Keeping on Track at WMU
From 1909 to 1949, Western Michigan University students traveled to and from campus on the “Western State Normal Railroad” or “Toonerville Trolley.” Registered and classified as a railroad, the trolley is the only incline railroad ever operated in Michigan and possibly the only railroad owned and operated by a college or university.
In 1902, five Kalamazoo businessmen bought Orville Gibson’s patent for a new type of mandolin. The Gibson name would come to carry special resonance for lovers of fine stringed musical instruments.