Jacob Schepers House, 335 Hillcrest Ave. (1905)

Jacob Schepers House, July 2011. Photo Credit: Google Street View.

Jacob Schepers (1876–1955) was an accountant, banker, real estate agent, insurance man, and politician, and while his name may not be widely known today he played an integral role in East Lansing’s growth for decades.

Schepers was born at Lafayette, Indiana, and attended Hope College and the Ferris Institute. In 1901 he married Henrietta Baker of Muskegon, and the following year they came to Lansing where Jacob took a position as clerk in the state Auditor General’s office. In 1905 they moved to the brand-new College Heights subdivision, into a comfortable foursquare atop the hill which—at the time—offered a commanding view overlooking Valley Court Park.

Jacob Schepers was hired by the Michigan Agricultural College as assistant cashier in May 1907, and just two months later was promoted to cashier, a quick start to a thirty-eight-year career with the accounting office including more than a decade as the College Treasurer, and at least two occasions as Acting Secretary to the Board of Agriculture.

He held several city offices including alderman, assessor, zoning commissioner, and supervisor; most significantly he served as East Lansing’s fourth mayor 1914–1918. As mayor Schepers “was responsible for many of the improvements which made possible the rapid growth and expansion of East Lansing. Under his administration the valuation of the city grew from $250,000 in 1907, the year of its incorporation, to nearly a million and a half in 1918.” (This quote from the Lansing State Journal might be overstating Schepers’ impact given that it includes the seven years prior to his election as mayor.) He was active in the state Republican party and ultimately served two terms as a state representative from the 2nd district, 1947–1950.[LSJ, 31 Mar 1922, p. 25]

Schepers was co-founder of the East Lansing State Bank and was its president for over ten years. The bank was at the heart of East Lansing development for decades. (A less successsful banking enterprise for Schepers was the State Savings and Loan Company, a Lansing-based thrift; he was its first president from 1924 to about 1927. It collapsed into receivership in 1930.)[LSJ, 30 May 1916, p. 9; 7 Oct 1924, p. 14; 19 Jun 1949, p. 16]

He was involved in numerous real estate ventures throughout his lifetime, and in 1922 he partnered with Benjamin Faunce to form “Faunce & Schepers,” an insurance and realty firm. At the time they were city clerk and assessor respectively, but Faunce retired from city government to focus on this business. Faunce was considered as “the active member of the firm” which is fortunate since a few months later Schepers was promoted to M.A.C. Treasurer. Their offices were in the original East Lansing State Bank building, at 136 W. Grand River. Unsurprisingly, they moved to the new “Abbott” block as soon as it was completed in 1927. A reorganization in 1928 formed the “B. A. Faunce Company, Inc.” with Faunce president, Schepers vice-president, and Ralph N. Wright secretary-treasurer, with offices remaining in the Abbott. The B. A. Faunce Co. was still in business in 1988, sixty years later—but claiming sixty-five, clearly counting the Faunce & Schepers firm as its origin.[Minutes, 29 Jun 1922, p. 542. LSJ,31 Mar 1922, p. 25; 25 Jul 1922, p. 1; 27 Apr 1923, p. 26; 1 Nov 1927, p. 19; 7 Apr 1928, p. 19; 1 Jan 1988, p. 22]

Jacob Schepers lived in the house at 335 Hillcrest for fifty years. Henrietta Baker Schepers was not so fortunate—she died in 1927 at age 51. They had three children together. Jacob remarried in 1928, to Kate Pfanstiehl of Grand Rapids; she died in 1945. Jacob was married for a third time in 1949 to Mrs. Margaret Atkinson Baldwin. He was 73, she was 61. Margaret was associated with the University at Ann Arbor for five years before coming to Michigan State College in 1947 to be residence director for the Delta Gamma sorority. She had two daughters from a prior marriage, both married.[LSJ, 19 Jun 1949, p. 16]

The Schepers house was changed substantially at some point, but it is unclear when that happened. It was originally a wood frame foursquare with a more modest one-story porch, a single-story addition to the rear, and an attached garage. Public records list the house as built in 1940, a clear contradiction of the historic commission’s 1905 date but plausibly when brick was added to the façade. Yet Sanborn maps through 1953 show it as wood frame without veneer. Another possible date for the upgrade might be after Jacob Schepers’ passing in 1955—the two-story portico style with tall but plain square columns was a popular modification in East Lansing during the 1950s.[BS&A Online. Sanborn (1953), p. 276]

Though not listed as significant, the house one door south (327 Hillcrest Avenue) from 1929 to 1939 served as the home of Alpha Phi sorority, which can trace its history back to the Feronian Society, the first women’s literary society* at the College. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Schepers’ daughter Josephine (M.A.C. ’24) had been a member of Alpha Phi.[Wolverine (1922), p. 342; (1930), p. 292]

327 Hillcrest Ave. circa 1930, when it was the Alpha Phi sorority house. The wide, open front porch has since been replaced, and the side vestibule enclosed. The Schepers house is partly visible at right. Photo Credit: Wolverine (1930), p. 292.