As MSU has grown from being the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan in 1855, so has the city of East Lansing. When Michigan Gov. Fred Warner signed a bill authorizing the city’s charter in 1907, East Lansing consisted of a mere 700 residents and stretched more than two square miles of land.
And just like MSU’s oldest buildings on campus are an integral part of the university’s history, so are the homes of former professors, librarians, university presidents and mayors important to East Lansing. Aside from a handful of buildings, many of the area’s original structures are no longer intact. What does remain is evidence of the lives of those who made East Lansing what it is today.
Amid the history
It’s likely East Lansing’s oldest commercial building, Builders’ Hardware Co., 121 N. Harrison Road, is thought to have originally been a grocery store in about 1880.
Ronald Knapp, co-owner of Builders’ Hardware, said the business started in 1946. After working there during his time as an undergraduate at MSU in the late ’60s, Knapp said he left East Lansing to work in industry for about five years before one of the original owners called him up and asked if he wanted to buy into the business.
“We’re kind of a close, personal business. We’re not large so the people we have here have been here quite awhile. They know most of the customers we deal with,” he said. “We’re just kind of a personal business instead of a big-box store type of business. That’s been the reason we’ve survived all these years as much as anything.”
In the ’90s, Builders’ Hardware added a warehouse to the back of the building and also rented some space next door in order to fit their inventory.
“That’s one of the attractions that people find is, that it’s a very old building and we pack a lot of stuff into the size of the building,” Knapp said.
“We’ve pretty much kept it up over the years. It’s in good repair. It has a new roof and heating and air conditioning are new. “It’s a pretty sound structure in itself. It’s managed to go for over 100 years now and I’m sure it will continue to be a good building for a long time to come.”
Preservation movement
Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966, which required that each state create a state historic preservation office and appoint an officer to oversee preservation efforts. The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office was officially created in the late ’60s and was meant to provide technical assistance to communities in their efforts to identify, evaluate and protect Michigan’s historic resources.
Laura Ashlee, public relations and historical marker coordinator for the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, said there is an application process for sites to receive a Michigan Historical Marker and be listed in the state and national registers of historic places.
One such building in East Lansing listed in the National Register of Historic Places is the Masonic Temple building, located at 314 M.A.C. Ave. The building was built to be a meeting hall for local masons, who hired Lansing architect Samuel D. Butterworth in 1915. After its 1916 completion, it was one of the only buildings in downtown East Lansing. In recent years, the building has served as office and residential spaces.
“As time passes the age of the structures change. We’re always looking at new things,” Ashlee said. “Thirty years ago, if something was built after World War II, no one paid attention to it, but now we’re taking a closer look at it.”
Typically, boards review the building’s age (most are more than 50 years old), the historical significance, changes that have been made and its significance to people.
Ashlee said the landmarks provide a brief glimpse at the history of that site or community, but collectively they chronicle different themes through history.
“It’s an honor to have the property designated (with a historical marker), but it doesn’t offer protection,” Ashlee said.
Local efforts
Ron Springer, community development analyst and historical preservation officer for the city of East Lansing, said a local committee came out with a report of recommended historic districts in 1988 after studying most of the properties south of Saginaw Street. The East Lansing City Council adopted the report, creating the Hillcrest Village, Chesterfield Hills, Collegeville, Oakwood, College Grove and Bailey historic districts. Before East Lansing was officially a city, the area was referred to as Collegeville.
Recently, East Lansing created a Fraternity-Sorority Historic District, which includes houses on Grand River Avenue, Harrison Road and Cowley Avenue.
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“Chesterfield Hills is a great location for professors, as is College Grove,” he said. “They have a lot of variety, which makes all of the East Lansing neighborhoods have attractive attributes.”
The main criteria used to determine the boundaries of the districts was looking at whether 80 percent of an area’s buildings were 50 years or older and whether they were architecturally intact and hadn’t been compromised by inappropriate additions.
The owners of properties included in a historic district are required to get certain alterations to their homes, such as additions, approved by the Historic District Commission.
“The commission has approved more than 90 percent of the applications,” Springer said. “The idea in a historic district is to try not to affect the streetscape.”
The houses in the historic district, which might have been built in the ’20s, ’30s or ’40s, typically have more character than a more modern subdivision, he said. The commission helps preserve some of these details — whether doorways or window features — in order to maintain the character of the district.
“I think it’s been a positive, stabilizing force for neighborhoods,” Springer said.
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