Central School

Today I visited a historic site in East Lansing - Central Elementary School on Grand River. The school is an important site to the local history in education, the community, and architecture. It was built in 1917 and is the oldest schoolhouse in East Lansing. It is one of the oldest, public structures in the city, not located on the campus of Michigan State. The early formation of a school district helped to create the City of East Lansing in 1907. The schoolhouse played a role in the development of MSU's teacher preparation program in the early 1920s. The building was designed by Edwyn A. Bowd in a Neo-Classical style. Today, the school is used as a day care facility. Central School made the State Register list in 1984 and the National Register list in 1986. (http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/sites/6306.htm)

The school looked like a typical small schoolhouse of the 20th century. I wasn't aware of the significance of this school house to the city of East Lansing or even to Michigan State. Learning some of the history of this local historic site was a great way to jump into our project on the building of I-496 in Lansing.