Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

LANSING TOWNSHIP AND CITY, WITH HISTORY

457

bluff at a bend in the river. To make his house prominent, to
show through the screen of foliage on the sides of the bluff, he
built of red brick also to show size, built in Italian villa style of
architecture, i. e., square central building, wing each side lower
than main part, pillared porches extending whole length of the
wings.
Daniel L. Case was the last one to build and he erected the Judge
Wiest house on the west side of the avenue between Madison and
Jefferson streets. He had to build something different so he built
a square house, with high arched windows and a high basement,
as anyone will notice, as there is quite a flight of steps to climb
before you will or can enter the main entrance and reach the first
floor. I don't know what style of architecture Mr. Case used in
designing his house or what instruction he gave his architectJames Jeffers-but I would call it the English or baronial style.
If I am not misinformed, Mr. Case was Canadian born and he
might have copied from some English baronial house in Canada,
but anyway a glance at the high arched windows on the outside
and a peep inside at the wide hall extending across the building,
the open staircase, the high ceiling of the rooms, show blue blood
in style and arrangement. Mr. Case boasted when he built that
his house cost more than any of the others, and that was no idle
talk, for my father was a builder and a good judge of work and
material and he worked under James Jeffers on this house.
Of these houses and grounds I have briefly described the Cowles
property is the only one left intact. All the others have passed
into strange hands; the grounds surrounding them has been sold
and built upon and the houses changed or remodelled.
Mr. Cowles, when clearing the land to build, left some of the
trees we see grown to maturity. He also planted an evergreen
hedge around the square and spent time and money in planting
flowering shrubs, fruit trees and evergreens over the whole square.
He was a tree lover, and some of the beautiful shade trees that
line our streets today are his work and due to his efforts in interesting his neighbors to plant and care for the same.
In a conversation with one of his daughters a short time ago, I
could see that she inherited the same love for trees, especially
those that her father planted, trimmed and cared for, that she