Origins
The City
Collegeville (1887, 1895)
College Delta (1898, 1899)
Oakwood (1899)
Cedar Banks (1900)
College Grove (1903)
Fairview (1904, 1905)
College Heights (1904)
Avondale (1913)
Bungalow Knolls (1916)
Chesterfield Hills (1916)
Ardson (1919)
Ridgeley Park (1921)
Strathmore (1925)
Glen Cairn (1926)
Bailey (1927)
Touraine (1927)
The Campus
Chronology
Sites on the National and State Historic Registers
Major Sources
William J. Beal. History of the Michigan Agricultural College; and biographical sketches of trustees and professors. 1915.
Indispensable account of the college's early years. Limited printing of only 3,000 copies includes an insert of Newman's 1915 map (see below).
Thomas C. Blaisdell, Ph. D., ed. Semi-Centennial Celebration of Michigan State Agricultural College. 1908. Available online from the MSU Library Digital Collection.
The complete program of the 1907 commemoration of the school's first 50 years, including the full text of Theodore Roosevelt's commencement address and many others.
Paul L. Dressel. College To University: The Hannah Years At Michigan State, 1935-1969. 1987. Available from Amazon.com.
A bit post-era for the purposes of this web site, but contains an interesting opening chapter about the college's formative years.
Justin L. Kestenbaum, ed. At The Campus Gate: A History of East Lansing. 1976.
A quality coffee table overview, albeit occasionally sketchy, written for the Bicentennial's seemingly inexhaustible demand for American history, both national and local. Now hard to find, as the first edition printing was limited to only 1,000 copies. The M.S.U. Library's copy has been vandalized and is missing several pages, but the Circulation department has a spare photocopy of the lacuna that it will duplicate by request.
Madison Kuhn. Michigan State: The First Hundred Years, 1855-1955. 1955. Available from Amazon.com.
The definitive work, published in commemoration of the school's transition from College to University.
Harold W. Lautner. From An Oak Opening: A Record of the Development of the Campus Park of Michigan State University, 1855-1969. 1978.
Harold Lautner (c.1902-1992, M.A.C. '25) was appointed Professor of Landscape Architecture in 1946 and was Director of Campus Parks and Planning through 1959. As Professor and Director Emeritus he combed through his own records and the archived minutes of the governing Board to compile this excellent two-volume reference work. Written from the viewpoint of site use and landscape architecture, it provides a comprehensive overview of how the campus park developed to become, in the words of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr, "probably the best example of the type of landscape characteristic of the American University."
Whitney Miller. East Lansing: Collegeville Revisited. 2002. Available from Amazon.com.
A slim paperback in the "Images of America" series, filled with a wealth of excellent black-and-white photos of the city, campus, and famous figures, 1855 to present day. (Ms. Miller, who works for University Archives and Historical Collections, has written to say that the handful of errors within are hoped to be corrected for the book's second printing.)
Chace Newman. Map of East Lansing, City. 1913. Edition of November, 1915.
This exquisitely rendered map includes every structure erected in the young city, a directory of some 65 buildings on the M.A.C. campus, and an explanation of Newman's house numbering system devised in 1911 (but revised in 1920 to its present form). The East Lansing Public Library has an original printing. Given the wealth of information contained in the map, one only wishes that Newman had continued to issue updates in subsequent years.
Linda O. Stanford and C. Kurt Dewhurst. M.S.U. Campus — Buildings, Places, Spaces : Architecture and the Campus Park of Michigan State University. 2002. Available from Amazon.com.
A beautiful coffee table book of large black-and-white photos and interesting tidbits* about the University's buildings and grounds. Though many of the buildings of the John Hannah era fall into a school of design appropriately called "Brutalist," the authors do not shy away from including the more significant and interesting examples of the style on campus. Moreover, they do many of those buildings justice for their progressive ideals.
James DeLoss Towar. History of the City of East Lansing. 1933.
Towar's comprehensive, if occasionally desultory, history was written at the behest of the East Lansing Public Library, and covers the years from the earliest pioneer days to 1933. The M.S.U. Library's reference copy is a hard-bound 8½x11 mimeograph of the typewritten original.
Keith R. Widder. Michigan Agricultural College: The Evolution of a Land-Grant Philosophy, 1855-1925. 2005. Available from Amazon.com.
The first in a trilogy of large volumes to be published by the Michigan State University Press in celebration of the M.S.U. Sesquicentennial, this book combines a broad overview of the college's development with an in-depth study of the intellectual forces that led to its creation and growth. Fascinating images from the M.S.U. Archives abound.
Other Sources
Robert Abzug. "Rollo May: Philosopher as Therapist." AHP Perspective, Apr/May 2003, Cover story. <http://www.ahpweb.org/pub/perspective/may03/may03cover.html>
East Lansing Historic Commission. "Landmark Walking Tour." Pamphlet. May, 1991.
Mark Grebner. Grading The Profs, 7th Ed. 1988.
Lawrence Kestenbaum. Political Graveyard. <http://politicalgraveyard.com>
J. Bruce McCristal. The Spirit of Michigan State. 2004. Available from Amazon.com.
Mark Nixon, editor. Journal of Our Times: 150 Years in the Life of Greater Lansing. 2004.
Marc Thomas. "Party Politics Dominated East Lansing's Early Years." <http://www.elhistory.org/Party.html>
M.S.U. Physical Plant. "Building Data Book." 2002, 2004. <http://www.pp.msu.edu/bldg_info.htm>
M.S.U. Physical Plant. "Michigan State College Properties Survey - 1934." <http://www.msu.edu/~hvac/survey/1934Survey.html>
"Gone But Not Forgotten: Campus buildings that no longer exist." <http://www.msu.edu/unit/msuarhc/buildingexhibit.htm>
"MSU President Peter McPherson: Historical Photo Gallery." <http://president.msu.edu/photogallery.html>
The Spirit of Michigan State by J. Bruce McCristal
All content Copyright 1992 - 2008 by
, unless otherwise noted.
This site is a work in progress and should be regarded as such. Use at your own risk.