Horace Perrin

Horace J. Perrin (1819-1880) was a prominent businessman and industrialist. Born in New York State, Perrin settled in Marshall in 1846 and founded a general store in the city’s growing downtown. An accomplished financier, he also established a successful bank and used his wealth to found a small college, the Perrin Institute for Young Ladies, in the former Marshall House Hotel. Perrin developed many industries along the Kalamazoo River and Rice Creek – a part of town once known as “Perrinville.”

[Back]: “Perrinville” was the informal name given to the industrialized area near the confluence of the Kalamazoo River and Rice Creek. The area was named after industrialist Horace J. Perrin, who established several factories here in the nineteenth century. River access and a railroad line supported the mills, distillery, and foundry owned by Perrin, as well as a fruit-packing plant and other industries. Fires ravaged Perrinville on numerous occasions and the area gradually shed its industrial character.