Albion College
- Local Atmosphere

Five Fun Facts about Albion:
• The first known observance of Mother’s Day in the U.S. occurred in Albion on May 13, 1877.
• The major break in Old U.S. Route 12 is in the middle of Michigan, halfway between the village of Parma and the city of Albion.
• Albion was a perfect site between Detroit and Chicago for Prohibition bootleggers, the Purple Gang, to meet in the 1920s and 1930s. Members of the mob would meet in places like the balcony of the Bohm Theatre, the Parker Inn, and at the Streetcar Tavern west of town.
• The Albion Female Collegiate Institute was founded in 1850 by the Wesleyan Seminary Corporation. The two schools merged in 1857 as the Wesleyan Seminary and Female College at Albion. On February 25, 1861, both schools were completely merged under the name Albion College when the school was fully authorized by state legislature to confer a full four-year college degree upon both men and women.
• Albion was named an All-America City in 1973 by the National Civic League.

Famous People from Albion:
Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association, attended Albion College from 1873 to 1875.

Sojourner Truth, black abolitionist and feminist, lived in Battle Creek, but often made visits to the city of Albion and was well- known to the residents there.