On Thursday, August 27, 7:00 p.m., in honor of the Sesquicentennial of the Lansing Woman’s Club, a walking tour will be held of important sites in downtown Lansing with connections to pioneering women in the city. It will cover the gamut from authors to elected officials. The tour will be led by Valerie Marvin, State Capitol Historian, and will leave from the original Lansing Women’s Club Building at 118 W. Ottawa.

On Tuesday, August 13 at 6:30 p.m. a walking tour of N. Capitol Ave will start at the Rogers Carrier House at 528 N. Capitol and will include stops at the Bohnet Home and the Mauer Foster Home, both residences of Lansing auto pioneers. The tour will conclude with a tour of the interior of the Herrmann House on the campus of lansing Community College led by LCC President Steve Robinson.

On Wednesday, August 7 at 6 p.m., tour the “origin stories” exhibit at the Library of Michigan, Lake Erie Room and meet some amazing Lansing residents. The exhibit features inspirational biographies in print and video of nearly 50 former and current Lansing area residents like Lucile Belen, William and Vellmerie Turner, Martha Dixon, The Sheik, batman Charles Zmuda, and Geneva Wiskemann. The “origin stories” exhibit is underwritten in part by the Michigan Humanities.

Join the Historical Society of Greater Lansing in a return to Old Town for a historical walking tour for the first time in many years. HSGL trustee Harrison Leffel-Jones will guide attendees on a tour of some of the architectural and business history in the area. The tour will be held on Saturday, June 29, at 10:00 a.m. beginning at the corner of North Washington and E. Cesar E. Chavez Avenues in Old Town, 100 E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave. 

On Thursday, June 27, 6:30 p.m., at the Library of Michigan, Lake Erie Room, a program on family photo identification and preservation will be given. Presented by Michigan State Capitol Photo Archivist and HSGL board member Jacob McCormick.

On Thursday, June 20, 6:30 p.m., at the Library of Michigan, Lake Erie Room, librarian and author Christine Byron and Sophia Brewer, Serials and Collection Development Librarian, Grand Rapids Community College, will present a program on “Senator” Joe Ford and Emma Ford. Joe was the Keeper of the Senate Cloak Room at the State Capitol for decades. Ford emerged from Slavery to become an important administrator from 1881-1937 in Lansing. Emma was equally involved in her communities, owning a restaurant on Mackinac Island.

On Saturday, June 8, 10:00 a.m., at the Library of Michigan, 2nd Floor, Adam Oster, librarian at the Library of Michigan, will present the Family History Research and Tour at the Library of Michigan.

Learn the basics of researching your family's history through the collections of the Library of Michigan. Join us as we review the Library’s wide range of material that can help you uncover your Michigan roots. Discover online resources available with a Library of Michigan Library Card and enhance your search strategies for navigating both print and digital records. A tour of the collections will follow the presentation.

The Ingham County Historical Commission recently published a book on Ingham County Rural One Room Schools, which features all sixteen townships in the county, including Lansing. ICHC secretary and editor of the book, Audrey Z. Martini, will present on the book, project, and discuss county one room schools with a special angle on Lansing’s rural and independent districts. The program will be held on Saturday, June 1, 1:00 p.m., at the Library of Michigan, Lake Erie Room.

On Thursday, May 16, 6:30 p.m., the HSGL will present The Bath School Disaster: America’s First School Terrorism Attack, Revisited. The program will be held at the Library of Michigan, Lake Erie Room, with lecturer George B. Robson, son of the young man who was the 1927 Senior Class President and Valedictorian and a young woman, a sophomore at Bath School - both survivors of the tragedy.

On Saturday, May 11, 2:00 p.m., at the Library of Michigan, Lake Erie Room, Mitch Lutzke, president of the Williamston Depot Museum, will discuss his new book and relate the story of Kathlene Frances Fowler of Williamston, who, during the Harding Administration, was one of the most important women in public service in Washington D.C. She would later become social secretary to First Lady Harding and work in numerous positions in Washington D.C.

The HSGL again welcomes archivists from the Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections for a historical walking tour on MSU’s campus, this time featuring West Campus. More information to come.

This exhibit soft opening is cancelled due to unforeseen delays in the completion of the exhibit. Subscribe to stay updated on a later soft and grand opening.

Join us on Saturday, May 11, 10:00 a.m., at the Library of Michigan, Lake Erie Room for the opening and kickoff of our “Origin Stories” exhibit.

“Origin Stories" is a collection of 50 recorded oral histories detailing the arrival of Lansing residents from across the globe. Selections as broad as a Vietnamese boat person, the son of a Ukrainian shepherd, a family who made their way via the Erie Canal; a young couple from Alabama who were part of the Great Migration, a family member who survived the Indian Boarding School and other individuals who were part of the refugee resettlement. Many came fleeing war, famine, religious oppression, and many others saw opportunities not available to them in their original countries. Immigrants made their way from Ireland, France, Canada, Scotland, and scores of other countries. The Exhibit will profile these individual origin stories through video storytelling and traditional exhibits of artifacts.

Locally produced documentary coming to LCC
LCC Historians at the Movies and the Historical Society of Greater Lansing present
Pave the Way: They Even Took the Dirt

LANSING, Mich. [Feb. 13, 2024]— The Historical Society of Greater Lansing (HSGL) produced a documentary in 2023 about the impact of I496 construction on Black neighborhoods. On Feb. 27 at 2:10 p.m., LCC Historians at the Movies in collaboration with HSGL is presenting the film in Dart Auditorium for students, LCC faculty and staff, and the community is invited.

Through interviews and footage, Pave the Way: They Even Took the Dirt explores the devastation wrought on a thriving Black neighborhood and business community, as homes and shops were torn down, turning once active streets into dead-ends to make way for the highway that would bisect the city from east to west.

The hour-long documentary will be followed by discussion and Q&A led by LCC History Prof. David Siwik with film coordinator Greta Haney-Trice and film editor Craig Jones.

LCC Historians at the Movies is a monthly gathering to watch films and discuss virtually with fellow viewers through WebEx chat or on x.com using #LCCHATM, led by LCC History faculty with interdisciplinary co-hosts. The Feb. 27 film showing is a special in-person Historians at the Movies event, and is part of LCC’s Black History Month offerings.

WHO:  Lansing Community College

WHAT:  Pave the Way: They Even Took the Dirt film and discussion

WHEN:  Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2:10 p.m.

WHERE: Dart Auditorium – 500 N. Capitol Ave., Downtown Campus

WEBSITE: www.lcc.edu/bhm or LCC Historians at the Movies

FREE parking in Gannon Ramp

FREE Admission

Let it snow! Let it snow! The Historical Society of Greater Lansing will host the program “Snow, Floods and Fires,” which is a look back at the major natural and manmade disasters that shaped Lansing history.

The program will be held 6:30 p.m., Thursday, January 25 at the Library of Michigan 702 W. Kalamazoo, Lansing MI. The event is free and open to the public.

Guests are encouraged to bring their own memories of these disasters and are encouraged to send any photographs of these events to info@lansinghistory.org.

Major snow storms to be discussed will include the January 25, 1967, blizzard and the 1978 snowstorm which dropped 19 inches of snow almost exactly 11 years after the 67 blizzard. Both paralyzed Lansing. A storm in 1921 dropped more than 18 inches in Lansing.

Fires will include several downtown Lansing hotels including the Kerns Hotel fire, Plymouth Congregational Church, the State Office Building fire and the February 1971 fire in Old Town (occurring only a couple days after the Plymouth Church Fire), which consumed two blocks.

Floods will include the 1975, 1904, and 1947 floods of Lansing.

The Historical Society of Greater Lansing is again pleased to extend the invitation from our friends at the Michigan State Capitol to attend the next installment of their Rise and Progress monthly programming series. This month’s program is titled “Built to Endure” and welcomes a new exhibit to the Capitol building.

People who work in, and care for, the Capitol are most successful when they think long-term. Unfortunately, not all the building’s caretakers have been good at this. In the mid 20th century many original items were removed and replaced. Join Valerie Marvin and Brian Page, with the Michigan State Capitol, as they unveil a new exhibit, The Michigan State Capitol: Built to Endure, and celebrate the return of some important Capitol artifacts, including the original House rostrum top, a 20th century Senate chandelier, and a beautifully recreated Senate Library bookcase!

Offered in person and virtual on January 16, 2024. Please RSVP to capitoltourguides@legislature.mi.gov.

The Historical Society of Greater Lansing is again pleased to extend the invitation from our friends at the Michigan State Capitol to attend the next installment of their Rise and Progress monthly programming series. This month’s program is central to the fabric of Lansing, the laying of the Capitol cornerstone 150 years ago, marking the biggest and busiest day the community had ever seen.

“Constructing Michigan’s Capitol was a momentous project. Creating a building that would be not only a workplace, but a testament to our state’s accomplishments & an investment in its future. On October 2, 1873, Michigan’s citizens celebrated this immense undertaking at laying of the Capitol’s cornerstone. Join us in commemorating the 150th anniversary of this grand ceremony & learn how the little city of Lansing hosted over 30,000 people who arrived to see history in the making! Presented by Cambray Sampson.”

Offered in person and virtual on October 17, 2023. Please RSVP to capitoltourguides@legislature.mi.gov. This event was rescheduled from October 3, 2023.

The Historical Society of Greater Lansing is pleased to host Audrey Clare Farley, author of the controversial new book “The Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America” which explores the lives of four women behind the National Institute of Mental Health’s famous case study of schizophrenia.

In reality, the Genain Quadruplets were the Morlock Quadruplets who were born, raised and idolized in Lansing, Michigan in the 1930s. The Morlock qudruplets were followed closely by the media from the time they were born until young adulthood with the media and citizenry celebrating their every milestone from their birth, to the first day of school to even the first time they voted.

The images were reproduced on everything from calendars to Christmas cards and the four Morlocks were idolized , celebrated and used in business promotions; however the real story of their lives was much darker complicated by abusive parents and schizophrenia.

Farley tells the long forgotten tragic truth of the Morlock family at this special presentation in conversation about her new book which has been reviewed in every major news publication in the country and was named a New York Times Editor’s Pick.

President of the Historical Society Bill Castanier will interview Farley at 7 p.m., Thursday October 16, at the Library of Michigan, Kalamazoo St., Lansing. The event is free.

Audrey Clare Farley is a scholar of twentieth-century American culture with interests in science and religion. She earned a PhD in English literature at University of Maryland, College Park, and now teaches U.S. history part-time at Mount St. Mary’s University. Her first book, The Unfit Heiress: The Tragic Life and Scandalous Sterilization of Ann Cooper Hewitt, tells the story of a 1930s millionairess whose mother secretly sterilized her to deprive her of the family fortune, sparking a sensational case and forcing a debate of eugenics. Her second book, Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America, explores the lives of the four women behind NIMH’s famous case study of schizophrenia. It was named a New York Times Editors’ Pick. Her essays have appeared in the Atlantic, New York Times, Washington Post, and many other outlets. She lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

On Saturday, September 30, The Historical Society of Greater Lansing will host “If These Walls Could Talk,” the season’s last walking tour, a gentle walk through the south portion of REO Town, beginning at the former Grand Trunk Railway Railroad Depot at 1 p.m. and concluding at Ellison Brewery, 1314 S. Washington.

The walking tour will proceed north on S. Washington for a few blocks covering the buildings holding Blue Owl Coffee (once a topless shoeshine parlor) and Saddleback Barbeque once holding a fruit stand, the site of a murder in 1925.

The tour will then cross the street and go South to Ellison Brewery with discussions about the architecture and the businesses which occupy and occupied the area over time.

The tour is led by Harrison Leffel-Jones and discussions will include the history of the Depot, the details of the often-violent Fruit Wars of the early 1920s and the link to REO Motors and the activities of the REO Club House. Along the way there will be discussions about the original home of the UAW/CIO, the various meat markets, grocery stores and the Shaey Hotel.

Author of the book Michael Rodriguez, an MSU Librarian and Board member of the REO Transportation Museum, will discuss the history of REO at the Ellison Brewery.

Bill Castanier, president of the Historical Society, said the tour will cover some of the little-known aspects of this vibrant commercial district which once had a “rough and tumble” history and was so seminal to the history of Lansing.

The Historical Society of Greater Lansing is pleased to extended another invitation from our friends at the Michigan State Capitol to participate in their monthly program series titled Rise and Progress. The September installment includes an on-site office tour in the State Capitol and a history of the department originally housed there. Capitol Historian and Curator Valerie Marvin and Capitol Tour and Education Assistant Director Cambray Sampson will present “Capitol Office Tours: Adjutant General’s Office & Military Museum” on Tuesday, September 19, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. The program begins in Heritage Hall. Please RSVP to capitoltourguides@legislature.mi.gov.

Michigan’s Capitol was originally home to all of state government, including the offices of the Adjutant, Inspector, and Quartermaster Generals. Their spacious first-floor suite contained our original Military Museum, where Michigan’s tattered battle flags and other Civil War relics were proudly displayed in custom walnut cases. Join us as we look back on this long-lost Capitol space and see what the rooms look like today!

The Historical Society of Greater Lansing is pleased to again screen the new documentary "They Took The Dirt" on Sunday, August 20th, at 3:30 p.m., at Union Missionary Baptist Church in Lansing, 500 South Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Capacity here is large and is not anticipated to cut off, but attendees are requested to RSVP using this form: https://forms.gle/ueXVrntE1jWCwi6t5.

The Historical Society of Greater Lansing is hosting part one of a two-part walking tour of REO Town, 10 a.m., Saturday, August 12. The tour commences at Cooley Gardens on Malcolm X Blvd. near the corner Malcolm X and Washington Blvd. Learn more about the early history of REO Town when it was still called “Uptown” and will visit several sites including the Cooley-Haze home once the home of Gov. G. Mennen Williams, two apartment buildings: Washington Apartments and Fountain Place; the Krentel Bldg; the old Standard Oil gas station and REO Town Market, a former automotive dealership.

In addition, tour attendees are encouraged after the tour to stop at Sleepwalkers for a beer to learn more about a national gambling scandal that shook Lansing in 1970 involving a major Lansing businessman and Dizzy Dean, a former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs along with being a popular broadcast announcer.

The second part of the tour will be September 28 and will complete the southern portion of Washington Blvd.

The tour guide is Harrison Leffel-Jones who serves as the Development Director for the Lansing Regional SmartZone. In his role, he focuses on delivering and coordinating services to help businesses grow within the Greater Lansing Region in coordination with LEAP, the City of East Lansing, the City of Lansing, and the MSU Research Foundation. Harrison is a native of Brighton, Michigan and an MSU Grad with a degree in Arabic Language and Comparative Cultures – he has spent most of his career working in economic development both locally and internationally. He is a massive urban planning nerd that is always studying what makes cities and public spaces work better for the people that live in them. Harrison moved back to Lansing a little over a year ago after being in Chicago and London and is excited for this next chapter in Lansing.  

The HSGL is pleased to extend the invitation from our friends at the Michigan State Capitol to attend their August Rise and Progress program series. This month’s offering is “Dining and Dealmaking: A Tour of Lansing Restaurants,” which will offer a walking tour of downtown Lansing restaurants and bars - many no longer open or standing - which were frequented by Legislators and Governors. The tour will take place on Tuesday, August 8th, at 7:00 p.m., beginning at the corner of Townsend and Washtenaw Streets south of the Capitol. No RSVP required.

A virtual version of the tour will be given on Thursday, August 10th, at 3:00 p.m. RSVP to capitoltourguides@legislature.mi.gov.