MSU memories

THURSDAY, AUG. 20 — Take an MSU-themed stroll down memory lane Saturday with a walking tour of old West Circle. The tour, hosted by the Historical Society of Greater Lansing, will be led by Stephen Terry, author of the postcard book “Michigan Agricultural College: 1900-1925.” Terry will guide participants through what he calls MSU’s “sacred space” where most of the universities original buildings stood.

“There are only 12 buildings on the current MSU campus that were erected before 1925,” Terry said.

The tour will include existing buildings as well as the sites of those that were lost to demolition or fire. Sites on the walk include the original Library-Museum building (now called Linton Hall), Agricultural Hall and numerous building and sites on what once was called “Laboratory Row,” including Eustace-Cole Hall, Old Botany, Cook Hall, Chittenden Hall, Marshall Hall and Morrill Hall, which was torn down in 2013.

The construction of Morrill Hall around 1900, Terry said, marked the establishment of the first women’s college on campus, though there was a women’s curriculum as early as 1896 and women first attended the college in 1870.

The “sacred ground” was also the site of many memorable gatherings and student events, including the 1907 visit of President Theodore Roosevelt when he delivered a speech titled “A Man Who Works With His Hands.”

Valerie Marvin, president of The Historical Society of Lansing, hopes that the walking tour will be a great, interactive way to learn about the earliest architecture on campus and about what went on inside and around those early buildings.

Walking Tour of old West Circle on the MSU Campus

10 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 22

FREE

Beaumont Tower

(near MSU Museum, 409 W. Circle Drive, East Lansing)

(517) 282-0671

lansinghistory.org