Check out this old view of Lansing in 1960. You're looking along the Michigan Avenue bridge with then Senator John F. Kennedy in the car touring the city. The building under construction in the background to the right is the old BWL headquarters building, I believe. It's steel frame was reused for the present-day Michigan House of Representatives office building.
This is so interesting, first JFK going down Michigan Ave. in a convertible Olds did not seem to cause much of a reaction from the folks of that day. Also in these classic photos, Downtown looks full of buildings and businesses of all kinds. I do remember the slight arch in the old bridge on Michigan Ave. You can see what they covered up with glass at the Grand View building on the left.
Thank you for posting this. I was last there about 40 years ago so I remembered the fountain but not how it worked! Looks kind of cool with the reflections on the marble wall, for some reason we like building fountains but then have a hard time maintaining them. There were several fountains and water features in the N. Washington SQ. mall[70's version] all of which worked for about one year.
City of Lansing's throwback Thursday have been heavily weighted toward city hall in the past few months. Here is the one of the then newly-completed council chambers:
Never actually been up there, have only seen it on television. I gather this is looking east.
When I was a kid I thought the building looked like the U.N.! I was only here that one time for jury duty, there were many brakes in the trial and this is where they sent the jury to wait.
We're looking northwest from the main entrance. You can see the fountain where the current platform is, the escalator that lead up to the landing where the courts entrances are which are now bricked off, I believe, and the stairs in the northwest corner that led up to the landing where the court entrances are. The landing is used for storage, and that whole back wall is partioned off with a big curtain to hide it.
The line you see on the ceiling is where the back glass wall of the lobby was prior to the expansion to the north, meaning that the columns, of course, were outside.
I saw a really great photo of the Logan Street bridge in1965 on the Lansing history facebook page. [I don't know how to transfer them here] Also some notes about the 70's N. Washington Square Mall and the artwork that was chosen to be there. People had some pretty strong opinions about the piece that was at Michigan and N. Washington mostly that it was a great waste of money. I am happy that we have a new attitude toward public art these days. The "mall" itself was kind of a bold idea but people just did not use it. What we tore down to create it was not worth what they built there.
Comments
Check out this old view of Lansing in 1960. You're looking along the Michigan Avenue bridge with then Senator John F. Kennedy in the car touring the city. The building under construction in the background to the right is the old BWL headquarters building, I believe. It's steel frame was reused for the present-day Michigan House of Representatives office building.
This is so interesting, first JFK going down Michigan Ave. in a convertible Olds did not seem to cause much of a reaction from the folks of that day. Also in these classic photos, Downtown looks full of buildings and businesses of all kinds. I do remember the slight arch in the old bridge on Michigan Ave. You can see what they covered up with glass at the Grand View building on the left.
Thank you for posting this. I was last there about 40 years ago so I remembered the fountain but not how it worked! Looks kind of cool with the reflections on the marble wall, for some reason we like building fountains but then have a hard time maintaining them. There were several fountains and water features in the N. Washington SQ. mall[70's version] all of which worked for about one year.
City of Lansing's throwback Thursday have been heavily weighted toward city hall in the past few months. Here is the one of the then newly-completed council chambers:
Never actually been up there, have only seen it on television. I gather this is looking east.
When I was a kid I thought the building looked like the U.N.! I was only here that one time for jury duty, there were many brakes in the trial and this is where they sent the jury to wait.
lol, it's City Hall again from the city website:
We're looking northwest from the main entrance. You can see the fountain where the current platform is, the escalator that lead up to the landing where the courts entrances are which are now bricked off, I believe, and the stairs in the northwest corner that led up to the landing where the court entrances are. The landing is used for storage, and that whole back wall is partioned off with a big curtain to hide it.
The line you see on the ceiling is where the back glass wall of the lobby was prior to the expansion to the north, meaning that the columns, of course, were outside.
This huge open space was just for the public to appreciate and pass through. I think it was designed to be the opposite of the Old City Hall.
I saw a really great photo of the Logan Street bridge in1965 on the Lansing history facebook page. [I don't know how to transfer them here] Also some notes about the 70's N. Washington Square Mall and the artwork that was chosen to be there. People had some pretty strong opinions about the piece that was at Michigan and N. Washington mostly that it was a great waste of money. I am happy that we have a new attitude toward public art these days. The "mall" itself was kind of a bold idea but people just did not use it. What we tore down to create it was not worth what they built there.
City Hall is such a cool building. Totally a UN building
I hope people appreciate it as much we should....and fight for it.