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In 1836 the eccentricity of the town's founder prompted residents to change the community's name to Kalamazoo. Indignant, Bronson moved to Illinois. A decade after Bronson purchased his land along the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo County boasted over seven thousand people, making it Michigan's ninth most populated county.
By 1860, Kalamazoo County's population had reached twenty-five thousand, and its county seat was Michigan's fifth largest town. Kalamazoo's first major industry was agriculture. During the early 1840s, David Walbridge operated a barge system that transported the county's produce to the mouth of the Kalamazoo River.