The Unmaking of the Bottoms

The process by which the Bottoms was unmade as a residential community is a complex story. It began with the devastating flood of 1947 and continued for at least another decade. At the same time, however, this very period was the heyday of the Bottoms. It was, for example, during this period that the old Hamblin Ave. U.S.O. started serving the neighborhood as the new Hamblin Community Center, quickly becoming a focal point in the lives of so many residents.

Yet, with the plans to construct flood controls on the Kalamazoo River and to clear what was seen as the substandard housing of the Bottoms, the neighborhood underwent a transformation that permanently changed it. The area residents moved out of the neighborhood or were forced to relocate as planning and construction began on the massive Cement River Project. In the process, the Bottoms went from a close-knit residential area to what it is today.

These pages tell the story of that transformation, both from the perspective of the City of Battle Creek as well as from those whose lives were forever altered.