Michigan School for the Blind


The Michigan School for the Blind is a former academic campus at 715 W. Willow Street in Lansing, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

History

In the 1850s, Abigail Rogers and Delia Rogers founded the Michigan Female College, constructing a campus in Lansing at this site. State colleges began admitting women in 1869, eliminating the need for a Female College and the institution was closed. The building spent a brief time as an Oddfellows Hall. By 1879, the Michigan School for the Blind and Deaf, then located in Flint, Michigan, needed a second campus for students with different needs. The former Michigan Female College became the Michigan School for the Blind.
Over time, the school required more space. In the 1910s, the school hired architect Edwyn Bowd to design a new high school, a superintendent's house, and a new “Old Main” building, which was constructed in 1915. Older buildings were eventually demolished, leaving these as the oldest structures on the campus.
By the 1970s, attendance at the school was declining. By 1996, the Lansing campus was closed. The campus was sold to the Lansing Housing Commission. Redevelopment was slow and the campus was refurbished piecemeal. The main section of the campus, including the high school and the Abagail, was purchased by a developer, with a plan to renovate them into housing units announced in 2016. The first phase was completed in 2018.

Description

Old Main is a three-story Neoclassical structure built from brick and limestone. It is an E-shaped structure, and has been enlarged several times.

Notable alumni