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

LANSING TOWNStIIP AND CITY, AVITTI HISTORY

529

Cafeteria, Lansing State Savings Bank. The elder Robson
was a genuine pioneer in Lansing's business history. The building, which saw his first efforts as a business man, is still standing
in the north side business district at Center street and Franklin
Avenue, and is occupied by a tobacconist.
The elder Robson came to Lansing in 1851, at the age of 18
years, and began business in this north side location with James
I. Meade, a man somewhat Mr. Robson's senior in point of age.
The firm sold everything for the pioneer and this included everything from molasses and clay pipes to ox yokes and spinning
wheel accessories.
The favorite mode of travel in 1851 was by team, for the patient
ox with his snail like gait was the only motive power that could
negotiate the deep mud of the early roads around Lansing. So ox
yokes were in somewhat of demand and Mr. Robson and partner
kept them constantly in stock. The elder Robson saw the
modes of transportation evolute with the generation.
From the ox to the horse and from the horse to the automobile.
It was a long step. The son, D. J. Robson, is now engaged in a
line of business that the father couldn't have imagined even in
the days of dreaming youth. The father from retailer became
wholesaler and was almost continuously in business in Lansing
from 1851 to the day of his death. And he left a most interesting
business history whose leaves are unblemished and whose life as a
citizen and booster for Lansing reflects the clean, honorable record of the real man.-State Journal.
PIONEER TELLS OF FIRST-HAND HOLDINGS AND
HEART FLUTTERS OF EARLY LANSING.
Walk Through Woods From Benton House to Capitol in '49 Has
Romance.
Sarah Thomas was 17 and in love.
Maybe she did not quite admit it to herself, but let us imagine
her skipping out the back door of her father's house, which used
to stand down where East Main and River streets now interesect,