Faculty Row

The community that ultimately became the City of East Lansing got its start on campus, in the form of a row of brick “cottages” built to house the Agricultural College’s professors and their families. A total of ten houses were built along what is now West Circle Drive, with an additional house just north of the row. The eleven houses were built in three phases.

The first phase was built in the summer of 1857, a few months after the first classes commenced. Four houses were built, three in a row and one across the lane; they were designed by Frank J. Scott and Rufus W. Bunnell of Toledo, Ohio. Historians refer to these as № 4 through № 7, but for most of their existence they were simply known for the professions of their occupants.^† Bricks for these houses were made out of clay dug from the banks of the Red Cedar and fired in a temporary kiln that stood in the hollow between the river and the west entrance road (about where West Circle and Beal Entrance meet today).¹

The second phase of construction occurred in 1874, as the row was extended to the west by three more houses. All three were designed by famed Detroit architect Elijah E. Myers—creator of Michigan’s Capitol building, as well as those of Texas and Colorado. The fanciest and largest of these, a brick structure which we now call № 1, stood at the west end of the row on the present site of Maude Gilchrist Hall and served as the President’s House from 1875 until 1915. The two smaller houses № 2 and № 3 were wood-framed and identical, built according to a single set of plans by Myers.²

Over time the row was extended by three more houses to the east: № 8, designed by Watkins & Arnold, built in 1879; № 9, designed by William Appleyard, built in 1884; and № 10, also by Appleyard, built in 1885. № 10 was built as the home for a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, using a portion of a legislative appropriation that established the Mechanic Arts course, funded construction of the Mechanical Shops, and provided a salary for the new position. Lewis McLouth was hired as the first in that role. When McLouth resigned two years later, Board Secretary Henry G. Reynolds co-opted the new house for himself and assigned McLouth’s replacement, William Durand, to the much older № 4.³

An additional building, often overlooked because it stood north of the main row and was not given a number in Beal’s history, was built in 1884 as the second college apiary (“bee house”) by Albert J. Cook, Professor of Zoology and Entomology. (The original apiary was moved for the Botany Lab, then razed for Abbot Hall. Cook placed this new, larger building behind his own residence of № 3 both for his own convenience and in hopes of steering clear of a burst of new construction at that time.) Upon Cook’s resignation in 1893 Entomology was split from Zoology and the apiary was converted into a residence for a new Instructor in Entomology.⁴

The final two additions to the row were multi-unit dwellings rather than single-family homes. Howard Terrace was built in 1888 at the east end of the row. This was a faculty residence hall “for use of small families.” Four years later, Station Terrace was erected midway between № 6 and № 8 for Experiment Station researchers.⁵

In his history of the campus park, Professor Harold Lautner reprinted a campus map and key from the college catalogue of 1899, which enumerated the houses as assigned to the following faculty members:

Beal #	Map #	Occupant
№ 1	1	President
№ 2	2	Mathematics
№ 3	3	Zoology
№ 4	4	Mechanical Engineering
№ 5	5	Chemistry
№ 6	6	English
№ 7	7	Botany
–	8	Station Terrace
№ 8	9	Agriculture
№ 9	10	Horticulture
№ 10	11	Secretary
–	12	Howard Terrace
–	13	Prof. Longyear (off campus)
–	14	Entomology

By the dawn of the twentieth century, off-campus development had started to gain momentum, and there was no need for additional faculty housing to be built on campus. Faculty Row was gradually used for other purposes, and then almost totally obliterated. For example, the President’s house was converted into a dormitory for senior women in 1915, then housed the College Hospital from 1925 until 1939. From 1939 to 1946 it was a women’s cooperative house known as Alice B. Cowles Hall—a name later applied to Faculty Row № 7.⁶

In 1919, the house built as № 9 made the first of its two moves away from Faculty Row. In 1922 №s 2, 3 and 6 were vacated by their professors (H. K. Vedder, Civil Engineering; W. B. Barrows, Zoology; and W. W. Johnston, English) to be converted to housing for female students. E. A. Bessey and family moved to their new off-campus home from № 7, which was given over to Board Secretary Halladay, who vacated the newest house at the eastern end of the row. Also in 1922 Howard Terrace was demolished to make room for the Home Economics building.⁷

№ 14, the Professor of Entomology’s residence, “so closely guarded by trees… that many people who spent a long time on the campus never knew of its existence,” was razed in 1926 to clear the site for the new Weather Bureau building now known as Wills House. From 1897 onward it had been the home of Professor Rufus Pettit and his wife Jessie. They moved to a lovely new-built (1925) bungalow with eyebrow dormers and matching porch roof at 236 Cowley Avenue in the Oak Ridge subdivision.⁸

When Robert Shaw was named the eleventh President of the College in 1928, he and his family moved from № 5 to № 2. Upon his retirement in 1941 President Emeritus Shaw and his wife May moved to a new home on their sizeable property north of the City that would later become Shaw Estates, and № 2 became a women’s cooperative house aptly named “Shaw House.”

In 1945–1946, houses № 1 through № 5 were torn down and replaced with the West Circle residence halls of Gilchrist, Yakeley, and Landon. In its last year and a half, № 3 had been used as the original International Center.⁹

The house built in 1879 as № 8, commonly known as the “Taft house” after former resident Levi Taft, persisted in its position just west of the Union’s (original) south entrance until 1931. From 1921 on it was used as a Home Economics practice house.¹⁰

The easternmost house, built in 1885 as № 10, was assigned to President David Friday during his brief term 1922–1923, then also became a Home Economics practice house. Somewhat confusingly, in later years it was labelled “Home Economics House No. 8,” and housed the H.E. nursery school. Although the south addition to the Union (completed 1949) does not occupy the site of the “old frame house,” which stood in the open space midway between the Union and Home Economics, it was removed in 1949 to accommodate the Union’s expansion.¹¹

The final house to be demolished, № 6 survived until 1970, standing on the corner between Campbell and Landon halls. In 1922 it was given over to the M.A.C. Union, presumably until the memorial building could be completed, but was soon reassigned “to house student women.” That assignment also did not last long, as it became the President’s house for Kenyon Butterfield’s term, 1924–1928. From 1946 to about 1960 it served as the second home of the International Center, and after that as the Graduate Office.¹²

Only Faculty Row № 7 remains on campus today, in much modified form, as Cowles House.

1. Minutes, 23 Jul 1857, p. 27. ↩︎
2. Minutes, 11 Nov 1873, p. 248. The Record, 51(2), Apr 1946, p. 9. ↩︎
3. Minutes, 24 Jun 1879, p. 350; 11 Jun 1883, p. 436; 21 Apr 1885, pp. 470-471. ↩︎
4. Kuhn, p. 145. Beal, p. 76. Kestenbaum, p. 117. 39th AR, p. 17. Minutes, 17 Oct 1893, p. 43. ↩︎
5. Beal, p. 87. ↩︎
6. Minutes, 19 Oct 1939, p. 1553. ↩︎
7. Minutes, 12 Jul 1922, pp. 456, 546. ↩︎
8. MSC Record, 31(25), 12 Apr 1926, p. 406. LCD (1928), p. 565 ↩︎
9. MSC Record, 51(1), Jan 1946, p. 5. Thomas, p. 219. ↩︎
10. Beal, p. 271. Minutes, 16 Oct 1931, p. 970. Kuhn, pp. 292-3. Physical Plant 1934 survey. ↩︎
11. Kuhn, p. 85. MSC Campus Map, 1942. Minutes, 21 Apr 1949, p. 2725. Dressel, p. 367. MSC Campus Map, 1947. ↩︎
12. Thomas, p. 219. Smuckler, p. 27. Minutes, 19 Apr 1922, p. 534; 12 Jul 1922, p. 546; 15 Mar 1957, p. 3776. Kestenbaum, p. 3. Campus maps from 1947, 1960, 1961. ↩︎

1. † On this site, the Faculty Row houses are named according to numbers, № 1 through № 10, as given in Beal—but that source has its issues.
   
   Please see this note from the author for further discussion of the Faculty Row house numbers.↩︎