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

This is reputed to be the oldest surviving commercial building in East Lansing, though its early history remains elusive. There are indications it might have originally been a grocery store that predated the Collegeville development. According to Miller, it was built circa 1880 and originally stood a few hundred feet to the south, facing Michigan Avenue. Public records instead list a construction date of 1915, which may reflect the year the building was moved to its present location. It appears here on Newman’s 1915 map, at which time it was addressed as 113 Harrison Avenue.¹

The earliest indication of a business here—at least in the usual sources—dates to 1916, when Darrel and Gertrude Apple ran a grocery store at the site. Over the next ten years, at least three other proprietors operated what was generally known as the “Harrison Avenue Grocery.” In 1926, the property was purchased by Nicholas and Clara Willoughby, who ran the store with the help of their adult son Clarence.²

After Clara’s death at age 73 in 1940, and Clarence’s selection for active military service in 1942, Nicholas closed the grocery and relocated to Bakersfield, California, where another son, William George, was living. The building—and its remaining store fixtures—was soon offered for sale.³

Following a few years of vacancy, the property was sold in May 1946 to Maud M. Hertel and her daughter, Marguerite R. Hertel. A few months later, Builders Hardware Company opened under the proprietorship of Marguerite’s brothers, Edward G. Hertel Jr (M.S.C. ’39) and Crawford W. Hertel (M.S.C. ’40).⁴

Both men were veterans of World War Two. Edward had served as a Major in the 7th Army, G-2, while Crawford was an Ensign with the Navy Seabees, serving in the South Pacific, including at Wake Island. At the time they opened the hardware store, both brothers were living in the Edward R. Blair House at 221 Center Street, now recognized as a Significant Structure.⁵

Edward and Crawford Hertel continued to operate Builders Hardware until their retirement in the early 1980s. The company itself remains in business, although it relocated to Lansing’s REO Town neighborhood in 2019. Meanwhile, the grocery/hardware store building, an East Lansing Landmark Structure more than a century old, stood vacant in December 2025.⁶

1. Miller, p. 24. BS&A Online. Newman (1915). ↩︎
2. LCD, 1916, pp. 176, 699; 1921, pp. 449, 872; 1923, p. 996; 1924, p. 1094; 1927, p. 408. LSJ, 13 May 1940, p. 5. ↩︎
3. LSJ, 13 May 1940, p. 5; 21 Aug 1942, p. 2; 29 Oct 1943, p. 25; 31 Oct 1943, p. 27; 22 Jul 1947, p. 2. ↩︎
4. LSJ, 19 May 1946, p. 23; 22 Sep 1946, p. 20. ↩︎
5. LSJ, 19 Oct 2001, p. 15; 13 Jul 2009, p. 15. LCD, 1946, p. 312. ↩︎
6. LSJ, 17 Apr 1992, p. 32; 8 Jul 2019, p. A3; 4 Jan 2026, p. B1. ↩︎