BATTLE CREEK

city, Calhoun county, south-central Michigan, U.S. It lies at the juncture of Battle Creek with the Kalamazoo River, 23 miles (37 km) east of Kalamazoo and 49 miles (79 km) southwest of Lansing. Settled in 1831 and named in 1833 for a "battle" that had taken place on the riverbank between two Indians and two members of a surveying party, it became a flour and woolen mill centre and the site of a Seventh-day Adventist colony. In 1866 the colony founded the Western Health Reform Institute (renamed Battle Creek Sanitarium, 1876, and Battle Creek Health Center, 1959). Under the direction (1876-1943) of John Harvey Kellogg, the sanitarium experimented with health foods, leading to the manufacture of ready-to-eat cereals, which became the city's main industry. The Cereal City Festival, with "the world's longest breakfast table," is an annual (June) event. In addition to the Kellogg, Post, and Ralston Purina cereal plants, manufactures include auto parts, trucks, farm equipment, and paper products. Battle Creek's reputation as a "health city" was furthered in 1930 when the W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established to improve the well-being of children. The city is the site of Kellogg Community College (1956) and the Leila Arboretum and Kingman Museum of Natural History. The Kellogg Bird Sanctuary of Michigan State University is 13 miles (21 km) northwest. Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883), the black civil-rights pioneer, lived and is buried in Battle Creek (which was an active station on the underground railroad for escaped slaves). Inc. village, 1850; city, 1859. Pop. (1991 est.) city, 53,958; Battle Creek MSA, 137,040.