Grant Hudson House, 1012 Chesterfield Pkwy. (1917)

Grant Hudson House, February 1992. Photo Credit: Kevin S. Forsyth.

Grant Martin Hudson (1868–1955) was a Baptist minister, erstwhile merchant, and member of the Anti-Saloon League who served two terms in the State House of Representatives before he arrived in East Lansing. He was elected city alderman here in 1922, but that same year he won election to the U.S. Congress, representing Michigan’s Sixth District from 1923 to 1931. In later years he was an insurance agent in Lansing and held a succession of lesser appointments in state government. He died at Kalamazoo and was interred at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lansing.[U.S. Congress biography]

The four-bedroom house was designed by Thomas E. White, a Lansing architect who had previously partnered with Earl Mead (who in turn was a former apprentice of Edwyn A. Bowd). This was certainly a busy household when the Hudson family lived in it. Grant and Mildred Hudson had six children. Following Mildred’s untimely death of stroke at age 47 in 1921, and Grant’s election to Congress a year later, their eldest son Richard became head of the household. Richard and his wife Marion had three children here—while father Grant and four of Richard’s siblings remained as well. A live-in domestic servant brought the tally in the 1930 census to eleven people under this same roof. By 1938, the house was owned by Guy H. and Louise D. Jenkins, he a correspondent for Booth Newspapers Inc., a Grand Rapids-based media company.[American Contractor, 38(52), 29 Dec 1917, p. 42. LCD (1938), pp. 271, 784]