{"id":1498,"date":"2024-04-26T20:11:49","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/?p=1498"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:02:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:02:53","slug":"central-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/central-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Central School, 325 W. Grand River (1917)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
First Central School, 1903. Image source: MSU Archives<\/a><\/span>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1900, a new school district\u2014later to become East Lansing Public Schools\u2014was formed as an alternative to the distant Lansing and Meridian Township schools. Demonstrating the paramount importance of education to the college\u2019s faculty families, formation of the school district preceded the\u00a0incorporation of the City<\/a>\u00a0by several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
First Central School’s second addition, viewed from the south, circa 1910. Image source: Beal<\/a>, p. 212.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first Central School was built in 1901 on a site that Mary E. Champe<\/a> sold to the school district for $250. It was a single story frame structure with a brick veneer. \u201cThere was a rail fence along the front of the school yard the first year. This was ordered cut into fuel to warm the schoolhouse the second year.\u201d The school district grew so rapidly that within four years the upper grades had to be housed in Ping\u00a0Harrison\u2019s \u201cWhite Elephant\u201d<\/a> until the schoolhouse could be expanded. The roof was raised for a second story in 1905, which was accessed by an external stairway on the south wall. A large addition (seen at left) was constructed in 1909. The first schoolhouse burned down in 1916, on the same night as the College\u2019s\u00a0Engineering building<\/a>.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Second Central School, November 2003. Photo by Kevin S. Forsyth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSteps were immediately taken to rebuild a much larger schoolhouse and in the meantime the school was conducted in the\u00a0People\u2019s Church<\/a>.\u201d The new building, designed in Neo-Classical style by noted Michigan architect\u00a0Edwyn A. Bowd<\/a>\u2014who had previously designed the old school’s 1909 addition\u2014was completed in 1917. It served as both grade school and high school until the new\u00a0High School<\/a>\u00a0building opened for classes in 1927. Due to population demographic shifts, it was closed as an elementary school in 1984 (as was\u00a0Bailey School<\/a>), and is now used as a child development laboratory by M.S.U.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central School is listed on both state and national historic registers and is an East Lansing Landmark Structure<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. Towar<\/a>, pp.\u00a053\u201355.\u00a0Kestenbaum<\/a>, p.\u00a096. LJ<\/a> 26 Apr 1909, p. 8. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. Towar<\/a>, p.\u00a054. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In 1900, a new school district\u2014later to become East Lansing Public Schools\u2014was formed as an alternative to the distant Lansing and Meridian Township schools. Demonstrating the paramount importance of education to the college\u2019s faculty families, formation of the school district preceded the\u00a0incorporation of the City\u00a0by several years. The first Central School was built in 1901 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"Towar<\/a>, pp.\u00a053\u201355.\u00a0Kestenbaum<\/a>, p.\u00a096. LJ<\/a> 26 Apr 1909, p. 8. \",\"id\":\"3352d420-0229-491a-a1a9-0c0d1e4ef533\"},{\"content\":\"Towar<\/a>, p.\u00a054.\",\"id\":\"4ca735c5-b702-46fe-852f-e682bd91ed70\"}]"},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-landmark-structures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1498"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5675,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498\/revisions\/5675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}