed and Breakfast
The property on which the Stuart Avenue Inn stands was once part of a larger parcel owned by
United States Senator Charles Stuart. Charles bought the land in 1854 and his Italianate Villa
still stands at 427 Stuart Avenue. He encouraged his friends to build on the "far western" edge
of the "city," subdividing his lot for parcels, but by 1864, only three homes had been built as
the "suburb" was too far away from downtown for all but wealthy merchants who could afford
to drive or ride to work in their own buggies. In the 1880's the first horse-drawn trolley cars
began their rounds, making the area more accessible to middle-class families and in 1886,
Edgar Bartlett built the property now known as 229 Stuart Avenue.
Edgar Bartlett and Kalamazoo's First Newspapers
Some hold that Edgar Bartlett's father operated a bookstore where Edgar would have likely
spent time as a young man.
True or not, Edgar did become the first managing editor of the Kalamazoo Standard, one of
several newspapers published in Kalamazoo in the 1800s. Early newspapers were often
published as sidelines by printing houses. News, when it existed at all, could be found buried
inside the paper between pages of advertising. The papers were highly partisan, printing
statements that would today be prohibited by libel and slander laws.
Competition included anonymously published fliers, and short-lived publications focusing on
popular or unpopular movements and events of the day. Early Kalamazoo newspapers
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History - Kalamazoo, MI | Stuart Avenue Inn | Bed and Breakfast
included The Farmer, The Michigan Christian Herald, Daily Times and Daily Herald, The
Kalamazoo Mail (an organ of the Greenback Party) and The Progressive Age (a Spiritualist
publication).
In 1886, Edgar Bartlett became editor of the Kalamazoo Gazette, and built the house at 229
Stuart in the Queen Anne Eastlake style popular at the time. A year later, he and his partner
sold the Gazette to F. Ford Rowe.
In 1891, he took a job as editor of the consolidated Daily Register and Daily Gazette in Rockford
County, Illinois, and sold his house on Stuart to James Henry for $7,100.
James Henry, Advances in Agriculture and Antitrust Law
In 1830 it required 250 to 300 labor hours to produce 100 bushels of wheat (5 acres) and nearly
90% of the US population farmed the fields to provide bread for themselves and the nation.
By 1890, it required only 40-50 labor hours, and by 1930, less than half of the population
farmed. Key to this agricultural revolution was the simultaneous revolution in the invention,
manufacture, introduction, and use of improved agricultural machinery. One machine was
known as the "spring toothed harrow " designed to be pulled over plowed soil to break up
clods, level the surface and destroy weeds. The tooth would "spring" back when encountering
a large obstacle. The tools worked better in dry soil than wet and became popular in the west
and Midwest.
Local businessman James Henry and his partner Frederick Taylor capitalized on the success of
the harrow by forming the National Harrow Company, a union of six companies holding various
patents on a particular harrow.
After years of patent infringement litigation, manufacturers of the "float spring tooth harrow"
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History - Kalamazoo, MI | Stuart Avenue Inn | Bed and Breakfast
settled their lawsuits and assigned all of their patents to the National Harrow Company, in
exchange for shares of the company and various licenses to make, use and sell harrows. The
pool of manufacturers quickly grew to 22 firms accounting for over 90% of all manufacturing and
sales of float spring tooth harrows in the United States.
The restrictions placed on the manufacturers included price fixing, and when one of the pool
members (Bemont) sold a harrow below the scheduled price in violation of the license, National
Harrow sued and Bemont, argued the pooling agreement violated the recently enacted
Sherman Antitrust Act.
In 1902, the Supreme Court held for National Harrow noting that patent laws were an absolute
trump against the antitrust case because the very purpose of the patent law was to create
monopolies.
Henry and his partner walked away from the decision very wealthy men, but neither the
precedent, nor their financial success lasted long.
By 1912, the Supreme Court rejected any notion that patent licenses were immune from the
Sherman Act and two decades later, decided Standard Oil Co. v. United States, introducing the
contours of the economic analysis still applied today in antitrust cases involving patent pools.
Henry and Taylor sold their profitable business, started new ventures only to fail miserably twice. In 1907, James Henry sold the house to Dr. James T. Upjohn.
James T. Upjohn and Sibling Conflict
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History - Kalamazoo, MI | Stuart Avenue Inn | Bed and Breakfast
James T. Upjohn was born in 1858, the youngest of the four brothers who founded the Upjohn
Pill and Granule Company to develop a more effective drug delivery device - a friable pill that
dissolved to speed release of medication.
Through a series of mergers, much of the original company is currently owned by Pfizer
Corporation, the world's largest pharmaceutical company.
In 1911, James had a falling out with his oldest brother William E. Upjohn, over the latter's use
of company funds for personal expenses.
William bought out his brothers' shares of the company stock, took sole possession of the
company, permanently severing his relationship with his brothers.
James took advantage of his time and wealth to practice family medicine, often seeing patients
in his house. He also entered politics representing Kalamazoo
in the state house and senate
for nearly 20 years.
Urban Development and Repurposing
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History - Kalamazoo, MI | Stuart Avenue Inn | Bed and Breakfast
In the 1960s, the House was subdivided into studio apartments and used primarily as
residences for staff and faculty of Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College.
The second floor was closed off, the wood work on the first floor painted, and bathrooms and
kitchenettes were added.
During the early 80s the Stuart Area benefitted from renewed interest in older homes, and the
house was purchased by Andrea and Bill Casteel in 1985, a few years after they opened the
first B&B in Kalamazoo a block north on Stuart.
The Casteels restored and redecorated the first and second floors returning them to a plan
closely resembling the original.
They transformed the modest interior and white exterior into the multicolored Painted Lady it is
today, and opened the building as a bed and breakfast featuring Belgian lace curtains and
silk-screened wallpaper based on William Morris designs of the 1870s and 1880s, and
produced by the company of Bradbury and Bradbury.
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History - Kalamazoo, MI | Stuart Avenue Inn | Bed and Breakfast
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Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
A succession of owners and innkeepers followed the Casteels as the economy, the city, and
the Inn took a downturn. Neglect and deferred maintenance left the Painted Lady looking
bedraggled, worn out, and in need of structural repair.
In the Garden, trees intended to be pruned had grown gangly and misshapen. Overgrown
hedges had long since outgrown their trim and shapely silhouettes.
But the story of 229 Stuart is much like the story of Kalamazoo - a city that has revived and
redefined itself a number of times over the years from "paper city" to "celery city" to "Mall
city" to "bedding plant capital of the world" to today's "city of promise."
And so, the current Innkeepers purchased the property in 2009 and have been working steadily
to revive the Inn and Gardens, preserving the past while at the same time adding their own
chapter to the story of 229 Stuart - starting with the completion of a new roof.
Visitors can check out their progress on the News & Updates Blog .
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