History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 19

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 19
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 19

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The recommendation of the Governor resulted in the passage of an act which was approved on the 31st of March, 1871, providing " for the crection of a new State Capitol, and a building for the temporary use of the State officers." The act also provided for the appointment by the Governor

* Among those who rendered valuable services in securing the leca tion at Lansing were Chartes P. Bush, George W. Peck, and Joseph II. Kilbourne.

t The cost of the old Capitol, as commonly given, was $22,513.02. The difference is probably the cost of furniture. Neither statement Inclades ordinary repairs.

# This article is mostly compiled from a pamphlet by Allen L. Bours, Esq., superintendent of the Capitol and grounds.

STATE INSTITUTIONS.

of three suitable persons, to be known as the " Board of State Building Commissioners," the Governor to be ex- oficio chairman of the board. The persons appointed as members of this board were Ebenezer O. Grosvenor, of Jonesville ; James Shearer, of Bay City; and Alexander Chapoton, of Detroit. Mr. Allen L. Bours, of Lansing, was appointed secretary.

It was made the duty of this board to superintend the erection of a building for the temporary use of the State of- fices, as the fireproof building erected in 1853 occupied the centre of the ground reserved for the new Capitol and had to be removed. The Legislature appropriated for the erection of the temporary offices the sum of $30,000. A contract for the building was entered into on the 5th day of June, and it was completed and accepted in November following. It was occupied in December. Its total cost, including heating apparatus, was $30,693.94. It was erected on the northeast corner of the old Capitol Block, and so designed as to be adapted for business purposes when the State offices were removed to the new Capitol. The lower story is now occupied by business firms, and the upper rooms for dwellings. It is three stories in height, and about seventy-tive by one hundred feet in dimensions. Material, white brick.

The commissioners advertised for designs for the new Capitol, and in response no less than twenty sets of draw- ings were received on the 28th of December, 1871. A careful and thorough examination, continuing for nearly a month, was made of these competing designs, and the board finally selected the one by Elijah E. Myers, an archi- teet of Springfield, Ill., as the one most appropriate, and approaching nearest to the contemplated cost of the new building, and a contract was entered into with Mr. Myers to act as architect and general superintendent of the work. He thereupon removed his residence to Detroit and entered upon the duties of his position. On the 15th of July, 1872, the board entered into a contract with Messrs. Nehe- miah Osburn & Co., of Rochester, N. Y., and Detroit, Mich., for the construction of the building, the contraet price agreed upon being $1,144,057.20. The Legislature at an extra session in March, 1872, appropriated the sum of $1,200,000, to which the total cost, including all incidental expenses, was limited.

Materials .- The concrete upon which all the walls are laid is composed of limestone* from Bellevue, Eaton Co., Mich., broken with a " Blake Crusher" to egg size, and mixed in proper proportion with Louisville cement, coarse sand, and water. The footing-stones are of Lemont, Ill., limestone. The superstructure is of Amherst, Ohio, sand- stone ; the first base-course, outside steps, and landings, and steps to boiler-rooms, of Joliet, Ill., limestone ;; the corner- stone of Massachusetts granite ;} and the floors of vaults and flagging on the grounds, of Euelid, Ohio, freestone. The bricks for interior walls, floor-arches, etc., of which fifteen millions were used in the building, were manufac- tured in Lansing. The corridors of first, second, and third stories are tiled with Vermont marble. All the beams,

girders, interior columns, roof-trusses, and stairways are of iron ; the covering of dome, soffits under landings of grand stairways, and ceilings of legislative halls are of galvan- ized iron ; the roof is covered with very superior tin, manu- factured expressly for it in Wales. The windows of the three principal stories and basement are glazed with the best quality of English plate-glass ; the panels in the ceil- ings of the House and Senate chambers are of the same quality of glass, embossed; the skylights over the legis- lative balls are of American hammered glass, three-fourths of an inch thick.§

Ground was broken for the building in the summer of 1872; the corner-stone was laid with imposing Masonic ceremonies by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan, Oct. 2, 1872, and the work steadily progressed to completion, on the 26th of September, 1878, when the building was accepted by the commissioners and a final set- tlement made with the contractors.

In 1875, in addition to the appropriation made in 1872, the Legislature appropriated for steam-heating and ventila- tion, $70,000; for changes in the construction of the roof, the steps to porticos, and interior finish, $30,000; for con- structing the main cornice and balustrade of stone, instead of galvanized iron, as at first intended, $65,000.

In 1877 further appropriations were made as follows :

For electrician work and other improvements, $25,000 ; for improvement of grounds and furnishing the legislative halls, library, etc., $40,000 ; and for completing the furnish- ing of the building the additional sum of $75,000; making the total appropriations to May 21, 1877, $1,505,000.

Description of the Building.||-The new Capitol is located in the centre of block No. 249, or Capitol Square, the main front facing the east and Michigan Avenue. The block has a frontage on Capitol Avenue of 660 feet from north to south, and a depth of 742} feet from east to west, giving a superficial area of 490,050 square feet, or exactly eleven and a quarter acres.

Dimensions .- The building, exclusive of portieos, is 345 feet 2 inches in length, and 191 feet 5 inches in depth, at eentre. Including porticos and steps, the length is 420 feet 2 inches, and the greatest depth 273 feet 11 inches. The extreme height is 267 feet.

The ground plan is cruciform, and the structure is sur- mounted by a lofty and finely-proportioned dome.

Height of Stories .- Basement, 11 feet ; first, second, and third stories, each, 20 feet ; fourth story, 16 feet. The east corridor of first floor is 29 feet wide, the west 19 feet, and the north and south ones, each, 18 feet. The clear diam- eter of the rotunda is 44} feet, and the height from floor to diaphragm 150 feet.

The State library is 100 feet long, 45 feet wide in the centre, and three stories in height, containing five galleries or tiers of cases. Height from main floor to ceiling 59 feet, with shelf capacity for over 63,000 volumes, which can be easily increased to 100,000 by supplying cases upon the upper floor. The present number of volumes in the library is something over 40,000.

The legislative halls are each 70 feet in width from east

# Carboniferous limestone of Michigan.

¡ Sometimes called Illinois or Athens marble.

į From Cape Ann, on Massachusetts Bay.

¿ From Mr. Bours' pamphlet.

Il See frontispiece.

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

to west ; the Representative hall being 75 feet and the Senate ebamber 57 feet from north to south. The ceiling of each is 41} feet in height.

The building contains, besides corridors, passages, closets, and wash- and cloak-rooms, 139 rooms, as follows : Base- ment, 38; first and second stories, each, 33; third story, 28; and fourth story, 7, besides 2 boiler-rooms and the necessary room for storage of fuel, situated under the north and south porticos, entirely outside of the building.

There are two grand stairways, situated on either side of the rotunda, and extending from the basement to the fourth story. There are also half-flights leading from the land- ings of these to the second, third, and fourth floors. There are also two stairways leading from the basement to the third floor, in the rear of the legislative halls, a stairway from the fourth floor to the highest gallery in the dome, and from that point to the lantern. There are also two circular stairways from the lower to the upper floor of the library, with landings at each gallery, and two private stair- ways connecting offices on the first floor with rooms in the basement.

The distance from Capitol Avenue to foot of steps at east portico is 225 feet 32 inches ; from west steps to Wal- nut Street, 243 feet 3} inches; and from the north and south steps to street, 119 feet 10 inches.

The Capitol, with the porticos, covers one and one-sixth acres. The girth of the building is 1520 feet.

The building is lighted by gas supplied by the Lansing Gaslight Company. There are 271 chandeliers and pend- ants, besides a large number of standards and brackets, with a total of 1702 burners within the building, besides 36 burners in the lamps to light the porticos and entrances to the grounds. 371 of the burners are lighted by elec- tricity, distributed as follows : In ceiling of Representative hall, 150; in ceiling of Senate chamber, 100; in State library, 75 ; and in the dome and lantern, 46.

The style of architecture is classed as Palladian,* and the building, while without the elaborate ornamentation of the more florid styles, is very symmetrical and of beautiful proportions, which are shown to great advantage by the pleasing color of the material employed in the superstruc- ture. While lacking possibly the grandeur of the pure Grecian, with its massive columns and entablatures, the effect, on the whole, is exceedingly pleasing to the eye, conveying the idea of grace, beauty, and solidity, and afford- ing a gratifying contrast to many of the other State capitols of the Union.

The main pediment in the centre of the eastern front is ornamented with a beautiful allegorical representation of the rise and progress of the State, carved in bas-relief from the sandstone material of the structure.f The grounds have been finely laid out and improved, and the approaches to the Capitol in all directions give it a grand and imposing appearance.

Dedication .- The dedication of the new Capitol took place with imposing ceremonies on the 1st of January, 1879, in the HIall of Representatives, in the presence of all the surviving Governors of the State, with one excep- tion (Governor McClelland), and a large assemblage of the wisdom, beauty, and fashion of Michigan.

The exercises commenced at 9.30 A.M. with music by the Knight Templar Band of Lansing, followed by prayer by Rev. George D. Gillespie. The assemblage was called to order by His Excellencey Governor Charles M. Croswell, after which the constitutional oath of office was administered to the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor elect, by Hon. James V. Campbell, chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Addresses were delivered by Ex-Governors Alpheus Felch, William L. Greenly, Austin Blair, Henry P. Bald- win, and John J. Bagley. The report of the building commissioners was then read by Hon. E. O. Grosvenor, vice-president of the board, following which came the formal acceptance of the new Capitol on behalf of the State by Governor Crosswell in a brief and comprehensive speech, in which he thanked the building committee for the efficient and honorable manner in which they had per- formed their duties, and congratulated the State upon the completion of the new edifice. The exercises were closed by the benediction, pronounced by Rev. Theodore P. Prudden.

OPENING ODE,

BY DEV. GEORGE DUFFIELD.

[Sung at the opening of the House of Representatives at its first session in the new Capitol, Jan. 1. 1879.]

To Thee we wake our grateful songs,

O Thou to whom all praise helongs;

O God, our fathers' God, to Thee,

Like her who sang heside the sea,}

We sing this day ; with heart and voice,

We praise and triumph and rejoice.

Within these walls, long to remain,

We welcome now a shining train :

Ilere Justice comes, the first and hest,

And walks a queen before the rest ;

Ilere Liberty, and Law, and Peace,

From anarchy hoast full release.

Beneath this dome let Truth preside,

Let Wisdom teach, let Conscienee guide,

Let love of country all inspire

To keep unquenched the sacred fire;

Till exiles far remote shall come,

Where Freedom guards her lasting home.

High noon we meet! The opening year

We welcome as an ouen elcar

Of brighter, hetter days in store ; When violence is heard no more,

When the dear Flag, without a stain,

O'er every State supreme shall reign.

Board of State Building Commissioners.

Presidents : Governor Henry P. Baldwin, from organiza- tion of board to Dec. 31, 1872; Governor John J. Bag- ley, from Jan. 1, 1873, to Dec. 31, 1876; Governor Charles M. Croswell, from Jan. 1, 1877, to completion of work.

Commissioners : Hon. E. O. Grosvenor, vice-president, Jonesville ; IIon. James Shearer, Bay City ; Ilon. Alex- ander Chapoton, Detroit ; Allen L. Bours, Secretary.

* Named from Andrea Palladio, a famous Italian architect, born in 1518, who introduced a new composite order of architecture into use, and erceted many notable buildings in Vicenza and other cities.

t Our spare will not permit of a more particular description of this fine building. For an elaborate description the reader is referred to the pamphlets compiled by Allen L. Bours, Esq.

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STATE AGRICULTURAL FARM, LANSING, MICH.

No: 8

LANSING, MICHIGAN

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STATE INSTITUTIONS.

E. E. Myers, Architeet and Superintendent ; O. Marble, Assistant Superintendent ; Adam Oliver, Superintendent of Grounds.

Board for Furnishing the New Capitol .- Hon. Charles M. Croswell, Chairman, Governor ; Hon. E. G. D. Holden, Secretary of State; IIon. William B. MeCreery, State Treasurer ; Hon. Benjamin F. Partridge, Commissioner of State Land-Office; Simon Strahan, Designer and Superin- tendent of Furniture ; Allen L. Bours, Secretary.

MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.

GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS.

The college is located on the banks of the Red Cedar River, about three miles east from Lansing by Michigan Avenue. The buildings, mostly of brick, stand upon a slight eminenee among the forest-trees, which have been purposely retained.

There are walks, drives, rustie, bridges, lawns, flower bor- ders, and groves in pleasing variety.

The accompanying plan presents in outline the grounds, with the buildings and the cultivated fields of the farm, with references by letters and figures to the following de- scription :

A,-College Hall, 50 by 100 feet, of three stories and basement. It is occupied by the garden-shop, office, and tools in the basement ; the chapel and library on the first floor ; elass-rooms and offices of the president and secretary on the second floor ; and museums, zoological laboratory, class-rooms for zoology and botany on the third floor.

B,-Williams Hall, in largest dimensions 116 by 116 feet, of three stories and basement, with a Mansard roof and a tower. It contains a dining-hall, kitchen, laundry, ete., in the basement; the steward's rooms and publie parlor on the first floor; rooms for about 80 students on the second and third floors, and society-rooms in the Man- sard. It is heated by steanı.

C,-Wells Hall, 50 by 150 feet, has two society-rooms, with a drill-room and armory, in the basement; the three stories above accommodate 130 students. It also is heated by steam.

D,-Chemical laboratory, 50 by 150 feet, of one story and basement. The basement contains the furnace-room, store-room, dressing-room, and rooms for higher chemistry, and on the first floor are the lecture-room, analytical-room, private laboratory and study of the professor, and the ap- paratus-room.

E,-Greenhouse, with aggregate room for plants, 25 by 183 feet, with gardener's rooms and potting-room attached, 26 by 42 feet. A few rods west is the wild garden.

F, G, H, K, L, M, and N,-Dwellings in succession of president, professor of mathematics, professor of entomol- ogy, secretary, professor of chemistry, professor of litera- ture, and professor of botany and horticulture. A house for the professor of agriculture is now building.

O and P,-Dwelling of the herdsman and the farm- house.

Q,-Cattle-barn, in largest dimensions 65 by 134 feet, with basement stables, granary, and room for feed-mills.

R,-Horse-barn, 36 by 100 feet, containing farm-office and tool-room, besides the stables.

S,-Sheep-barn, 33 by 90 feet.

T,-Tool-shed.

U,-Botanical Library, 71 by 52 feet, of two stories. On the first floor are the lecture-room and study, and on the second the drying-room and museum.

V,-Carpenter-shop, 28 by 40 feet, of two stories and basement, and built of brick.

W,-Piggery, 34 by 80 feet, having sheds and yards attached.

X .- Garden-barn and tool-shed, 25 by 35 feet, and 24 by 50 feet.

Y,-Principal entrance, with self-opening gate.

Z,-Wind-mill and tank for supplying water to the yards and barns.

The apiary is just south of the dwelling marked N, and the sample grounds for trees and shrubs are north of L.

The figures distinguish the fields into which the farm is divided. These, ranging in size from 12 to 27 acres, are in erops this year as follows : Nos. 1 and 2, vegetable garden ; No. 3, meadow; No. 4, forage and pasture ; No. 5, roots ; No. 6, wheat ; No. 7, wood-pasture; No. 8, oats; No. 9, corn ; No. 10, meadow ; No. 11, wheat ; Nos. 12, 13, and 15, rough pasture ; No. 14, barley. The remainder of the farm is woodland.

HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE."

Directly east of the main entrance to the State Capitol is a wide avenue, which terminates three and a half miles distant, at the gate of the grounds of the Michigan State Agricultural College. These grounds are 676 aeres in ex- tent, and are separated into two parts by the Red Cedar River, a small stream whose source is thirty miles away. The college farm is mostly on the south side of this river, and the buildings are all in one large park of about 100 aeres on the north side. The college park has been skill- fully laid out by Mr. Adam Oliver, a landscape-gardener of Kalamazoo, Mich. There are in it no straight rows of buildings or of trees, but its more than thirty buildings, if barns are included in the number, are separated by undu- lating lawns, shallow ravines, and groups of trees. In one place only the method of grouping trees is departed from, for along the highway, a mile in extent, a double row of elms, one without the fence and one within, forms a double walk along the road.

There are three entrances to the grounds, but the western one, being nearest to the city, is most used.

The drive from this entrance ascends a hill, and, leaving a pear- and a cherry-orchard on the left, keeps near the steep river-bank on the right. At the top of the hill the drive divides, the left-hand road passing by the president's house, a small building for the telescope, and seven dwellings for some of the officers of the college, while the right-hand drive follows the winding river-bank, passes the apiary and the new botanical laboratory, and erosses a ravine by a rustie bridge copied after one in the New York Central Park. From this place walks and drives diverge to the college-hall, the boarding-hall, the greenhouse, the chemical laboratory, and other buildings. Beyond this group of

# By T. C. Abbott, LL.D., president of the College.

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

buildings are the farm-house, the farm-buildings, and the carpenter-shop. Still farther on are the vegetable garden, the small-fruits and the apple-orchard, and the bridge that leads to the main part of the farm.

On the college grounds the faculty and other officers and students live somewhat like a large family, or at least community, by themselves. According to the last catalogue (1879), there were 13 officers and 232 students.

The discipline of the college is in part committed to the students themselves, who make and enforce rules and have a council for the trial of offenders. The students have formed several societies amongst themselves for mutual im- provement. The College Christian Union has a valuable library, and sustains a series of lectures, weekly meetings, and a Sunday-school of at present five classes. The Natural History Society has a library and collections in Natural History. Its members are divided into seetions, and the monthly meetings are always highly interesting. One large society is called the House of Representatives, and is in- tended to discipline its members in parliamentary practice and extempore debate.

Saturday is mostly a holiday, and its evening is the usual time for the meeting of several college societies. The College Cadets is a voluntary military company equipped with rifles by the State. The company drills once, usually twice, a week, and sometimes on parade it is joined by the College Cornet Band, a permanent organiza- tion of very fitful vigor. The military company in war- times was onee reviewed and addressed by Governor Blair. Every other week a public lecture is given in the chapel by some officer or invited person, and the widest range is taken in the choice of subjects. Services are held in the chapel every Sunday, and socials and reunions are not un- common.

Every forenoon is devoted to class-room work. At eight o'clock the students seatter to the chemical or the botanical laboratory or to the various class-rooms, or sometimes to the apiary, the gardens, or the cattle-yard for instruction.

The course of study is four years in length, and the graduates receive the degree of Bachelor of Science. While the college is distinctively an agricultural one, it is not forgotten that the students are to be men and citizens as well as farmers. A course of instruction in the use of language runs through the whole course, and history, phil- osophy, political economy, and constitutional law find their proper place in the instruction given.

Mathematics is pursued as a study through trigonometry ; and every student has a practice in surveying and leveling, and in mathematical drawing, and has instruction in me- chanics, opties, acoustics, civil engineering, and astron- omy and architecture. The college has an excellent tele- scope, manufactured by Alvan Clark, and other apparatus from the best makers, and is a subscriber for some of the best mathematical, engineering, and architectural journals.

In zoology and kindred subjects the course covers human and comparative anatomy and physiology, and, while the human body is made the special object of study, particular reference is constantly made to the structure of domestic animals. Zoology follows, and entomology, as a distinct department of' it, takes a full term's work.

The college has exeellent collections, to which the State Geological Survey and the Smithsonian Institution are valu- able contributors. In has an apiary, where students are made familiar with the management of bees. Disseetions by students of smaller quadrupeds and of insects, with de- lineations of the parts on paper, are going on in each study for several hours each day.

More intimately related to agriculture is the course in chemistry. Instruction in this branch is continued daily for two years. Elementary chemistry is succeeded by ana- lytical chemistry, in which the student has abundant practice in blow-pipe, volumetrie, and qualitative analysis. During one term of his course of study each student spends three hours a day in the chemical laboratory. Agricultural chemistry and chemical physies follow, each occupying a term.

The chemical laboratory is very perfect in its arrangement for lectures and work ; the balances, spectroscopes, electri- cal machines, and other apparatus are by the world's best makers, and the meteorologieal instruments have been care- fully compared with those of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. The laboratory, in charge of a professor and one assistant, has been a constant workshop for the benefit of farmers, to whom it has been of great value.

A new botanical laboratory has just been erected, with a class-room for 150 students, where lectures are given and where plants are examined under the compound mieroscope. There is a large museum, including the Cooley Herbarium and the Centennial collection of woods, for which a diploma was awarded to the college. Besides the farm and garden plants, the orehard and park, there is a large arboretum be- longing to the botanical department, where the growth of all forest and ornamental trees can be studied. There are labeled trees and shrubs in every part of the park, a wild garden where, among rocks or in an artificial marsh and small clean ponds, the plants which like such places grow. A greenhouse in several departments and propagating pits add to the means of studying botany, horticulture, pomol- ogy, forestry, and landscape-gardening.

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 19

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