City of Lansing, MI history

Only two years before, local government had reassessed the 1839 taxes on Biddle City, which would become Michigan, Michigan, and finally, Lansing.

Lower Town began to develop in 1847 with the completion of the Franklin Avenue (now Grand River Avenue) covered bridge over the Grand River.* It was home to the first house built in Lansing in 1843 by pioneer James Seymour and his family.

The city site, on the Grand River at its junction with the Red Cedar River, was a wilderness when the state capital was moved there from Detroit (about 85 miles [140 km] southeast) in 1847.

For a brief time, the combined villages were referred to as "Michigan" but was officially named Lansing in 1848.

When the census was enumerated on June 1, 1850, James' lots 10 and 11 on block 10 were valued at $1,000.

The post office was relocated to the village in 1851.

The road opened in 1853, making Lansing more accessible.

In 1859, the settlement, having grown to nearly 3,000 and encompassing about seven square miles (18 km²) in area, was incorporated as a city.

Secession and the politics of the Civil War, 1860–65The coming of the warThe political course of the warMoves toward emancipationSectional dissatisfaction

In 1863 he was one of 12 directors and treasurer of the Jackson and Lansing Railroad.

Lansing began to grow steadily over the next two decades, with the completion of the railroads through the city, a plank road and the completion of the current State Capitol in 1878.

In the federal census of 1880 she was keeping house with real estate valued at $7,114 and personal estate valued at $1,000.

Grover Cleveland’s first termThe surplus and the tariffThe public domainThe Interstate Commerce ActThe election of 1888

A catalogue of Springdale Farm offered by James M. Turner and Frank L. Dodge, proprietors, in 1892 described the stallions and dams available for producing Standard bred light harness and trotting horses.

The latter mentions that Eva Dodge was "training the choir of the Franklin Street Presbyterian church" (1895).</q>

Most of what is known as Lansing today is the direct result of the city becoming an industrial powerhouse, which began with the founding of Olds Motor Vehicle Company in August, 1897.

This village's focal point was the Benton House, a 4-story hotel which opened in 1848. It was the first brick building in Lansing and was later razed in 1900.

Olds would be joined by the less successful Clarkmobile around 1903.

The company went through many changes, including a buyout, between its founding and 1905 when founder Ransom E. Olds started his REO Motor Car Company, which would last in Lansing for another 70 years.

World War IIThe road to warThe United States at warWar productionFinancing the warSocial consequences of the warThe 1944 electionThe new United States role in world affairs

The peak Cold War years, 1945–60The Truman Doctrine and containmentPostwar domestic reorganizationThe Red ScareThe Korean WarPeace, growth, and prosperityEisenhower’s second termDomestic issuesWorld affairsAn assessment of the postwar era

By 1956, the city had grown to 15 square miles (39 km²), and doubled in size over the next decade to its current size of roughly 33 square miles (85 km²).

Lansing Community College (1957) is located there, as are a number of museums dedicated to the history of Michigan and of the transportation industry.

The City acquired the site, including the house, in 1959, and subsequently sold it to the Great Lakes Bible College.

They were to assist the City in obtaining grant funds for the restoration pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

The College in 1968 purchased the Fred Huxtable farm in Delta Township for the site of a new campus.

In August, 1972, the City proposed that the Lansing Fine Arts Council conduct solicitations for 50% of the purchase price.

The Lansing Jaycees leased the house for two years on June 30, 1975.

Congregation Shaarey Zedek held a Decorator Showcase as a fund raiser [in 1979]. The house benefited by wall coverings, the downstairs half-bath and similar tangible items.

Profits were directed to the purchase of an official State of Michigan historic site marker in 1980.

Late in the summer of 1992, Richard C. Frank FAIA was asked to join the planning team to help redirect attention back to the plan's original purpose, the preservation of Turner-Dodge house.

The following is from the Turner-Dodge House Preservation Master Plan of March 1993.

Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server, Donald Trump’s Access Hollywood tape, and the 2016 general election campaign