KEVIN S - Key Persons
Professor W. S. Holdsworth (not Beal as some sources claim) in the Botanic Garden, circa late-1870s. Building in the background is the first Wells Hall, built 1877. Photo Credit: M.S.U. Archives, reprinted in Kestenbaum, p. 57.
William James Beal (1833-1924) was Professor of Botany at M.A.C. from 1870 to 1910. He also served as Professor of Horticulture 1872-1882 and Professor of Forestry 1882-1902, two fields that grew from being sub-disciplines of botany until they warranted their own departments and professors. Even a short list of Beal's accomplishments is lengthy and distinguished, including being credited with proving the vitality of hybrid corn.[MAC Catalog (1916), p. 10. Minutes, 27 Nov 1882, p. 421. 43rd AR (1904), p. 6]
In 1873, Beal established test plots of 140 different species of forage grasses and clovers in the area now known as "Sleepy Hollow," just north of West Circle Drive between Beaumont Tower and the Music Building. This is the year that today is considered to be the garden's founding date.
Beal himself set the official date at 1877, the year he first referred to the collection as "the Botanic Garden" and "made a very modest beginning" by extending his plantings southward toward the Red Cedar River. The site he chose was bisected, at the time, by a small creek that flowed from a tamarack swamp about where the Grand River Parking Ramp now stands northeast of Morrill Plaza, crossed the "sacred space" north of College Hall, and drained into the Red Cedar. Because the site was so low and marshy, Beal correctly surmised that it offered natural insurance against buildings ever replacing his beloved gardens. (His concern was, perhaps, warranted-a site dedicated to the Botany department in 1888 became College Delta just nine years later.)[Beal, p. 252. Lautner, p. 59]
Benjamin Alden Faunce, like his real estate partner and neighbor two doors to the north Jacob Schepers, held several city offices, including mayor of East Lansing from 1929 to 1931. Faunce served in the College administration as clerk to presidents Snyder and Kedzie 1899-1922, was managing editor of the M.A.C. Record 1904-07 and 1910-13, and also served as a local draft board registrar during World War I. Benjamin Faunce, his wife Blanche (Weldon) Faunce and their two daughters only lived in this house for about four years, circa 1923-1927.
C. E. Marshall joined the staff of the Experiment Station as bacteriologist and hygienist in 1896, a position he held until 1902. During this period, he somehow managed to find the time to secure a Ph.D. from the University at Ann Arbor as well as to study abroad at the Pasteur Institute.[Beal, p. 445. Kuhn, p. 231]
Prodded by the combined urging of the state board of health, the state livestock commission, and the state Board of Agriculture, in 1900 M.A.C. formed the Department of Bacteriology and Farm Hygiene, one of the earliest in America. Dr. Marshall was appointed Professor and head of the department, a position he held until 1912. At first, the new department was housed on the second floor of the Veterinary Laboratory.[Beal, p. 105]
Charles E. Marshall left M.A.C. in 1912 for an appointment as graduate dean at Massachusetts Agricultural College (today, UMass Amherst). He was succeeded by Dr. Ward Giltner, who led the department for the next thirty-five years. The department remained in "Old Bact'y" until 1952, when it moved to the hall bearing Dr. Giltner's name.[Beal, p. 445. Kuhn, p. 233]
Chester D. Woodbury was a Lansing businessman and one of the developers of the Oakwood subdivision. When Woodbury and his wife May lived in this residence, it was located at 292 Grand River Avenue (later renumbered to 110 West Grand River), on a double lot between Abbot Road and Evergreen Avenue. It was designed by noted Lansing architect Darius B. Moon, one of three homes designed by Moon for the Woodburys.[MacLean, pp. 243-245]
Job Titles:
- President of M.a.C. ( 1862 - 1884 )
- Professor of English
Abbot Hall was designed in a "modified colonial style" by William Appleyard of Lansing, who had previously created several campus buildings including the Library-Museum. The builders were Cleveland & Yard of Flint. The two-story, red brick hall was located just east of the Armory and Faculty Row № 7, on the edge of the "sacred space."
With the advent of the Divison of Home Economics in September 1896, Abbot Hall was given over exclusively to female students, housing forty in dormitory rooms and including a sewing room and cooking laboratory in a new second-floor addition to the rear wing. The male former residents were left to find lodging in Williams, Wells, or beyond the school grounds. This residential shift was the first impetus toward the development of off-campus housing for students, a trend (encouraged by the College) that turned predominant by the early 1920s.[Beal, pp. 271-272. Kuhn, p. 220]
The women left the hall in 1900 upon the completion of Morrill Hall, returning it to men's use for the next twenty years, but the hall was reoccupied by coeds in 1920. Following the construction of Mary Mayo Hall for women in 1931, and the Music Department's move to its new building in 1940, Abbot Hall turned into the Music Practice Building. By that time, the Abbot name had already been reapplied to one half of the Mason-Abbot residence hall complex.[Kuhn, pp. 221, 325]
In the early 1940s, alumni persuasion had preserved the old Abbot Hall for reuse, but by the late 1960s, sentimentalism had given way to pragmatism. The building was torn down and replaced with the plain, functional high-rise of the current Music Practice building.[Kuhn, p. 352. Stanford, p. 50]
Walter Adams was born in Vienna, Austria, emigrating to the United States as a young man. He embraced his adopted country with unwavering patriotism, serving in World War II first with the 83rd Infantry Division and later with the 11th Armored Division, and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic conduct. After the war he completed his Ph.D. at Yale on the G.I. Bill before joining the M.S.C. faculty in 1947. He became a Professor of Economics in 1956, and a Distinguished Professor just four years later.
Following the retirement of John A. Hannah, Adams assumed the Presidency of M.S.U. on April 1, 1969. From the outset he declared he would only hold the post on an interim basis until a suitable replacement could be found, even though he soon proved to have a talent for the job. For nine short months he led the University through some of its most troubled times, handling student strikes and campus unrest with diplomacy and aplomb. In spite of his popularity with students, faculty, and the Board of Trustees-and a petition with 20,000 signatures begging him to remain as President-on January 1, 1970, Adams returned to his calling as Economics Professor.
As an economist, Walter Adams was widely respected, and was frequently asked to be an expert witness at Congressional budget hearings. His senior-level Econ. 444 class was considered one of the most difficult and rewarding at Michigan State. Adams was tough but fair-always receptive to new ideas, while those caught unprepared or nodding off found him "a real bastard." Along with his extensive research he co-authored several books including The Bigness Complex: Industry, Labor, and Government in the American Economy, The Tobacco Wars, and Adam Smith Goes to Moscow. He also wrote an insightful memoir of his stint as President called The Test.[Grebner, p. 3]
Beyond academia, Dr. Adams was the ultimate Spartan fan. His vocal support of the basketball team from a seat behind the visiting team's bench in Jenison Fieldhouse was legendary. He donated funds to the Spartan Marching Band for the purchase of several instruments including mellophones (one of which this author had the honor of playing for a season). For many years he donned a green Tyrolean hat (complete with green-and-white plume) and led the band in its traditional march to the stadium, and he was named an honorary member of the Spartan Marching Band-an extremely exclusive group* who are the only non-members officially sanctioned to wear the "Michigan State Band" jacket.
Dr. Walter Adams and the author at Landon Field (now Walter Adams Field), November 23, 1991. This was my last game day in the Spartan Marching Band. In the background is Cowles House. Photo Credit: Gretchen Forsyth.
Walter Adams retired from M.S.U. in 1992. He succumbed to pancreatic cancer on September 8, 1998. On his last birthday, a few weeks before his passing, he was serenaded at his home by a 200-member contingent of the marching band, who played the fight song and sang the alma mater, "M.S.U. Shadows," for a proud but tearful Adams and his wife, Pauline (Associate Professor Emerita of American Thought and Language). After his death, the former army cadet and marching band drill field west of Cowles House, from which the Spartan Marching Band steps off to begin each home football game's march to the stadium, was renamed in his honor.
Edwyn Alfred Spencer Bowd was born November 11, 1865, at Cheltenham, England. He emigrated with his mother to Detroit in 1882 and started his career with architect Gordon W. Lloyd. After a few years Bowd moved to Saginaw, and around 1887 he arrived at Lansing where he associated with William Appleyard.
That same year of 1887, Appleyard and Bowd participated in a competition for designs of low-priced schoolhouses held by the New York State Department of Public Instruction. There were six size classes in the competition, ranging from a modest one-room schoolhouse to a five-room model with space for 250 students. Appleyard and Bowd submitted plans for three classes, and won first place in all three by unanimous decision.*
Job Titles:
- Professor of Botany
- Retired from M.S.C. As Chair of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology in 1944
E. A. Bessey was the son of Charles Edwin Bessey (1845-1915, M.A.C. '69), another prominent botanist who became Professor of Botany at the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames in 1870, later Dean and Acting Chancellor at the University of Nebraska. Mrs. E. A. Bessey, née Edith Carleton Higgins, was, like her husband, a student of Dr. Bessey the elder.
Ernst Bessey retired from M.S.C. as Chair of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology in 1944.
J. P. Marble's daughter, Mary Angela Sophia Marble, married Warren Burcham in 1872. For more about her, see Robert Burcham and Burcham's Woods.
Job Titles:
- Accountant, Banker, Real Estate Agent
Jacob Schepers (1876-1955) was an accountant, banker, real estate agent, insurance man, and politician, and while his name may not be widely known today he played an integral role in East Lansing's growth for decades.
Schepers was born at Lafayette, Indiana, and attended Hope College and the Ferris Institute. In 1901 he married Henrietta Baker of Muskegon, and the following year they came to Lansing where Jacob took a position as clerk in the state Auditor General's office. In 1905 they moved to the brand-new College Heights subdivision, into a comfortable foursquare atop the hill which-at the time-offered a commanding view overlooking Valley Court Park.
Jacob Schepers was hired by the Michigan Agricultural College as assistant cashier in May 1907, and just two months later was promoted to cashier, a quick start to a thirty-eight-year career with the accounting office including more than a decade as the College Treasurer, and at least two occasions as Acting Secretary to the Board of Agriculture.
He held several city offices including alderman, assessor, zoning commissioner, and supervisor; most significantly he served as East Lansing's fourth mayor 1914-1918. As mayor Schepers "was responsible for many of the improvements which made possible the rapid growth and expansion of East Lansing. Under his administration the valuation of the city grew from $250,000 in 1907, the year of its incorporation, to nearly a million and a half in 1918." (This quote from the Lansing State Journal might be overstating Schepers' impact given that it includes the seven years prior to his election as mayor.) He was active in the state Republican party and ultimately served two terms as a state representative from the 2nd district, 1947-1950.[LSJ, 31 Mar 1922, p. 25]
House built for J. W. Hagadorn, date unknown. Although this photo was used in the 1925 yearbook as illustration for the Kappa Delta sorority (formerly the Letonian society), evidence suggests that it was taken while the house still stood on Grand River Avenue, prior to its move in 1917. Photo Credit: Wolverine (1925), p. 192.
Johnson W. Hagadorn, M.D. (1839-1910) was born near South Lyon, in Oakland County. He attended the State Normal School at Ypsilanti followed by the University at Ann Arbor, where he received his M.D. in 1870. After arriving at Lansing in 1873 he opened a practice and pharmacy with his brother Alexander, who was a physician as well. J. W. Hagadorn practiced medicine for more than 35 years and was regarded as "a leading physician of Lansing." According to his obituary "Dr. Hagadorn also ran a large [seventy-acre] farm east of the city on which he raised many fine horses of which he was always a lover." It was located on the east side of the road that now bears his name, straddling Grand River Avenue; today north of the avenue it is the Brookfield subdivision (Oakland and Maplewood Drives, and Roseland Avenue), and to the south it is the site of several apartment complexes between Hagadorn Road and Northwind Drive, as well as the Lauzun house.
In 1899 Dr. Hagadorn joined Chester D. Woodbury, Judge Edward Cahill, and Arthur C. Bird in the development of Oakwood. Along with Woodbury and Bird, he constructed a large, comfortable house facing Grand River Avenue. Hagadorn's house, completed in 1905, was on the northwest corner at Evergreen Avenue. As with Woodbury's house across the street, it was designed by famed Lansing architect Darius B. Moon.[MacLean, pp. 249-252]
Although Towar claims that he "lived there for several years," this author has found no other indication that Dr. Hagadorn ever lived in this house. Weekly advertisements in the M.A.C. Record and listings in the Lansing City Directory from the time of this house's construction until Hagadorn's death in 1910 all list his home address as 219 Capitol Avenue in Lansing (later renumbered to 225 South Capitol). His offices at 212 South Washington were conveniently located almost in his back yard, just five doors up, across an alley.[Towar, p. 45. MAC Record, 12(1) 18 Sep 1906, p. 4. LCD (1910) p. 318]
Johnson W. Hagadorn, M.D. (1839-1910) was born near South Lyon, in Oakland County. He attended the State Normal School at Ypsilanti followed by the University at Ann Arbor, where he received his M.D. in 1870. After arriving at Lansing in 1873 he opened a practice and pharmacy with his brother Alexander, who was a physician as well. J. W. Hagadorn practiced medicine for more than 35 years and was regarded as "a leading physician of Lansing." According to his obituary "Dr. Hagadorn also ran a large [seventy-acre] farm east of the city on which he raised many fine horses of which he was always a lover." It was located on the east side of the road that now bears his name, straddling Grand River Avenue; today north of the avenue it is the Brookfield subdivision (Oakland and Maplewood Drives, and Roseland Avenue), and to the south it is the site of several apartment complexes between Hagadorn Road and Northwind Drive, as well as the Lauzun house.[LSJ, 23 Aug 1912, p. 5. Chadwick, p 1]
In 1899 Dr. Hagadorn joined Chester D. Woodbury, Judge Edward Cahill, and Arthur C. Bird in the development of Oakwood. Along with Woodbury and Bird, he constructed a large, comfortable house facing Grand River Avenue. Hagadorn's house, completed in 1905, was on the northwest corner at Evergreen Avenue. As with Woodbury's house across the street, it was designed by famed Lansing architect Darius B. Moon.[MacLean, pp. 249-252]
Although Towar claims that he "lived there for several years," this author has found no other indication that Dr. Hagadorn ever lived in this house. Weekly advertisements in the M.A.C. Record and listings in the Lansing City Directory from the time of this house's construction until Hagadorn's death in 1910 all list his home address as 219 Capitol Avenue in Lansing (later renumbered to 225 South Capitol). His offices at 212 South Washington were conveniently located almost in his back yard, just five doors up, across an alley.[Towar, p. 45. MAC Record, 12(1) 18 Sep 1906, p. 4. LCD (1910) p. 318]
In fact, shortly after completion of the house in 1905 the Hesperian Society, having lost its meeting room and most of its members' dormitory rooms in the Wells Hall fire, rented "the new house completed for Dr. Hagadorn," "on the northwest corner of Grand River Avenue and Evergreen Avenue, becoming the first fraternity house in East Lansing."[Towar, p. 45. MacLean, pp. 249-251. ELHC Final Report (2008), pp. 6-7]
Therefore it is this author's contention that the house in Oakwood was built as a model home to attract buyers to the new subdivision, rather than as a residence for Hagadorn himself. His fellow developers who also built on that prime frontage, Bird and Woodbury, may have lived in their houses for a while, but their brief residencies there-eight years at most-suggest that these too were mainly to make the development look lived-in. If so, the ploy worked: by 1915 Oakwood was substantially sold, and more recent additions adjacent to it (College Heights, Bungalow Knolls, and Oakwood's replatted Lots 83 and 84) quickly filled in.[Newman, 1915]
In 1911 Dr. Hagadorn's widow Dora sold the house to Anson Crosby Anderson (M.A.C. '06, Professor of Dairy Husbandry 1910-1920), which precipitated the Hesperians' purchase of the Woodbury house across the street. (For more context on this move and the controversy surrounding it, see The Society Houses.) Anderson and his family lived in the house for about five years, marking the only extended period of time that this house appears to have been occupied by a sole owner.
The East Lansing State Bank was founded in 1916 and began operating from a rented storefront on Abbot Avenue, but it soon created an "East Lansing Development Corporation" for the purpose of building a more permanent home for the bank. Professor Anderson, who was a director of the bank, transferred his property to the ELDC so it could erect the new bank building on the site. To accommodate this construction, in 1917 the house was moved to the rear of the lot, where it became 319 Evergreen. This changed to 215 Evergreen in the City's 1920 renumbering. (The ELDC was dissolved circa 1921; five years later, the bank formed another ELDC to build a new bank block and multi-use commercial building, including theatre, known as "The Abbott.")[LSJ, 7 Mar 1917, p. 1]
In 1920 the former Hagadorn and Anderson house, now facing the curve of Evergreen Avenue (Albert Avenue was not extended until 1953), was leased to the College to become a women's dormitory. This was the start of more than five decades as various forms of student housing:
1920-1923: a dormitory for women students called "Waterbury House."*
1923-1931: Letonian, a local student society for women. In 1924 Letonian was installed as a chapter of the Kappa Delta national sorority.*
1932-1946: A rooming house called "Evergreen Manor" that was variously rented, including as the first listed home of newly formed Farm House fraternity (1935).
1946-1949: The first home of Pi Beta Phi, a newly chartered sorority.
1949-1965: Asher House for Men, a cooperative for Christian Science students.[LCD (1922) p. 861, et al. LSJ, 17 Sep 1965, p. 20]
H. G. Wells (not the famed author) was born in Ohio and studied at Kenyon College. In 1833 he came to Kalamazoo, where he served as county judge and was elected to five terms as village president. He was appointed one of the original members of the Board of Agriculture by Section 36 of the Reorganization Act of 1861. In 1869 he became the first elected president of the board.* In 1874 U.S. President Ulysses Grant appointed Judge Wells as presiding officer of the Court of Alabama Claims. Wells tendered his resignation to the board but by unanimous acclaim he was convinced to withdraw it, and for several years he served in both roles. He remained president of the board until 1883.[Beal, pp. 343-344. 1st AR (1862), pp. 49-50. Minutes, 9 Feb 1869, p. 182]
"The Agricultural College owes much to Judge Wells' ability, and his zeal in behalf of the school, for its present high position and prosperity. He spent one whole season before the state legislature, when efforts were being made to have the College removed to Ann Arbor and made a department of the University. He was confident that such a course would be detrimental to the best success of the College." [Beal, p. 344, biography "probably prepared by T. C. Abbot"]
Job Titles:
- Members of Laboratory Row
Mary Marble Burcham was a venerated figure in East Lansing lore. Her husband Warren died sometime prior to 1904, and after bouncing around several Lansing addresses with her widowed daughter Laura Burcham Emmett and grandson Chauncey Emmett, the family returned to Mary's 53-acre plot at the northeast corner of Abbot Road and North Street (at the time, also known as Pine Lake Road).[LCD (1904), p. 90; (1919), p. 255; etc.]
Nearly all of that plot and much of the surrounding land was a "legendary," densely forested area that came to be known-thanks to "Grandma" Mary Burcham-as Burcham's Woods. A long ridge (an esker in geologic terms) meandered on an east-west line through the woods, and before pioneer days the high ground between swampy areas provided local Chippewa with a convenient portage from Chandler's Marsh to the Red Cedar River. They found it an excellent place for hunting deer, and flint arrowheads were once a frequent find there. It had long been "a refuge for species of wildlife not found elsewhere in the county," and M.A.C. professors such as Bailey, Beal, and Bessey knew it as "a great birding spot" for great horned owls, red-shouldered hawks, scarlet tanagers, indigo buntings, and many other species. Grandma Burcham tended to the woods with diligent stewardship and was very protective of the land where she was known to look unkindly upon trespassers. She picked wild huckleberries to sell by the pint, and at least once "waded through knee-deep snow to feed starving quail and partridge."[LSJ, 18 Dec 1949, p. 7]
Mary Burcham's daughter Laura and grandson Chauncey lived with her at the family homestead, ultimately addressed as 303 Burcham Drive after North Street's name was changed circa 1928. Chauncey Emmett (1909-2001) worked at the Weather Bureau 1928-1942. During World War II he joined the Army Air Corps, qualified as a sharpshooter, and was assigned to the security patrol at Motor Wheel where he continued to work after the war until retirement at age 65. "He was nicknamed ‘Chance' from his many years of participating in motorcycle endurance runs."[LCD (1928) pp. 777, 783. LSJ, 30 Oct 2001, p. 11]
Mrs. Burcham died tragically in 1940 from burns she received in the explosion of a gasoline-fueled kitchen stove-an all-too-common household accident in that era. In 1949 the East Lansing school board acquired Burcham Woods for a new high school building, and it was expected that the entire forest would be destroyed. Birt Darling, Lansing historian and State Journal staffer wrote, "If the Burcham Woods could talk, they could make history more fascinating than any historical novel you ever read."[LSJ, 18 Dec 1949, p. 7; 1 Jan 1956, p. 11]
That tale is now a mere whisper. Only the northernmost fringe of Burcham Woods is still intact today, north of the public library and high school. It includes the esker and its original portage trail and runs parallel to Whitehills Drive between Abbot Road and Old Hickory Lane.
Aerial view of campus and the city, looking north, circa 1927-28. The forested area in the distance at top center is Burcham's Woods, already losing ground to surrounding development. Photo Credit: M.S.U. Archives.
Robert Burcham died in 1870, leaving his entire estate to his wife Emily for her to manage and apportion to their children as she saw fit. An 1874 map shows their eldest son Warren had 65½ acres on the northeast corner of what are now Abbot Road and Burcham Drive. Their second son Robert A. Burcham had an estimated 103 acres further along Abbot Road, north of Saginaw Street. Emily Burcham remained at her home on the plank road along with their third son Purley, who worked the farm. Purley continued to live there into the 1930s.[Beers, p. 51. Towar, p. 32]
Excerpt of Beers (1874), Sections 7 and 18, Meridian Township. The map is outlined by the streets known today as Abbot Road (west), Hagadorn Road (east), and a portion of Lake Lansing Road (north), with Burcham Drive across the center. Highlighted in red, from north to south are the properties of Robert A. Burcham (103 acres, spelled "Burchard"), Warren Burcham (65.52 acres), and Emily Burcham (57.5 acres). "J.P.M.," owning two tracts adjacent to Emily, is her in-law John P. Marble.
The second Wells Hall was designed by E. A. Bowd, who started working almost before the collapsed walls had cooled on first Wells. The Board authorized a $55,000 appropriation and contracted with Chittenden & Skinner of Lansing to build it on the site of its predecessor. Construction began in 1906 and was completed the following year. It too was a student dormitory and consisted of six units, or wards, separated by brick partition walls that were intended as a means of fire prevention-a design that might have saved the building when nearby Engineering caught fire in 1916. Until the 1920s the dormitory lacked hot water, and men "warmed their shaving water by conducting steam through a rubber tube from the radiator." Second Wells lasted until 1966, when it was demolished to make room for the new East Wing of the Main Library.[Minutes, 30 Aug 1905, pp. 298-302. Kuhn, p. 325]
Warren Babcock Jr (1866-1913, M.A.C. '90, Sc.D. '13) began his tenure as Instructor in Mathematics in 1891, rising to Professor in 1909 when the department separated from Civil Engineering (H. K. Vedder would head the latter). From 1908 to 1909 he also served as East Lansing's second mayor, but declined re-election. Having suffered for some time with ill health, Babcock died on June 3, 1913, just days prior to the commencement ceremony that would have conferred upon him Doctor of Science.[Minutes, 7 May 1913, p. 131; 7 Jul 1909, p. 23; 8 Mar 1911, p. 70. Beal, p. 460. 52nd AR, pp. 7, 32]
The house was then owned by Frank and Cara Sanford, who raised their five children here. Frank Hobart Sanford (1880-1938, M.A.C. '04, M.S. '13) studied under Professor Ernest E. Bogue and was one of the first two people to graduate from the newly created Department of Forestry. He started at the College as an Instructor in 1906, and was Associate Professor of Forestry 1909-1921. He is credited with establishing the Sand Hill Plantation on campus, and is the namesake of the Sanford Natural Area.[Lansing City Directory (1916), p. 560. U.S. Census (1930)]
Job Titles:
- Professor of Botany at M.a.C
William James Beal (1833-1924) was Professor of Botany at M.A.C. from 1870 to 1910. He also served as Professor of Horticulture 1872-1882 and Professor of Forestry 1882-1902, two fields that grew from being sub-disciplines of botany until they warranted their own departments and professors. Even a short list of Beal's accomplishments is lengthy and distinguished, including being credited with proving the vitality of hybrid corn.[MAC Catalog (1916), p. 10. Minutes, 27 Nov 1882, p. 421. 43rd AR (1904), p. 6]
In 1873, Beal established test plots of 140 different species of forage grasses and clovers in the area now known as "Sleepy Hollow," just north of West Circle Drive between Beaumont Tower and the Music Building. This is the year that today is considered to be the garden's founding date.
Beal himself set the official date at 1877, the year he first referred to the collection as "the Botanic Garden" and "made a very modest beginning" by extending his plantings southward toward the Red Cedar River. The site he chose was bisected, at the time, by a small creek that flowed from a tamarack swamp about where the Grand River Parking Ramp now stands northeast of Morrill Plaza, crossed the "sacred space" north of College Hall, and drained into the Red Cedar. Because the site was so low and marshy, Beal correctly surmised that it offered natural insurance against buildings ever replacing his beloved gardens. (His concern was, perhaps, warranted-a site dedicated to the Botany department in 1888 became College Delta just nine years later.)[Beal, p. 252. Lautner, p. 59]
The creek still flows through Beal's garden, which today is the oldest continuously operated botanical garden in the United States, but during the period from 1888 to 1914, the ravine was incrementally filled in and the water diverted into an underground culvert. Drain covers mark the path of the culvert as it meanders to an outflow at the Red Cedar River. During the spring thaw, the creek occasionally reveals itself as the snow above it melts more quickly than in the rest of the garden, leaving a green stripe through the middle of the white snow.