The New International Encyclopædia/Lansing

LAN′SING. The capital of the State of Michigan, in Ingham County, at the confluence of the Grand and Cedar rivers, 90 miles northwest of Detroit and 64 miles east by south of Grand Rapids; on the Chicago and Grand Trunk, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, the Michigan Central, and the Père Marquette railroads (Map: Michigan, J 6). The rivers are here spanned by several bridges. Lansing occupies an elevated site on a plateau rising from the water-level, and is laid out with broad and well-shaded streets. The State Capitol, built in 1872-79, at a cost of over $1,500,000, stands on an eminence in a park of twelve acres near the centre of the city. The State Library contains about 105,000 volumes. Other important buildings are the city hall, which cost $125,000 and was completed in 1897; the city hospital, high school, public library, United States Government building ($125,000), the State School for the Blind, State Industrial School for Boys, and, in the suburbs, the State Agricultural College, with a farm of about 675 acres. The city has abundant water-power from the two rivers, the Grand River having a fall of 18 feet. There are manufactures of agricultural implements, flour, stoves, machinery, gasoline engines, carriages, wagons, automobiles, trucks, wheelbarrows, artificial stone, condensed milk, beet-sugar, and knit goods. The government, under a charter of 1897, is vested in a mayor, elected for two years, a unicameral council, and administrative officials, the majority of whom are appointed by the executive, subject to the consent of the council. The clerk, treasurer, and assessors are chosen by popular election. The city owns and operates the water-works and electric-light plant. Settled in 1837, Lansing was laid out for the State capital in 1847, when a single family occupied the site. It was chartered as a city in 1859. Population, in 1890, 13,102; in 1900, 16,485.