Lansing History

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  • That's a great find, thanks! This makes it easy for me to see what portion of that airstrip remains undeveloped today- it's the patch of dirt(?) in the upper right corner of the pic just under Holmes.

    I'll try to attach a shot of this view today with the old strips superimposed.

  • edited November 2017

    I think the longer runway is shorter and would have veered a bit sharper east-northeast, but that seems the general orientation, yes. Something is telling me the "white" area in the old aerial is actually Alpine Drive. But I could be wrong; it may very well be Lochmoor.

  • edited November 2017


    Are you referring to the white area along the bottom? If so, I believe those are the plots along Sumpter- those were among the first to be built in Churchill Downs.

    Excuse the super crude drawings, but I think that the red line is about where Lochmore is now, the green box is Hillborn Park today and the gold lines are Waverly heading north and Holmes heading east. I'm basing this on the guess that the area where the church is on Waverly today is what we see as the developed plot in the lower left quadrant of the archive. Totally could be an incorrect assumption though.

    I love these old photos. My favorite group on FB is the Lansing Historical Society- I'm sure a lot of you follow it, but for those that don't, here's the link

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/137660544586/

  • I am sure that most people who read this would know, but I just subscribed to the archives site of the Lansing State Journal. I was looking for stories about my older brother, he was a great athlete at Sexton in the early 60's. On the site you can look up and read the paper from any day in their archive. I did found the downloads to be very small when printed if you try to download a whole page. Anyway it is very interesting and reminds me how great the old LSJ was, in those days it was a big part of life in Lansing.

  • I should look into that. I did the trial for newspapers.com but it's pretty expensive. I bet the LSJ version is cheaper.

  • edited November 2017

    Sabatoa,

    I think you're right. I hadn't even noticed that area in the lower left. Yeah, look at it I'd guess that is the old Faith United Methodist Church, but the configuration of the building looks different than it does today which is confusing me.

    Also, another cool thing is the name of the developers: Francis Fine and Walter Neller. This is where Fine Park gets its name from, I imagine, and the old Walter Neller Building downtown at the corner of Allegan and Grand.

  • Correct, MichMatters. Walter and his wife had two grandsons, Mark and Scott and that's how the SE Lansing development got the name, 'Marscot'. On another historical note, Walter Neller also founded 'Lansing Civic Players'.

  • edited November 2017

    Thanks! So I assume the building downtown was for a real estate company? BTW, where is Marscot exactly? I've never come across the name.

    This has got me really interested in the developer-developed subdivisions on the southside (south of Mt. Hope).

  • Marscot is off Miller Rd, between Pennsylvania and Aurelius

  • edited February 2018

    Oh goodness. I got lost on the Historical Society of Greater Lansing's facebook page, again, and came across these pictures of the 100 and 200 blocks of North Washington. I've seen these blocks in older black and white photos from the 20's and 30's, but it's something extra thrilling to see them from color photos during the 60's.

    100 north block from around Michigan Avenue looking north(east)

    200 north block from Ottawa Street

    Looking from the 100 south block from around Allegan with the 101 South Washington Building under reconstruction.

    I always have mixed feelings on these. On one hand, the total lack of vegetations and a sign oridnance which makes it look cluttered, the dirtness, etc...is kind of a turn-off, but can you imagine with all of the street trees grown in and the other beautifications and facade restorations what we could have still had on the north blocks?!

    Now, check out the old building on the west side of the 100 south block.

    Someone said it was a Kresge's. I wonder if the old terra-cotta facade (or at least a good mock-up of a terra-cotta facade) is under the "moderization" currently there? That would be awesome if it's still there and they could eventually bring it out. I doubt it, but I want to believe. lol

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