Farmers and Fast Horses: Harness Racing in Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo was home to some of the fastest trotting tracks in the nation during the nineteenth century, but this popular sport was not without controversy. Graduate student Rachel Hekman will share her research that paints a picture of the Kalamazoo racetracks as scenes of a growing struggle between vice, virtue, and changing definitions of ‘middle class morals.