Category: Significant Structures
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A. B. Krentel House, 709 Grove St. (c. 1910)
Adorf Bernhart Krentel (1874–1948, M.A.C. ’99) studied chemistry under Professor Robert Kedzie and put Kedzie’s expertise in beet sugar into action, working several years as chemist for Dominion Sugar Co. in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario and later chief chemist for Continental Sugar in Findlay, Ohio. Adorf returned to East Lansing in 1923 with his wife Clara Pringle (1882–1975)…
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Old Post Office, 327 Abbot Rd. (1933)
The Agricultural College received its postal service from Lansing for many years, until a campus post office was established in 1884 and operated under the authority of the Secretary of the Board from his office in the Library–Museum. When Ira H. Butterfield resigned as Secretary in 1899, he retained his position as Postmaster and moved the…
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Liberty Hyde Bailey School, 300 Bailey St. (1922)
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…
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Gov. Wilber M. Brucker House, 621 M.A.C. Ave.(c. 1923 – c. 1999)
Wilber Marion Brucker (1894–1968) was Attorney General of Michigan 1928–1930 and Governor 1931–1932, during which time he resided at 621 M.A.C. Avenue. While he served the State, his wife Clara Hantel Brucker (1892–1980, M.S.C. ’30) attended the College, earning a B.A. in Liberal Arts in 1930 and an M.A. in History and Political Science in 1932.…
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Orvil J. Ayrs House, 320 M.A.C. Ave. (1915)
Orvil James Ayrs (1882–1964) was a local developer, an Alderman (council member) of the City during the 1920s and a board member of the East Lansing State Bank. He served as Grand Master of the nearby Masonic Lodge in 1938. Ayrs was a “master carpenter and plumber and worked personally on every house built under his name. These…
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Babcock–Sanford House, 437 Abbot Rd. (1907)
Warren Babcock Jr (1866–1913, M.A.C. ’90, Sc.D. ’13) began his tenure as Instructor in Mathematics in 1891, rising to Professor in 1909 when the department separated from Civil Engineering (H. K. Vedder would head the latter). From 1908 to 1909 he also served as East Lansing’s second mayor, but declined re-election. Having suffered for some time with ill…
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Sanford Farness House, 730 Grove St. (1964)
Sanford S. Farness (1917–2006) was Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, 1962–1981. Aside from its distinctive architectural style, reasons for the significance of this structure have proven elusive.
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Giltner House, 652 Hillcrest Ave. (1924)
Dr. Ward Giltner joined the faculty of M.A.C. in 1908 as Professor of Bacteriology, and chaired the department (now known as Microbiology and Molecular Genetics) beginning in 1912. From 1923 until his retirement in 1947, Giltner was simultaneously dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine; the college’s former home, Giltner Hall, is named for him. A…
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Harry Harvey House, 527 Elizabeth St. (1915)
Harry Harvey (1864–1932) and his wife Louisa Ann (Light) Harvey (1870–1971) were both born in England and emigrated to the U.S. around 1911. They arrived in East Lansing by 1915 and built this house in which Harry resided until his death, and Louisa until around 1945. Harry worked as a machinist for the Michigan Screw…