The village of Vicksburg, 14 miles southeast of Kalamazoo, has an extraordinary downtown — clean and colorful with a wide variety of businesses and inviting touches like benches, tables, and chairs on the sidewalks where you can eat and drink or just people-watch.
It’s a historic downtown with a few buildings almost 150 years old, all part of the Vicksburg Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The district includes 176 commercial, residential, and community-related properties with the boundaries aligning with the oldest known maps of Vicksburg.
The sprucing up of Vicksburg has occurred gradually over the past decade. Michigan’s Stormwater, Asset Management, and Wastewater program was used to fund an $11 million overhaul of the 80-year-old sewer and stormwater systems. Improvements also were made to the water system, and all work was coordinated with street reconstruction.
Vicksburg modernized its downtown Main Street with wider sidewalks, updated parking, and a centrally located plaza. Streetlights, benches, and bike racks were added, and a matching-grant program helped business owners make the front of buildings more attractive. Downtown’s Oswalt Park got new seating, a fireplace, and attractive landscaping…