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

Builders Hardware, February 1992. Photo Credit: Kevin S. Forsyth.

This is reputed to be the oldest existing commercial building in East Lansing. Its background is extremely vague, but there are indications it might have originally been a grocery store that predated the Collegeville development, and it might have originally stood farther south, facing Michigan Avenue. East Lansing Historic Commission documents cite its build date as circa 1910, while public records give a date of 1915; either of these might be when it was moved north from its Michigan Avenue site. Miller gives the “circa 1880” date given here, but also states the distance moved was “approximately 500 feet” even though the actual distance to Michigan Avenue is less than half of that. More research is needed.[Miller, p. 24.]