Map of Parchment city

Parchment is a city in Kalamazoo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2010 census recorded a population of 1,804. The name is derived from the parchment company that used to manufacture paper on the East bank of the Kalamazoo River.

Parchment is located just northeast of the city of Kalamazoo, and it is mostly surrounded by Kalamazoo Township.

Parchment city overview:
Name:	Parchment city
LSAD Code:	25
LSAD Description:	city (suffix)
State:	Michigan
County:	Kalamazoo County
Elevation:	774 ft (236 m)
Total Area:	0.94 sq mi (2.43 km²)
Land Area:	0.92 sq mi (2.38 km²)
Water Area:	0.02 sq mi (0.05 km²)
Total Population:	1,926
Population Density:	2,098.04/sq mi (810.35/km²)
ZIP code:	49004
Area code:	269
FIPS code:	2662340
GNISfeature ID:	0634353
Website:	www.parchment.org

Online Interactive Map

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Parchment online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Parchment location map. Where is Parchment city?

Parchment location on the U.S. Map. Where is Parchment city. — Parchment location on the U.S. Map.

Parchment location on the Michigan map. Where is Parchment city. — Location of Parchment in Michigan.

History

The Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company was founded in 1909. The founder, Jacob “Uncle Jake” Kindleberger, set up shop along the Kalamazoo River. The company then started selling pieces of land located around the mill to the mill workers. In 1932, Kindleberger left a tract of 40 acres (160,000 m) located in the center of the city; this later became Kindleberger Park in his honor. In 1939, Parchment became a city by a majority vote. It has been known as The Paper City since then. Over the years, the KVP Company was bought by or merged with other companies, including Sutherland Paper Company, Brown Company, James River, and finally Crown-Vantage. In 2000 paper making in Parchment ended, and thereafter the city has struggled to sustain itself. Its population has debated what to do with the old paper mill property. As of 2011, the first mill building was demolished with plans to demolish the other building at a later date.

Contamination

The mill site came under scrutiny again in July 2018, when the city discovered fluorosurfactant (PFAS) contamination in the drinking water. Samples from Parchment’s water system showed the drinking water was contaminated with PFAS at a level of 1,587-ppt—over 20 times the EPA limit. Residents were advised to stop using the water for drinking/cooking immediately, while the city worked to discover the source of the contamination. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared a State of Emergency on July 29. Bottled water was distributed to residents by volunteers, and the City of Kalamazoo connected its water system to Parchment. Because of the unknown source of the PFAS, and the associated costs for new wells and testing, Mayor Robert Britigan III predicted that Parchment will have to permanently use Kalamazoo’s drinking water.

The source of the PFAS contamination has not been discovered, but officials believe a former 80 acres (320,000 m) landfill along the Kalamazoo River may be the source. The landfill site is also the former home of the paper mill in the city, and the landfill was capped in 2000 after then-owner Crown-Vantage went bankrupt. PFAS have been known to be used in paper-making and associated paper-manufacturing processes.

Parchment Road Map

Parchment city Satellite Map

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.93 sq mi (2.41 km), of which 0.92 sq mi (2.38 km) is land and 0.01 sq mi (0.03 km) is water.

Parchment is east of the Kalamazoo River.