A Brief History of East Lansing

  • Introduction
  • Timeline
Essays on the people, buildings, and events in the conjoined histories of East Lansing and Michigan State University, with a particular interest in the Michigan Agricultural College era (1855–1925), and a timeline of significant events.

Featured Post

The Local Societies and the Union Lit House

At the Michigan Agricultural College, literary societies—founded for debate, declamation, and serious study—soon became hubs of social life and the precursors to fraternities and sororities. Among them, Union Literary Society was the first to be chartered and the only one ever to have its own building on campus. Read More.

Recent posts

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  • Builders Hardware, 121 N. Harrison (c. 1880)


  • Sanford Farness House, 730 Grove St. (1964)


  • Professor Samuel Johnson and the “Johnson Affair”


  • Susanna Anderson (M.A.C. ’91)


  • Arthur A. Crozier — M.A.C.’s forgotten forester


  • E. J. Rugg House, 319 Grove St. (1904)


  • The mystery of Sesame Society


  • College Heights (1904)


  • Polly Akers, Chappie Chapman, and the Alfalfa Eta Society

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A Brief History of East Lansing

A history of Michigan State University and the college town it engendered.

A Brief History of East Lansing by Kevin S. Forsyth is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

About

  • Sources
  • Land Acknowledgement