Liberty Hyde Bailey, Jr. (1858–1954, M.A.C. ’82, M.S. ’86) worked with renowned botanist Asa Gray at Harvard before returning to M.A.C. as Professor of Horticulture (1885–1888). Then he went to Cornell University to become Chair of Horticulture and later the first Dean of the newly named New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell (1903–1913). He designed the nation’s first Horticulture Laboratory at M.A.C. (now Eustace–Cole Hall), and remains a world-famous horticulturalist to this day. His portrait hangs in the lobby of the Plant and Soil Sciences Building, and a larger-than-life statue graces the horticulture gardens behind PSS.
As Professor of Horticulture, Bailey resided on campus in Faculty Row № 9. His birthplace and childhood home at South Haven is now a National and State Historic Site as well as a museum and outreach center dedicated to his ideals and legacy.
This site was purchased by the school board in February 1922, and construction soon began on the district’s second schoolhouse (after Central School). The school was designed by Judson N. Churchill, a Lansing architect who “specialized in school architecture during the early twentieth century” and also designed East Lansing High School four years later. Bailey School was dedicated in June 1923, with Dr. Bailey in attendance.
Along with Central School, the East Lansing School District closed Bailey School in 1984, after which it became a community center. The city closed the center in 2015, citing excessive maintenance costs and numerous safety issues. A non-profit developer, Capital Area Housing Partnership, secured government funding to convert the building into a mixed-use commercial and senior housing center. The project broke ground in September 2016 and the $6 million renovation was completed in early 2018.1
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