History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 18

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772

USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 18
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 18

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Yeas .- Nathaniel A. Balch, of Kalamazoo ; C. P. Bush, of Livings- ton ; John P. Cook, of Hillsdale; E. B. Danforth, of Ingham ; Sam- nel Denton, of Washtenaw ; R. P. Eldridge, of Macomb; J. B. Fitz- gerald, of Berrien ; Rufus Kibbe, of Lenawee; Loren Maynard, of Calhoun ; Rix Robinson, of Kent; Oel Rix, of St. Clair ; Jefferson G. Thurber. of Monroe.

Nays .- John Allen, of Washtenaw; George A. Coe, of Branch ; Wm. M. Fenton, of Genesce; S. M. Green, of Oakland; H. B. Lath- rop, of Jackson ; A. T. MeReynolds, John E. Schwarz, of Wayne; Isaac D. Toll, of St. Joseph.

In the Senate quite an effort was made to give the new State capital a faney or high-sounding name. Among others, the following were proposed : Aloda, Franklin, Ful- ton, Washington, Tyler, Wright, La Fayette, and Cass. The name MICHIGAN was finally adopted, and this was the reason why the original town-plat bore that name on the records and carlier maps. It was called the "Town of Michigan" and ineluded only the original village, which has since grown into the flourishing city of Lansing.

The law under which the capital was removed (No. 60, Session Laws of 1847) reads as follows :

" The seat. of government of the State shall be the town- ship of Lansing, in the county of Ingham." If " brevity is the soul of wit," then the Michigan Legislature of 1847 was the most witty of any that ever assembled. It would be well if all law-making bodies were as sensible and as witty.

The act was approved by William L. Greenly, acting Governor, on the 16th of March, 1847. Governor Feleh had resigned to take his seat in the United States Senate, and the lieutenant-governor became acting Governor.

Aet No. 65 of that session provided for the appointment of three commissioners by the Governor " to select and designate a suitable and eligible site in this township, con- taining not less than twenty acres of land, on which to ereet the Capitol and other State buildings, and proeure conveyance of the same, free of all ineumbrances, and cause the same to be recorded in Ingham County."

The sum of $10,000 was appropriated for the erection of temporary buildings, for the use of the Legislature and State officers, to be completed by Dec. 25, 1847, and $1000 for the removal of the books, papers, maps, and archives of the State, and furniture for the several offices at the capital. The commissioners were required to take an oath that they were " not directly interested, and would not be so while in office, in any lands or land speculations in the counties of Ingham, Eaton, Ionia, or Clinton grow- ing out of or connected with the State capital."

The commissioners appointed to locate the Capitol were James L. Glen, David Smart, and Alonzo Ferris. Mr. Glen was acting commissioner, and the ground selected was a part of the school seetion (16), and the " town of Michi- gan" was laid out around it. The reservation for the use

Flint. ... ...........

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HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICIIIGAN.

of the State covered about thirty acres, lying along the west side of Grand River, and included the present Capitol grounds, the old State-Ilouse square, and some of the prin- cipal business blocks on Michigan and Washington Ave- nues, namely, 99, 100, 101, 110, 111, 112 .*

The land upon which the Capitol and other State build- ings were loeated was a part of the public school land, and the Legislature did a wise thing when it rejected all offers and resolved to seleet it as the site of the permanent Capitol of the commonwealth.t

Iu order to do justice to all, and especially to the school fund, three commissioners were appointed by Hon. Abiel Silver, theu commissioner of the State Land-Office, to appraise the land. These were John M. French, Richard Ferris, and Joseph L. Huntington, who personally exam- ined every lot and fixed its value according to their best judgment, and this proceeding was very advantageous to the school fund.

In this connection the following letter from Hon. Abiel Silver, published in the Detroit Post and Tribune of Jan. 18, 1879, which we copy from the Lansing Republican of Jan. 21, 1879, will be of interest. It was written when the judge was nearly eighty-two years of age:

" Though a citizen of loston Highlands (Mass.), } have not lost my interest in the prosperity of Michigan, where I had an active husiuess life from 1830 to 1850. And especially am I gratified in the success of Lansing, and the benefit to the common schools of Miehi- gao arising from the lveation of the Capitol in the centre of section 16.

" This section, a mile square, being near the centre of the townsbip, with the Capitol in the centre of the section, afforded a fine oppor- tunity to wake that section quite valuable, and having by law tho sule charge of that section as commissioner of the State Land-Office, it was the summit of my ambition to have the stake for the Capitol stuck in the centre of that section. And hy my influence, much more than that of any other man, the stake was there stuck.t

" When the commissioners for selecting the location reached Lan- sing they found me there. I had been there a week; had been over the township, and found seetion 16 as eligible as any other poiut in the whole township of thirty-six square miles. I therefore led the commissioners to the centre of section 16, and did not leave them

* These numbers are from the records of the State Land Department. They are not correctly stated in the session laws, except in one place. t The following is the section of the act passed by tho Legislature, and approved April 1, 1848, authorizing the transfer of the lands in- cluded in the reservation for State institutions aud other purposes :

" SECTION 2. For the purpose of making a purebase and procuring a conveyanee to the State of thirty acres of land for the use and benefit thereof, as selected by the acting commissioner to locate the Capitol, aod described upon the plat of the town of Michigan as blocks Nos. 99, 100, 101, 110, 111, 112, and 249, the State treasurer is hereby authorized, out of any moneys in the treasury helonging to the State building fund not otherwise appropriated, to pay to the commissioner of the State Land-Office the sum of one dollar to the credit of the primary school principal fund, and the said commissioner is hereby required upoo the receipt of suid sum to issue to the State in the name of the State treasurer a certificate of purchase of said lands, and upon the receipt of said certificato the Guvernor shall make to the State a patent for said lands, and eauso the same to be recorded by the county register and thereafter filed in the office of the Secretary of State."

# The north-and-south centre-line of section 16 is the west line of Washington Avenue, and the centre-post of the section is in the centre of Michigan Avenue, at the intersection of Washington Avenue ara'l on the west line of the lutter. If the stake denoting the site of the Capitol was ever stuck there, it was ufterwards removed abont fifty roads to the west. The old Capitol stands about forty rods southwest by south from the centre of section 16.

until, after thorough examination and faithful deliberation, the stake was stuck in the right place.

"Then, by the law governing and directing the action of tho eour- missioner of the State Land-Office, the section was under my control. The law authorized the commissioner to lay out village or town lots on any of the State lands under his charge, and have the lots ap- praised and offered for sale whenever he believed it would be for the interest of the State to do so. Therefore, I had the entire mile square laid out into streets and lots, selecting my appraisers, and had a value fixed on every lot, and offered them for sale with my own mouth at publie auction, at the appraised value, or whatever more might be bid. I had a pint of the town nieely drawn in my office, handsomely lithographed, and recorded. A stone was planted a foot below the surface of the ground at the centre of crossing of the two main avennes, with an on the top, as tho fixed point for determining the exact location of every lot. That starting-point established, and the variation of the compass recorded, settled all disputes as to coraers.

" I withheld the section from sale from my own judgment, while the subject of the location was in agitation in the Legislature. The moment Lansing was mentioned I reserved the sale and refused every applicant .¿

"Somebody was kind enough to send me a number of yonr issue of the first iustant, which I was glad to see, and felt disposed to add a little to the history of Lansing at its birth, more than thirty years ago."

In the Lansing Republican of Sept. 26, 1873, we find the following statement by Governor Felch of the manner in which the valuable school section in Lansing was saved to the public school fund of the State:

"In the Legislature of 1847 the question of removing the State capital from Detroit was agitated early in the session. Several towns on the Central Railroad were talked of for its future location. When it was first suggested that a location should be selected farther north, and io a portion of the State then little more than a wilderness, the proposition struck most persons as almost ridiculous. But, as the question continued to be agitated, this proposition contionally gained strength. Some imprudent remarks of one or more of the represen- tatives from Wayne County added to the zeal of those who desired to remove the seat of government from Detroit, and ended in effect- ing it.

"At length Lansing was spoken of as a central and proper plaec for the new location. Nobody knew anything of Lansing. Every- hody asked, ' What aud where is Lansing?' The answer told little more than that it boasted of ono or two dwelling-houses in the midst of a forest region, and one saw-mill, propelled by the waters of Grand River. The proprietor of the little hamlet, it was said, was there nrging the elaims of his obscure, moline| location to the dignity of the State capital.

" After the project had obtained so much strength as to render its success quite probable, it was told me that certain persons who wero urging the project had their eyes npon the school section of land which adjoined the proposed location, and which still remained unsold.

" As yet nothing had been publicly said of the school section in connection with tho project. It now seemed that if the proposed location of Lansing should be made, the school section would become very valuable, and the purchaser of it would secure a fortune. With- out this to increase its value it was not doemod worth the purchase, even at the low price demanded ($4 per acre), and on the long eredit given upon the sale of the school lands.

" At length I becamo satisfied that thero were persons watching the progress of things in the Legislature, and who now regarded the prospect of success as so favorablo that they had concluded to make a purchase of the land. It was manifest that in all human proba- bility this portion of the domain given for public schools would event-

¿ There is a considerable discrepancy between this statement of Judge Silver and tho one by Ex-Governor Felch, farther on. The reader must reconcile it according to his judgment.

| We presume the Governor derives this word from the Latin mo- linn, a mill.

" The price of the primary school lands was fixed by tho State at four dollars per acre.

STATE INSTITUTIONS.

ually hecome very valuable, and I resolved, if possible, to secure the benefit of its increased value to our great educational fund.

" Tho State Land-Office was then kept at Marshall, Judge Silver being land commissioner. The school lands were open for sale at his office, but the Governor had the right, in his discretion, to with- draw any specified portion of the lands from sale. I thought it my duty to exercise the right in this instance. Accordingly, I caused an order to that effect to be forwarded to the commissioner by mail. The mail train left Detroit in the morning, and the regular time of its arrival at Marshall was about the middle of the afternoon. As I afterwards learned, the parties above referred to sent an agent the same morning to make a purchase of the land. The agent and the mail containing the order withdrawing the land from sale went by the same train. But it so happened that the train was delayed by an accident at Marengo, and did not arrive at Marshall until some time in the evening. The land-office was of course closed, but Judge Silver's mail was taken to his residence that evening, and among other letters was the one inclosing the order.

"In the morning the purchasing agent was waiting at the office door wheo the commissioner arrived for his daily duties. The agent entered with him and made immediate application for the purchase of the land. To his great surprise he was infurmed that it was not subject to sale. And his disappointment was not diminished when he learned that the same train upon which he came for the purpose of making the purchase brought the order withdrawing the land from market.

"If no accident to the train had happened the agent would have completed his purchase within the regular office hours, and before the mail could have been distributed and the order received by the com- missioner.

"This little accident saved to our noble common school fund the great benefit which it has since derived from the section of land now graced with the Capitol of our Peninsular State."#

Hon. Alfred Miller, of Saginaw, member of the House in 1847, who voted and worked for the location of the capital at Lansing, in writing for the East Saginaw Courier, makes the following remarks touching the removal of the capital :

"The writer was a member of the Legislature for Saginaw County for the year 1847, and, from the beginning, was a strong advocate fur the location of the capital at Lansing,-first, because he wished some measure adopted by which the people on the line and south of the Central Railroad could come to the knowledge of the fact, that the country in Michigan north of the tier of counties through which the road passed was other than the hyperborean region, unfit for cultiva- tion, that they at that time believed it to be; and, secondly, it was believed that if the capital was located at Lansing a direct communi- cation would be opened to Saginaw, and a large amount of trade brought to this vicinity from the rich farming country which would speedily be developed by adopting that measure.

" After the subject had been discussed in private circles, the location of Lansing had many advocates. All the northern members, hoth east and west of the meridian line, were in favor of it; and when the matter came up for discussiun in the committee of the whole, the names of all the places were recited which had been propused by members of the committee to fill the blanks till the name of Lansing was inserted, when, a majority voting for it, the bill for the location of the capital was reported to the House by the chairman of the com- mittee, recommending Lansing as the point; and the House confirmed the action of the committee. The bill was passed and sent to the Senate.

" When the hill came up for final action in the House, the whole of the Wayne County delegation voted for it, supposing that if the meas- ure was carried in the House the Senate would reject it, and thereby defeat the location at that session, and that the capital would then remain permanently at Detroit.t

* The statement of Governor Felch, though not agreeing with that of Judge Silver, would seem to be conclusive touching the disposition of the school section. The total sum realized by the school fund as proceeds of section No. 16, not including interest, according to the records of the State Land Department, has been $93,731.66.

+ This last statement does not seem to agree with the recorded vote on the question, the Wayne County names appearing in the negative.

"No point on the Central Railroad could get a majority, for tho reason that when a location was proposed all tho advocates for rival locations at other points on the line of that road would vote against it. But no one was jealous of Lansing, for, at that time, it had hut two or three log houses and one saw-mill.

" The advocates uf the removal from Detroit believed they had the majority of the Legislature on their side, and that they would effect their object ; while those opposed to its removal believed that no point could be selected that would command the vote of a majority in each House. But after the bill had passed the House, and was in the hands of the Senate to confirm or reject, the excitement became very great. There was a heavy requisition on livery-stables, and there were many explorers of the wilderness in the vicinity of the saw-mill at Lansing. There were parties looking after the interests of the State, as well as private speculations. The former ascertained that the most eligible loca- tion was on the school section, which was the property of the State.

"Many applications were made by individuals for the purchase of that school section, but it was withheld from sale, and the Capitol finally located on it, which proved of great pecuniary advantage to the State."

The inconveniences resulting from the removal of the seat of government from a fine, well-built city to a wilder- ness were many and serious, but there seems never to have been any great amount of dissatisfaction expressed. A few sorely disappointed individuals vented their indignation from time to time, but the only result was to bring a smile to the faces of the great mass of the people; and at length the last murmur of dissent died away without having created a perceptible ripple upon the current of popular feeling. The temporary inconveniences at the new location were sub- mitted to with good grace by legislators aud State officials, all seeming to be looking forward to a time in the near future when the appliances of civilization should make the State capital a comfortable place of residence and a city which the people of the Commonwealth should delight to honor. That time has come even sooner than the most san- guine anticipated, and to-day the capital of the wealthy, prosperous, and populous State of Michigan has a reputation throughout the land second to none, as a beautiful, ener- getic, and thriving city, soon to become one of the princi- pal business centres of' the State.

As evidence that the people of Michigan are entirely satisfied with the location of their State Capitol, it may be proper to state that the article in the " Revised Constitu- tion " of 1850, entitled "Seat of Government," which con- tinued the location of the same at Lansing, was adopted in the Convention by a vote of eighty to nothing, aud the Convention of 1867 ratified this action by a vote of seventy- nine to nothing. There is every evidence that the people are entirely suited with the location, and the building of the new Capitol assures its permanency. It will probably for centuries continue to be near the centre of populatiou in the lower peninsula, and the time may come when the upper peninsula will desire to set up a State government by itself.

There were other and powerful influences undoubtedly brought to bear upon the question of the removal of the State Capitol. The late James Turner, of Lansing, was wont to say that the Seymours and Townsends, of New York, threw a very heavy weight into the scale in favor of Lansing. They had employed a gentleman of Kala- mazoo County, a good judge of laud, to examine the un- sold lands in the State and make investments for them,

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

they paying him for his services and giving him a certain share in the investments. Previous to the agitation in reference to the removal of the Capitol he had located lands for the Townsends to the south of section 16, in Lan- sing township, and to the north of the same for the Sey- mours. In 1846 he wrote these parties that he believed the capital would be removed to the vicinity of their lands, and said he would not sell his interest in them for $20,000. They immediately came to Detroit, where the Legislature was then holding its sessions, and exerted all the influence which they could safely bring to bear upon the subject. Mr. Turner always believed that but for their influence the capital would have been located at some other point .*

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VARIOUS STATE CAPITOL BUILDINGS.

The first building erected for legislative purposes in Michigan was huilt in 1823 by the United States govern- ment at Detroit, for the District Court of the United States and the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan.

Its dimensions on the ground were ninety by sixty feet, and it was surmounted by a tower, or belfry, 140 feet in height from the ground. The building was constructed of brick, and had a fine portico in the Ionic order on its front with six lofty columns.

The corner-stone of this building was laid with Masonic ceremonies on the 22d of September, 1823. After the re- moval of the capital to Lansing, the old Capitol was con- verted into a school-building and has been used for school purposes since. It is now occupied by the high school of the city.

In 1870 the Board of Education, in making some altera- tions, had occasion to remove the corner-stone, and the box which had been deposited therein was presented to the State during the session of the Legislature of 1861. The most of its contents were deposited in the corner-stone of the new Capitol, Oct. 2, 1873.

The Legislature of 1847, by an act approved on the 16th of March, ordered the erection of a temporary building for the use of the Legislature at Lansing.

A frame building was accordingly constructed and made ready for use iu the fall of the same ycar on block No. 115. It was two stories io height and about sixty by one hundred fect in dimensions, and was surmounted by a plain belfry or cupola. In 1865 an addition of sixteen feet was made to the south end. The amounts expended in the erection of this edifice, according to the books of the State auditor, were as follows :

Original cost of building, including commissioners' pay and expenses, 18-17-49 $17,868.46 Appropriations of 1865 ond 1867 for colargement and furniture.

8,083.55

Total. $25,952.011

The structure was in use for State purposes from Janu- ary, 1848, to the completion and dedication of the new

Capitol iu January, 1879. From the latter date to October, 1879, it was rented for various purposes,-offices, dwell- ings, ete. In September, 1879, the lots in the block were advertised by the Board of State Auditors for sale. The west half of the block was divided into six large lots, and the east half into regular business lots, fronting twenty-two feet cach on Washington Avenue. No bids being received the board proceeded to fix a price upon each lot, and turned the whole property over to the commissioner of the State Land-Office for him to dispose of.

In October, 1879, lots Nos. 11 and 12, occupying the northwest corner of the block, with the dwelling thereon, were sold to Mr. B. E. Brown for the aggregate sum of $4000; and about the same time lots Nos. 9 and 10, on which the old Capitol was located, were disposed of to Mr. Myron Green for the total sum of $3500,-being $1500 each for the lots and $500 for the building.

In 1853, the Legislature, by an act approved February 14th, provided for the erection of " A fireproof building for the State offices," upon block No. 249, known as Capitol Square, and made an appropriation of $10,000 for its construction. The building was erected at a total cost of $15,562. After being in use for about ten years it was found too small for the purposes for which it had been erected, and in March, 1863, the Legislature made an ap- propriation for its enlargement. An addition was accord- ingly made upon the west side at a cost of $6482, making its total cost $22,044.

TILE NEW CAPITOL.}

The changes of a score of years made it apparent that the State would soon require a building for the uses of the Legislature and the accommodation of the various depart- ments of the State government of more imposing dimen- sions,-something corresponding to its population and im- portance, and in keeping with the dignity of a great commonwealth.

The matter was brought before the Legislature by Gov- ernor Henry P. Baldwin in his annual message to that body on the 4th of January, 1871, calling attention to the necessity of a new Capitol, from which we make a brief extract :

" The present State-house was built nearly twenty-five years ago, when the State was comparatively new, with a population about one- fourth as large as at the present time, and with about one-twelfth of the present laxable valuation.

. . . "The present and growing incapacity of the State buildings, the insecurity from firo of the public records and library,-a calam- ity likely to result in irreparablo loss,-and the requirement ef sev- eral years' time to complete the building sufficiently for occupation, are, in my judgment, adequate reasons why immediate action should be taken to erect a new State-House, with capacity sufficient for the proper accommodation of the Legislature and alt of the State depart- ments, and commensurate with the present and prospectivo wants of the State."

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 18

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co. Number of Pages: 772

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772