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Local History

Government land purchases were made in the area from 1835 by James Seymour, Frederick Bushnell and Isaac and William H. Townsend.  Within the present city limits, Jerry and William Ford platted and recorded Biddle City in 1836, a paper city.

Jacob F. Cooley purchased land here on November 2, 1837 and built the first permanent dwelling.  The township formed in 1841 was named by Joseph H. North, Jr., after his native Lansing, Tompkins County, New York, which in turn had been named for John Lansing, New York Revolutionary War hero and legal light.

Although the first attempt at founding a town took place in 1836, it wasn't until the spring of 1847 that things started to take shape...more by default than design.  When Michigan became a state in 1837, its constitution required that a permanent capitol site be chosen.  The state legislature had decided to move the Capital from Detroit, which was so near the border that they felt it was vulnerable to invasion by British forces from Canada.  It was also feared that as Michigan's largest city, Detroit might exercise more of its share of influence in state manners.  It was determined that the best location for the new capital would be in the interior of the state where residents would be more encouraged to settle.  Unable to agree on a choice, the legislature chose Lansing Township, which at the time consisted of eight registered voters, a log cabin and a sawmill.  The entire town was literally built in just a few months, including a frame state capitol building.  Soon after, it was renamed Lansing, after John Lansing, a New York patriot and one of the official delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

Once it was platted, the town soon began to grow.  By the time the city was incorporated in 1859, there were already several thousand residents and a new brick state capitol building.

The early years brought enormous growth to Lansing.  The Michigan Agriculture College and Michigan Female College opened in East Lansing, later to be consolidated into one institution (Michigan State University), along with a new high school and the historical plank road to Howell.  The Agricultural College, which was established in 1855, has become the oldest center for teaching scientific agriculture and the first land grant college in the nation.

Already reaching milestones, Lansing continued to make a name for itself.  The current Michigan State Capitol Building was designed by Elijah Myers and dedicated on January 1, 1879.  It was the first state capitol modeled after the national capitol building.  Completely renovated in 1992, it is the only state capitol building designated as a national historic landmark.

In the 1870's, Lansing also began to develop as a manufacturing center.  Michigan's auto industry can be traced to 1887, when one of Lansing's most famous residents, Ransom Eli Olds, built a three-wheeled vehicle with one-horsepower steam engine.  He tested the "horseless carriage" before sunrise in order to avoid the embarrassment of being laughed at.  The rest as they say, is history.  In 1897, "that darn Olds Kid" founded the Olds Motor operating automotive company.  The first Oldsmobile ever built that year is currently housed in the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum in downtown Lansing.

With a booming automotive industry, an expanding government eat and a strong educational system, Lansing continued to develop, encouraged by the continually increasing residential and business growth.  Even during World War II, Lansing continued to make its mark by channeling its industrial capabilities to assist with wartime productions.

Although the city's core continued to develop, population growth in the area surrounding Lansing during the 1950's soon changed the face of the city.  Over the next several decades, housing quickly expanded into the Suburbs and the countryside, and today's Great Lansing began to take shape.  Even now, as we have begun a new century, the roots are still growing strong in Greater Lansing.

Thank you to the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau for providing much of the historical information used here.

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