The first attempt at off-campus housing in the vicinity of the Michigan Agricultural College was made by Professors William J. Beal and Rolla C. Carpenter, who on November 5, 1887 platted “Collegeville.” It comprised sixty-nine lots located across Michigan Avenue from the west entrance to the College.
The plat had quite prosaic names—its north-south streets were West, Center, and East, while its east-west streets were Cedar, Elm, and Forest (or Forrest). Only Center and Elm retain their original names. West Street is now a continuation of Harrison Road. East Street was renamed for Professor Beal soon after his retirement in 1910. Forest Street was changed to Oak Street some time before 1912, perhaps either when Forest Street was created in Oakwood in 1899, or at the time of the 1907 charter, when both subdivisions became part of the City of East Lansing. Meanwhile the appearance of a street named “Cedar” is curious, since Michigan Avenue was officially extended along this line more than two decades earlier.
Although it was a needed addition to the housing market, the subdivision was not particularly successful. At the time Collegeville was considered to be, as Towar wrote, “a long way from the center of campus, and the salaried men of the college were not attracted to the location.” That may be an obfuscation of a more significant reason for its undesirability: the plat had no provisions for water or sewer service. As a result, few faculty homes were built here, and the modest houses that were built were mainly occupied by teamsters and laborers. By the time College Delta was platted in 1897, forty-nine lots remained unsold in Collegeville.1
| Builders Hardware, 121 N. Harrison (c. 1880) |  |
| Butterfield–Ayers House, 134 Center Street (1895) |  |
| Edward R. Blair House, 221 Center Street (c. 1903) |  |
Beal’s Addition to Collegeville (1895)
Undaunted by the lack of interest in Collegeville, Professor Beal extended the subdivision north to Grand River Avenue. In the East Lansing Historic Commission’s estimation, no historic houses remain on this plat.
In the early 1990s, in an attempt to thwart redevelopment of the 300 block of North Harrison Road, the City placed the houses at 305, 315, and 321 N. Harrison into the “Collegeville Historic District.” That’s a different story.
Next: College Delta
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