A Porter coach at the front of the Union Depot, which would later be converted into Clara’s Restaurant.
Back in the day when you arrived by train, you would have taken a horse-drawn coach from the station to your final destination. Lansing was no different and the largest livery in the city was the W.H. Porter Omnibus Hack and Livery. The business was established in 1866 by John C. Adams. In 1880 William C. Porter purchased half of the company from Adams and two years later bought Adams out. The livery was located on the south west corner of Washtenaw Street and Capitol Avenue, where the Cooley Law School Center is today. In 1906 the business had forty-two horses and operated two omnibuses, two baggage wagons, twelve hacks and twenty-five assorted vehicles, i.e. phaetons, surreys, stanhopes (?), etc.
The Porter Livery at 300 S. Capitol
But the business would not last. On February 20, 1908 a disastrous fire struck the Porter Livery, tragically thirty horses died in the blaze. The Lansing fire department battled the fire even though the wailing of the horses unnerved many of the firefighters. Orry (Orla) Rolland (Rowland) who was staying at the Octagon House entered the back of the livery and at the risk of his own life rescued several of the horses that were stabled there. William’s son, James also attempted to rescue a horse owned by Oscar Downey, but was kicked by one and barely escaped the fire. Oscar himself, entered the livery to rescue his horse and two others. The firemen were supported by Little Downey, Uneeda Lunch Room, Mrs. George Potter and the Lawrence Bakery who served hot coffee and food to the firemen who battled the blaze. (LJ 2/21/1908 and SR 2/21/1908) In 1916 the site was redeveloped as an Automobile salesroom. (LSJ 4/1/1916)
Source : “Life Before the Automobile“, Reposted from Lost Lansing, August 1, 1916.
By 1909 it was obvious that the automobile was not just a passing fad, nor was it a toy for the wealthy. In Detroit, Michigan, a group of eight businessmen organized a new company to produce an automobile which would sell for less than $1,000 (that’s the equivalent to a bit more than $26,000 today). The new company was named the Hudson Motor Car Company after Joseph L. Hudson, an entrepreneur and founder of Hudson’s department store. Hudson provided the capital for the new company while Roy D. Chapin, Sr., provided the automotive experience. Chapin had worked with automotive pioneer Ransom E. Olds.
Hudson Motor Car Company was organized in February and their first car was driven out of the small factory in July 3, 1909. The Hudson Twenty was one of the first low-priced cars in the United States and 4,000 were sold in 1909; 4,508 were sold in 1910; and 6,485 in 1911.
The company was later absorbed by the American Motors Corporation.
Does anyone remember the Hudson in Driving Miss Daisy?
Source : Michigan Historical Calendar, courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University.
Hudson Motor Car Company wikipedia entry
Hudson Picture Gallery by John MacDonald.
History 101: The Hudson Automobile, August 25, 2014.
Michigan Governor Fred W. Green and 15 other state officials flew from Lansing to Kalamazoo for a conference — the first aviation junket in state history.
More About Governor Green
Clearly one of Michigan’s “Good Roads” governors, Green enthusiastically supported expansion and upgrading the state highway system during his two terms as chief executive (1927-1930). He was the “inventor” of the yellow no-passing line, first used in Michigan, which eventually became a standard safety device on highways everywhere. He was one of the early proponents of a bridge across the Straits of Mackinac and ordered the first survey to determine the feasibility of a span to link Michigan’s two peninsulas. A successful industrialist, Green’s public life prior to his election as governor included 12 years as mayor of Ionia and a stint as chairman of the Ionia County Road Commission.
Sources :
WAKV (Plainwell, Michigan), The Memory Station Facebook Page
About five minutes previous to blast off time Tuesday, some 150 students, professors, visitors and workmen crowded into the lobby of Kellogg center to watch Astronaut John Glenn rocket into history.
Viewers sat on the floor, stood on tables, sat and stood on the window sills and on the counter to get a peek at the television set in the center’s lobby.
It was a serious group. Some of them had been there for hours waiting for the historic moment when Glenn was fired into orbit.
Source : Lansing State Journal, February 20, 1962.
Check out Godspeed, John Glenn : Americans in Orbit, Time picture essay.
Check out Happy Anniversary John Glenn, Time picture essay.
To learn more about the original seven astronauts, check out
Selecting the Mercury seven : the search for America’s first astronauts / Colin Burgess. The names of the seven Mercury astronauts were announced in April 1959 amid a flurry of publicity and patriotism. This work provides biographical details of all thirty-two finalists for the seven coveted places as America’s pioneering astronauts. All of the candidates were among the nation’s elite pilots involved in testing new supersonic aircraft capabilities. Most had served as wartime fighter and bomber pilots; some were test pilots on top secret and sophisticated aviation projects, while others were fleet admirals, prisoners of war, and proposed pilots for spaceflight programs such as the Dyna-Soar (X-20). The names of all 32 finalists have been kept secret until very recently. “Selecting the Mercury Seven” also relates the history and difficulties behind the initial choice of candidates. The lives, motivations, military careers, and achievements of the unsuccessful twenty-five finalists are explored first in fully authorized biographies. Test pilots for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, each man has a fascinating and very different story to tell. All thirty-two men had to endure meticulous, demeaning, and brutal week-long medical examinations at the Lovelace Clinic in New Mexico. This was followed by another torturous week at the Wright Aeromedical Laboratory in Ohio, where they were subjected to extreme fitness and physiological testing, the sole purpose of which was to sort out the Supermen from the near-supermen. The final part of the book examines the accomplishments and spaceflights of the seven successful candidates, bringing their amazing stories right up to date.
Richard Allen “Dick” York (September 4, 1928 – February 20, 1992) was an American actor.
He is best remembered as Darrin Stephens on “Bewitched,” the mortal husband of wife Samantha Stephens. Dick was a beloved actor throughout the 60s due to his role on the series and went on to be in the 60s classic film, Inherit the Wind. Dick took his good looks and charm into his later life.
Unfortunately, York died of complications from emphysema at Blodgett Hospital in East Grand Rapids . He was just 63. He’s buried in Rockford, Michigan.
For more information, see Dick York wikipedia entry.
Public service is in Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate’s blood.
“My dad was a firefighter for the city of Detroit, and my mom was a public school teacher in Detroit,” said Tate.
Their acts of service laid the foundation for who and what he would become.
“They’re definitely two people that definitely motivate me,” Tate continued.
Tate has served his country in the Marine Corps, his MSU Spartan teammates on the football field, and his community as a lawmaker.
He is now serving Michigan’s 102nd Legislature, as the first Black speaker of the house.
Source : Donovan Long, “Family inspires Speaker Tate’s historic role in MI Legislature“, WXYZ TV, Detroit Channel 7, February 20, 2023.
Almost from its beginnings, Detroit has always sought physicians to care for the health of its citizens. In 1829 and 1837, there were small-pox outbreaks. On February 21 1849 the Detroit Common Council passes an act calling for the election of a city physician each year. In May 1857 the number was increased from one to four. By ordinance of January 31, 1860, the city was divided into three districts and a physician with a salaryof $300 was appointed to each.
Sources:
Detroit Historical Society Facebook Page
Silas Farmer, The History of Detroit and Michigan: Or, The Metropolis …, Volume 1. Detroit, S. Farmer & co., 1884.
The MSU community has access to an online edition via the HathiTrust.
Four Ypsilantians participated at this iconic moment, the liberation of Charleston, South Carolina. Entering the ruins of the town singing “John Brown’s Body,” the freedom fighters of the 55th Massachusetts Infantry liberate the citadel of the Confederacy on February 21, 1865. Dozens of other Black Ypsilanti soldiers would enter Charleston the following days with the 102nd USCT and 54th Massachusetts Infantry.
All three units would go on to participate in several actions together along the South Carolina coast, raiding plantations and storehouses, while tearing up rail tracks. At the very end of the war, these units participated in Potter’s Raid in which over 2000 enslaved people were liberated.
Source : South Adams Street circa 1900 Facebook Page,
Attracted to the abundant snows of the western Upper Peninsula, Norway native Carl Tellefsen quickly made his mark on the local skiing scene, eventually serving as founder and first president of the National Ski Association. The Association steadily grew in popularity and was a natural choice to house the National Ski Hall of Fame, which opened in 1954. Today the National Ski Association is called the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, and Ishpeming is known as the “birthplace of organized skiing in America.”
Source : Michigan Historical Calendar, courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University.
For a related article, see Vivian M. Baulch, “Michigan’s long history of ski jumping”, Detroit News, Feburary 1, 2002.
Today is the anniversary of Malcolm X’s assassination. Malcolm X was also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. An influential African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist, he once said: “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”
And of course, he is a former resident of Lansing, Michigan.
Earl and Louise Little and their four children arrived in Lansing in 1929 when Malcolm was 4. The family had been living in a temporary home in Milwaukee after being terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan and driven out of Omaha.
The family’s time in Lansing was marked by tragedy. Early on, the family was ordered to leave their first home in northwest Lansing because of the restricted covenant which allowed only Caucasians to live there.
The house burned to the ground before the family was able to move. Malcolm’s father was charged with arson but exonerated. The family believed that an offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan set fire to the home.
In 1931, further tragedy struck when Earl Little either fell or, as Shabazz contends in her book, was thrown under a street car on West Michigan Avenue. She says that family stories and firstperson recollections lead her to believe that her grandfather was killed by the KKK. (Although, in a speech at MSU, Malcolm X pulled back from that theory.)
Earl Little’s death set in motion a series of events that would result in Malcolm X’s mother´s commitment to Kalamazoo State Hospital after a nervous breakdown.
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A photo of the 1940 Mason football team shows Malcolm Little, 4th from left in the back row. Malcolm spent part of his childhood in Lansing and part in Mason, Michigan.
At 13, Malcolm was sent to a foster home in Mason where he would excel as a student, but was also exposed to further racism.
Malcolm X wrote in his autobiography that a Mason teacher admonished him for aspiring to be a lawyer, telling him “A lawyer — that’s no realistic goal for a nigger.” Malcolm dropped out of school after eighth grade, moved to Boston and later Harlem where he fell into a life of crime. At 20, Malcolm was imprisoned for six years. While in prison, he converted to the Nation of Islam faith and would go on to become a leader in the group, first in Detroit then eventually New York.
Check out the Malcolm X Biography and Film available from Bio.com.
Also remember to visit Malcolm X, a research site.
Malcolm X Wikipedia entry.
Clay Taylor, “Malcolm X in Lansing”, Lansing City Pulse, September 12, 2007.
Norman (Otis) Richmond, ‘On the anniversary of Malcolm X’s birth (May 19, 1925), journalist and broadcaster Norman (Otis) Richmond shares his thoughts on how artists across time have preserved his legacy”, Ligali, May 19, 2011.
Bill Castanier, “How Malcolm became X; New young adult novel tells the story of Malcolm X’s formative years”, Lansing City Pulse, February 18, 2015.
Stateside Staff, “Before he was Malcolm X, Malcolm Little was just another Lansing kid“, Michigan Radio, February 21, 2018.