I recall reading an interesting tidbit about Kalamazoo many years ago (I think it was in a Mario Pei book about words).
Down Mexico way, or maybe further south, a major traffic accident was called a "kalamasoso"--an expression derived from the trolley car accidents (which apparently were not infrequent). The front of the trolley cars were emblazoned with the U.S. city in which they were manufactured: Kalamazoo.