Saturday May 18th Program

The 1931 Battle Creek Centennial will come alive at 3:00 PM, Saturday, May 18, at the Battle Creek Regional History Museum (BCRHM).

Local historian/pharmacist/illustrator, Jim Middleton will be presenting a program featuring the 16mm motion picture of that centennial event, which was originally made by the curator of the Kingman Museum of Natural History at that time, Edward Brigham (Brigham and his son were recently inducted into the BC Central Hall of Fame).

In the late 1920’s, Brigham had acquired a motion picture camera to film his exploration of various locations (Mexico, South America, southwest United States)where he obtained artifacts and specimens for use in displays at the Kingman Museum.

When the one hundredth anniversary of Battle Creek becoming a city was approaching, he volunteered his camera and skills to film the Centennial Parade and Pioneer Village that were both held in October 1931.

Even though the Great Depression was limiting many activities throughout the country, Battle Creek celebrated its birthday with an over three hour long parade (the longest in the city’s history) and a reenactment of pioneer life, that included a Native American village, construction of a log cabin, demonstrations of early farming techniques, and many other staples of pioneer life (butter churning, spinning wool, weaving, soap and candle making, etc...).

At the time of the centennial, there were still a few residents that could remember those early years in the area. Many of them volunteered to assist in instructing, and sometimes demonstrating the skills they had learned so many years before.

The Pioneer Village was located near the present site of the golf driving range on Columbia Avenue.

The Battle Creek Centennial Parade included many floats, marchers, and every kind of display imagined at the time. Most businesses, churches, clubs, fraternal organizations and schools had ‘units’ in the parade. Even the governor of Michigan rode in a car with the mayor of Battle Creek. Thousands of citizens lined the street to watch the spectacle.

Henry Ford was invited to participate (he was known for his interest in antique farm equipment), but was unable to attend. He did send the 15 millionth Ford automobile that was part of the parade.

“I was fascinated that the parade included antique cars,” said Middleton, “seeing that in 1931, and oldest cars were, at the most, about 30 years old…which, for us, is not that old.”

Middleton was born in Big Rapids, and graduated from Ferris State University with a degree in pharmacology. He came to Battle Creek to work in the Lakeview General Hospital pharmacy (on 20th Street), then the pharmacy’s at Leila Hospital, Battle Creek Health System, Summit Pointe and is presently the manager of the Western Michigan University’s Student/Faculty pharmacy.
Middleton has also had a great interest in creating his own cartoons and animated movies. His pharmacy themed calendars and cartoons have been featured in national pharmacy periodicals, and his animated movies have won many awards. He also taught pharmacology classes for dental hygienists at Kellogg Community College, where he has also instructed animating classes.

His interest in the Battle Creek Centennial and the Brigham film happened back in the 1980’s, when Middleton was at a local photography store, Krum’s Photographic, located downtown.

He was paying for some film processing when he noticed an old movie camera on the top of the display case. When he asked if the camera was for sale, the clerk told him that it was, and that it had belonged to a local historian, Edward Brigham. Middleton bought the camera and through research, found that the camera had been used to film the city’s 1931 celebration.

Middleton found that the local history museum possessed a copy of the original 16mm centennial film and transferred it to a digital format, where the historic event has been preserved.

“The original 16mm movie is almost 100 years old,” said Middleton, “it needed to be preserved before it was lost forever.”

The program Middleton will be presenting, will include a showing of the preserved ‘1931 Battle Creek Centennial’ movie.

Middleton states, “It’s rare to find a motion picture of this caliber from the 1930’s, because people only associate this time period with ‘still’ black-and-white photographs.”

He went on to say, “Film of this quality and subject matter deserves preservation and restoration for future generations to see.”

The museum is located at 307 West Jackson Street. There is no charge for admission, but donations are appreciated. Light snacks will be served.