{"id":1524,"date":"2024-04-26T20:11:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/?p=1524"},"modified":"2025-05-28T14:17:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:17:50","slug":"dickson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/dickson\/","title":{"rendered":"C. M. Dickson House, 505 Albert Ave. (1909)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
C. M. Dickson House, November 2003. Photo by Kevin S. Forsyth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This house in \u201cQueen Anne style with its narrow wood siding, bay windows, and decorative brackets,\u201d has been called \u201can excellent example of the homes which used to line Grand River Avenue prior to commercial development.\u201d It was built in 1909 about five doors east of the Abbot Road intersection for owners Chalmers M. and Nannie B. Dickson. Dr. Dickson was an oculist who kept his practice on the first floor. Occasionally he also provided his services at the\u00a0College Hospital<\/a>. In East Lansing\u2019s original numbering system the house was addressed as 318 Grand River Avenue; after 1920 this became 129 East Grand River.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dicksons only lived there for a few years. In 1912, the College published a directory of faculty and students that named 318 Grand River as \u201cThe Hilands\u201d and listed some nine junior faculty members in residence.\u00a0Dickson built a two-story brick storefront one door to the east\u00a0at 320\u2013322 Grand River Avenue, known as the \u201cDickson block,\u201d and moved into one of its upstairs apartments.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
318 Grand River Avenue circa 1915, when it was the Phylean Society house. As seen here, the house originally had an open front porch, rusticated stone foundation, and banisters atop the protruding bay windows. Image source: The Wolverine<\/em> (1915), p. 229.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From 1913 to 1915, it was the home of the Phylean Society, one of eight off-campus society houses<\/a> at that time. For the next school year the Phyleans moved two doors east to 324 Grand River\u2014the\u00a0Rugg house<\/a>\u2014while they built a new house at 482 Grand River. They remained there through a merger with the Trimoira Society and installation into Beta Kappa fraternity in 1936. Today renumbered as 729 East Grand River, it remains the site of a fraternity house, built in 1963.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the\u00a0Home Economics Division<\/a>\u00a0gained momentum and women\u2019s enrollment started a rapid climb that would last for the next several decades, the College was quickly hard-pressed for accommodations. As a stopgap, at least six off-campus houses were leased by the College in 1915 for use as women\u2019s dormitory annexes. The Dickson house became \u201cCollege Cottage\u201d and housed twenty students, along with house matron Mrs. N. L. Eastman.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

College Cottage remained in operation through the end of the 1921\u201322 school year. In anticipation of further commercial development along Grand River Avenue, the house was picked up and moved in 1922 to 505 Albert Avenue. At that time the original, open front porch was enclosed. In 1923\u201324 it served as the first home of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. It then became an eight-unit rooming house named \u201cIves Apartments\u201d for its proprietors, Melvin and Lenora Ives. 5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The C. M. Dickson House is an East Lansing Landmark Structure<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. Landmark Walking Tour<\/a>.\u00a0Newman<\/a>, 1915.\u00a0LCD<\/a>\u00a0(1910), p.\u00a0251; (1922), p.\u00a0333. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. MAC Directory<\/a>\u00a0(1912), pp.\u00a02\u201312.\u00a0Newman<\/a>, 1915.\u00a0LCD<\/a>\u00a0(1916), p.\u00a0283. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. Beal<\/a>, p.\u00a0207. Wolverine (1915), p.\u00a0229.\u00a0MAC Directory<\/a>\u00a0(1915), p.\u00a059; (1916), p.\u00a059; (1917), p.\u00a054. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  4. MAC Record<\/a>, 21(1), 21\u00a0Sep\u00a01915, p.\u00a06. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  5. Wolverine<\/a> (1924), p. 285. LCD<\/a>\u00a0(1925), p.\u00a0767.\u00a0Sanborn<\/a>\u00a0(1926), p.\u00a0270. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This house in \u201cQueen Anne style with its narrow wood siding, bay windows, and decorative brackets,\u201d has been called \u201can excellent example of the homes which used to line Grand River Avenue prior to commercial development.\u201d It was built in 1909 about five doors east of the Abbot Road intersection for owners Chalmers M. and […]<\/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\":\"Landmark Walking Tour<\/a>.\u00a0Newman<\/a>, 1915.\u00a0LCD<\/a>\u00a0(1910), p.\u00a0251; (1922), p.\u00a0333.\",\"id\":\"f9a6d150-d6bb-4dd8-8a01-075bad4681ad\"},{\"content\":\"MAC Directory<\/a>\u00a0(1912), pp.\u00a02\u201312.\u00a0Newman<\/a>, 1915.\u00a0LCD<\/a>\u00a0(1916), p.\u00a0283.\",\"id\":\"ed563b52-8a8e-48da-84df-f527df761e5f\"},{\"content\":\"Beal<\/a>, p.\u00a0207. Wolverine (1915), p.\u00a0229.\u00a0MAC Directory<\/a>\u00a0(1915), p.\u00a059; (1916), p.\u00a059; (1917), p.\u00a054.\",\"id\":\"a9aa453f-fdc6-4cc7-9c48-ebc5ecefe0f6\"},{\"content\":\"MAC Record<\/a>, 21(1), 21\u00a0Sep\u00a01915, p.\u00a06.\",\"id\":\"a8620b09-0da9-4642-9669-2feb732b9ec9\"},{\"content\":\"Wolverine<\/a> (1924), p. 285. LCD<\/a>\u00a0(1925), p.\u00a0767.\u00a0Sanborn<\/a>\u00a0(1926), p.\u00a0270.\",\"id\":\"1e83df9b-4dbf-46ae-8ad7-801ff0cb1de3\"}]"},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1524","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\/1524","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=1524"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4815,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524\/revisions\/4815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}