8 minute read
A Snapshot of Our
1847-2019CAPITAL CITY
LANSING TIMELINE
Advertisement
1837 - Michigan becomes the 26th state in the union. 1847 - Lansing, then known as Michigan, becomes the capital of Michigan. 1848 - Michigan, Michigan is renamed Lansing by the Michigan Legislature. The name is derived from Lansing, Michigan, a town in New York named for John Lansing Jr., a signicant New York statesman. Also, the Michigan Legislature meets in Lansing for the rst time. 1855 - Michigan State University is founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, becoming the rst land grant university in the United States. Also, the Industrial School for Boys, also known as the Boys Reform School, is created by the legislature. 1859 - Lansing is incorporated as a city. 1872 - Construction of the new Michigan State Capitol begins. 1874 - The new Lansing High School - later known as Old Central - opens. 1879 - The new Michigan State Capitol Building is dedicated in Lansing; the structure cost $1,510,130. 1880 - The Michigan School for the Blind opens in north Lansing. 1882 - The old wooden Capitol burns. 1896 - A group of local women form the Women’s Hospital Association, the organization that will go on to found Sparrow Hospital. 1897 - The Olds Motor Company is formed in Lansing. 1904 - Lansing’s Carnegie Library opens. Today the library building is a part of Lansing Community College. 1905 - The REO Motor Car Company is established in Lansing by Ransom Olds. 1907 - East Lansing is incorporated as a city. 1912 - Sparrow Hospital opens. 1928 - Eastern High School opens. 1934 - The Kern’s Hotel in downtown Lansing burns. It remains Lansing’s deadliest re. 1937 - Pope Pius XI forms the Lansing Catholic Diocese. Also, Knapp’s Department Store opens its new building in downtown Lansing. 1943 - Lansing Sexton High School opens. The Spartan Sculpture on MSU’s campus is dedicated. 1951 - The Michigan State Football team wins the national championship. 1952 - The Michigan State Football team wins the national championship. 1955 - The Michigan State Football team wins the national championship. 1957 - Lansing Community College is founded. Also, the Michigan State Football team wins another national championship. 1959 - The present Lansing City Hall opens as a part of Lansing’s centennial celebrations. 1960 - Lansing’s population tops 100,000 for the rst time. 1965 - The Michigan State Football team wins the national championship. 1966 - The Michigan State Football team wins another national championship. 1969 - The current Lansing Everett High School opens.
HIDDEN GEMS
Elite Dance Company in East Lansing! It’s a great dance studio for kids 3-18 looking to dance both recreationally and competitively! It’s a smaller dance studio which allows for lots of one-on-one attention between teacher and student! Jamie D. East Lansing resident
1972 - The Thomas M. Cooley Law School is founded. 1979 - The Michigan State men’s basketball team, led by local Lansing athlete Earvin “Magic” Johnson, wins the NCAA Championship. 1983 - The annual Celebration of Michigan Women, at which historic and contemporary women are inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, is founded by the Michigan Women’s Studies Association. 1985 - Martha M. Mertz of Okemos founds the ATHENA Award Program to honor outstanding business and professional women for their achievements, community service and assistance to other women in gaining leadership skills; the program becomes national in 1985 and international in 1994. 1987 - On January 26, Michigan celebrates 150 years of statehood. 1989 - The Michigan Library and Historical Center is dedicated in Lansing. 1992 - The State Capitol Building is fully restored and rededicated. 1992 - Merrily Dean Baker of Okemos is the rst woman to be the Athletic Director at a Big Ten University, at Michigan State University. 1994 - The rst on-campus domestic violence shelter in the country is founded at Michigan State University by Joanne McPherson of East Lansing. 1996 - The Lansing Lugnuts minor league baseball team begins playing in Lansing. 2000 - The Michigan State men’s basketball team wins the NCAA Championship. 2001 - GM opens the Lansing Grand River Assembly plant, which builds the Cadillac CTS, STS, SRX and V-Series. The architecture of the assembly plant resembles a high-tech research facility instead of a traditional factory. 2002 - Michigan elects its rst female governor, Jennifer Granholm (D). 2004 - The last Oldsmobile is made in Lansing. 2006 - GM opens a state-of-the-art facility in nearby Delta Charter Township. As with the 2001 assembly plant built in Lansing, the Delta plant resembles a high-tech research facility and not a traditional factory. 2009 - Lansing celebrates its Sesquicentennial (150 years). 2019 - Lansing Ignite becomes the rst professional soccer team in Michigan.
in the Capital City Balance Balance
Photo credit, Sophia Carey
By Regina Carey, M.Ed. Coach, Consultant, and Passion Instigator
What I dream of is an art of balance. - Henri Matisse, French Artist, 1869-1954
So you’ve recently moved to the Lansing area, and perhaps the idea of being in balance is one you can only dream about, one which seems entirely out of reach right now! Moving to a new location is most QHVGPUVTGUUHWNUECT[NQPGN[CPFſNNGFYKVJWPGCUKPGUU
I well remember our family’s rst major move almost 23 years ago when my husband Steve and I piled into our 1993 Subaru Impreza with our rstborn infant daughter in tow and motored the 935 miles from Chapel Hill, North Carolina to Madison, Wisconsin… and then four years later, in the Spring of 2000, another major move, this time with our weeks-old second daughter, to Lansing, Michigan. Each move for medical training, a career path we had agreed upon at the onset of our marriage – to Wisconsin for four years and to Michigan for what we thought would be one. But as the Lansing area has become home to us over these past almost 20 years, I look back and know how blessed we are to be in this amazing city and how I would have explored the many gis of this location earlier and dierently. Let’s look at how you are moving to the other side of this adventure of transformation and ways to nd meaning, fulllment, and balance in your new life.
– denial, anger, bargaining, depression (associated with mourning), and acceptance. I remember the initial shock around the simple fact that we were moving from Chapel Hill, a warm-weather location, to someplace that could be 90 degrees colder on any given day! Or feeling angry about having to leave everything and everyone we’d known as a married couple – all our common friends and shared interests – gone! Then thinking (bargaining) that perhaps aer my husband’s four years of training we could return to North Carolina. And being pregnant with my rst child was already emotional enough, but packing throughout the entire last trimester was very depressing for me. The real moment of acceptance didn’t come until we were pulling into the parking lot of our new apartment in Wisconsin.
The grieving process is rarely straight forward; nor do we move through the stages in a tidy manner. Most people jump around from one to the other but recognizing that grief accompanies change is important for all of us to understand. It’s normal and it’s healthy. This is how we make sense of our new normal and begin to create a meaningful life in a new place. Perhaps getting stuck in that grieving process was one reason it took me so long to embrace living in Lansing. By the time we arrived, it was my eighth move in ten years, and I anticipated moving again so why get to know anyone? I was afraid to get close to people for fear of having to say goodbye. My advice to those of you who may be feeling the same way – do it anyway! Explore for the sheer adventure of it!
There are so many ways to feed the mind, body, and spirit in our beautiful city! Have you ever wanted to learn how to play an instrument? The Michigan State University Community Music School has programs for all ages. Need continuing education? Lansing Community College oers in-person and online classes year-round. Try a spin class at the YMCA or check out the many independent workout facilities across Lansing. Enjoy an eclectic selection of restaurants and food trucks throughout the area. And ll your spirit with everything from natural settings to metaphysical boutiques to church communities and art museums. When you take time to venture out and invest in connection, you will nd that Lansing oers something for everyone.
The key to an abundance of ideas lies in the Greater Lansing Convention & Visitors Bureau. Hop online and search lansing.org or walk in and say hello at their oce on Michigan Avenue! They have great suggestions for where to nd PEOPLE, NATURE, ATHLETICS, KIDS ACTIVITIES, CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS, and even SENSORY-FRIENDLY areas of the city. I once discovered a Canadian architect who makes stunning jewelry when I was vacationing in Cape Cod. Upon returning home, I searched his website to determine if I could buy his jewelry online. I quickly realized he was only in a handful of boutiques in the United States – Absolute Gallery in Old Town being the only one in Michigan! It’s those serendipitous delights I began to discover once I opened my heart to the possibilities within my community.
As I observe the new construction going on all around the Mid-Michigan area and listen to people discuss the growth and opportunities associated with that, it creates a sense of real pride! Saying that I live in the Capital City of Michigan means I live in an innovative, intelligent, diverse area of the country where the people share a growth mindset and a genuine concern for one another. Achieving the art of balance comes from having awareness about how we are attending to our inner messages of well being while using our outer environment and resources to help support it.
Make it a strong day!
Photo credit, Sophia Carey
Regina Carey, M.Ed. is the Founder of Carey On, LLC. Everything I do, I do to lift others up, move them forward, and KPURKTGVJGOVQWUGVJGKTWPKSWGXQKEGU7JGYC[,FQVJCVKU by challenging, questioning, and motivating people to jump QWVUKFGVJGKTEQOHQTV\QPGU,šOC&QCEJ&QPUWNVCPVCPF3CUUKQP Instigator – what do you want to do with your life?
