The Downtown Lansing Inc.’s (DLI) Design Committee works to improve the physical characteristics of downtown Lansing, educates the public about significant historic resources, and encourages good design. From streetscapes to historic renovations, the committee strives to create a welcoming atmosphere and to enhance the look and feel of downtown Lansing for residents and visitors. Through DLI, the Design Committee follows the Main Street approach to community-based downtown revitalization. Around 2016-2017, one of the committees projects had been to share Lansing’s history through the installation of historical markers or interpretive panels.

Due to a variety of factors, including a lack of funding, the DLI history project lagged until an excellent opportunity was provided to collaborate with Lansing’s new three-year wayfinding project. Vehicular wayfinding signs were installed throughout downtown Lansing in the fall of 2017. Complementing the vehicular signs are 10 pedestrian wayfinding kiosks. The Design Committee’s project added panels with short stories and photographs on Lansing’s history to the reverse side of the downtown map at these kiosks. As happens with unexpected opportunities, the committee had to act fast to the get the work done. DLI Design Committee members Cathy Babcock, Bryan Lijewski, and Bob Rose quickly determined the best way to get this project done was to collaborate with the Historical Society of Greater Lansing and our president Bill Castanier.

DLI immediately began to research topics and collect historic photographs. One tough initial task was to narrow down the list of topics since Lansing has so much interesting history to tell! The narrowing was possible largely based on the location of the new kiosks, which are centered on Michigan Avenue east of the Capitol, extending north to Shiawassee Street, east to Cedar Street, and south to Kalamazoo Street.

Final topics include baseball, cigar making, inventors, daredevils, department stores, gas stations, Hotel Olds, the Ottawa Street Power Station, prohibition and soda pop, and manufacturers. A slight setback was encountered when the resolution of the historic photographs that had been collected did not meet the designer’s requirements. The committee returned to the Capital Area District Libraries Local History collection and the Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections to gather high-resolution images. These fascinating images can tell stories on their own.

After the text was written and the photographs collected, the information was submitted to Mindy Biladeau, the Executive Director of DLI working directly with the wayfinding project consultant, Corbin Design. Corbin Design took the historical information and worked their graphic-design magic to create the 10 stunning history panels. After several staff and committee reviews, a few more text and photograph tweaks, and a last-minute change to one of the topics, the project was approved to proceed.

The successful implementation of this project was set for fall 2018, the committee was eager to learn how residents and visitors would interact with the history panels. Collaborative partnerships between Downtown Lansing Inc., the City of Lansing, the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Michigan Economic Development Corporation were key to getting this project off the ground. DLI thanks for all of the contributors to the project. The HSGL and DLI look forward to continuing our work on future projects, events and tours.

Excerpt from History Explorer, November 2018.