KALAMAZOO, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Nearly 170 years ago, a new vegetable took root in Michigan. It earned one town the nickname “Celery City” and planting a local shipping industry second only to Detroit.

Celery arrives in Kalamazoo.

Celery grows wild in Scotland. In 1856, a Scotsman names George Taylor immigrated to the United States, bringing the seeds with him and cultivating a field of celery near Kalamazoo.

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To popularize the vegetable, then largely unknown in Michigan, Taylor offered his crop of celery for free to a hotel hosting a fashionable banquet. Attendees were curious — and soon hooked. The following year, Taylor planted another acre of the vegetable for Kalamazoo diners.

Celery cultivation spreads in Kalamazoo.

An influx of Dutch immigrants led to more widespread cultivation of celery throughout Kalamazoo’s fertile wetlands. From Comstock to Portage to Kalamazoo’s north side, fields of celery stretched across the swampy, moist earth. Growers used bleaching boards to turn the celery a pale yellow color by blocking the sun, creating a Michigan-variety celery that was sweeter than the green celery grown in California.

Celery street vendors bombarded tourists visiting Kalamazoo the moment their trains stopped. Drug manufacturers touted the vegetable’s supposed healing properties, marketing it as a remedy for the liver, kidneys, stomach, and nerves.

Celery cultivation required moist soil — so moist that horses working the fields had to be fitted with special shoes that distributed their weight and kept them from sinking. As new Michigan paper mills drained the water table with deep wells, the soil began to dry out. Then came a celery blight caused by a failure to rotate crops. Local cultivation of the vegetable hit a steep decline.

Kalamazoo shifts from celery over the years.

By the 1950s, Kalamazoo was re-named the “Mall City” for its pedestrian shopping mall, the first in the nation. Over the next 35 years, celery farmers gradually abandoned the region or switched to growing flowers.

Despite this shift, Michigan remains second in the nation for celery production, with 77 million pounds grown in 2023 across more than 1,000 acres of farmland. California holds first place with about 28,000 acres of celery cultivated, providing 80% of celery consumed in the United States.

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The flavor of locally grown celery has changed, too, as the plant has been crossed with celeriac (a Northern European variety of celery) to induce blight resistance. The new variety couldn’t be blanched and acquired a bitter taste.

The best time to buy celery, according to Freight Center, is in the late spring or early fall when stalks are locally harvested, fresh, and crispy.