The Kalamazoo Historic Preservation Commission published two books on Kalamazoo architecture before Kalamazoo Lost and Found, which served to educate people about our built environment and raise funds for Commission-sponsored projects. Kalamazoo Lost and Found had its origins in a slide show prepared and given starting in 1981 by Lynn Houghton when working at the Kalamazoo Public Museum. The slide show focused on lost buildings of Kalamazoo. Discussions began with the Historic Preservation Commission in 1988, which resulted initially in a calendar for 1989 called Lost Kalamazoo designed by Rhonda Gilmore with research and writing by Lynn Houghton, both members of the Commission. Talk of producing a publication came up during the next few years but did not result in any work on it until 1994 when Pamela O’Connor joined the discussion with Lynn Houghton and started making concrete plans. A suggestion early on from Dr. Peter Schmitt, member of WMU’s Department of History and author of Kalamazoo Nineteenth Century Homes in a Midwestern Village was to expand the book to not only include lost buildings but to include those that stil exist, or have been found.

Planning for this project began with reviewing several different books that covered a similar topic like Lost Chicago and Lost New York. A recommendation from the Kalamazoo Foundation resulted in the production of a sample chapter, used to give potential funders an idea of what the book would look like when completed. With funding from the Kalamazoo Foundation and the Harold and Grace Upjohn Foundation and completed in 1996, the publication was very helpful over the next few years during the fundraising phase approximately was between 1996 and 1998. The goal was to raise $100,000. An Advisory Committee made up of eight local individuals formed to give advice and direction for the project. In addition to fundraising, O’Connor and Houghton spent time looking at potential images at the Kalamazoo Public Museum, Kalamazoo Public Library and the WMU Archives and Regional History Collections. After raising a sufficient amount of funds, the project was forwarded to the City of Kalamazoo for the hiring a graphic designer, photographer and printer. John Lacko was hired to do the photography, Seuss-Brakeman did the graphic design and Edwards Brothers did the printing.

Work began on this phase in 1998. Houghton and O’Connor divided the chapters and took them one by one, first for each chapter in each section. Every entry needed to contain one to two historic photographs along with one contemporary photograph of the site along with a minimum of 250 words for a page and 500 words for two pages.

Completed in the fall of 2001, Kalamazoo Lost and Found has been a success. The first printing contained 2500 hard and 2500 soft copies. A second printing produced the same amount. It continues to sell locally and online. Since 2001 the Kalamazoo Commission has raised over $100,000 through the sale of this publication.