Q- What brings dozens of big yellow buses full of kids to downtown Albion on a regular basis?
A- Kids ‘N’ Stuff Children’s Museum
Q- What is Kids ‘N’ Stuff?
A- It’s a Space Room where kids can wear spacesuits and launch a rocket. It’s an AgKnowledge center where kids can feed cows and pigs. It’s a grocery store where kids can be the cashier. It’s a Messy Art Room where kids can have fun being artists. and it is much more. New exhibits are added regularly.
Q: Where can I preview more of Albion’s cultural destinations?
A: Visit this link: AlbionMich.net/culture
Learn More
Kids N Stuff is a big destination for families with kids from 6 months old to 106 years old. But it is geared toward the younger set.
Learn more about KNS and their monthly Free Days by visiting kidsnstuff.org/.
To learn more about the history of the project, and the location, keep reading.
History of the location of Kids N Stuff at 301 South Superior Street, Albion, Michigan
The Kids N Stuff building was once the site of J.C. Penney’s in downtown Albion.
This photo from 1962 shows Albion’s brick streets, booming downtown, and the anchor store Penney’s that would bring in people to Albion to do their shopping. This was before Amazon. Photo courtesy Frank Passic see more history here of Penney’s:
http://www.albionmich.com/history/histor_notebook/R970929.shtml
The owner of the building, Parker T. “Tom” Feldpausch, was also the owner of the Felpausch grocery store food chain with stores all over Michigan. He chose to live in his home town, Albion, Michigan. There is still a Tom Feldpausch award at the annual Chamber of Commerce meeting to honor a person who could live anyway, but they choose to live here in Albion.
After Penney’s closed, and another store took a go at opening here, the building was closed. But ideas were brewing, and when Becky Mitchell wife of Albion College President Peter Mitchell was inspired by Boston Children’s Museum, she asked Tom to donate a building and the rest is history.
Albion has many downtown entities still in their original location including the Albion District Library, and original Carnegie Library that was built in 1919. Albion’s City Hall, Post Office, Bohm Theatre and depot are all still functioning in their original locations. But Kids N Stuff marked the beginning of something new. A building that is repurposed, to be a new entity. and that trend is continuing along Superior Street, Albion.
