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

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PIONEER HISTORY OF INGITAM COUNTY

were Dwight Smith and Charlie Wood. I wonder if they would
enjoy a spelling contest today. A little later there were the famous mental arithmetic drills under that prince of teachers,
Martin V. Rork, in which we tried hard to compete with Russel
Ostrander, the late Judge Ostrander.
The Michigan Female College, which was established in 1856
and conducted by the Misses Abigal and Delia Rogers, was the
educational mecca for young people around Lansing. It was
built in the midst of a square of four blocks at the west end of
Franklin Avenue, where is now the School for the Blind. Sister
Sindenia was in the first class that graduated. Miss Emma
Haze, sister of Dr. H. A. Haze, was also in that class. My brother
Henry was a student there, for although it was primarily a girls
school, a few boys were admitted. I spent two years in the
school, and after teaching a few years, and later studying medicine and graduating at the Woman's Medical College of Chicago
(now under the Northwestern University), I filled the position of
resident physician in the Dr. Mary Thompson Hospital for
Women and Children for a year and returned to Lansing in the
spring of 1879 and entered the ranks of the physicians of the city.
Among my never fading memories is the courteous way I was received by my brother physicians and the kindly help of those
veterans of the profession, Dr. H. B. Shank and Dr. W. J. Hagadorn. They have passed on to their reward for their good deeds,
not only for their kindness to a pioneer woman physician, but also
for their genial helpfulness to humanity.
ONE OF CITY'S FIRST STORE BUILDINGS STILL SHELTERS NORTH END BUSINESS.
Gray with age, pathetically obsolete, the old Meade store building on the northwest corner of East Franklin Avenue and Center
street, stands aloof from its fellows, dreaming of the past, no
doubt, as a grandsire among his descendants.
The old building, now occupied by a retail tobacco business, was
one of Lansing's first store buildings. It has arrived at nearly
the allotted time of man, having been built in 1854, but is still