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, XWITLI HISTORY

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sturdy and sound and an expression in wood and beam of what
our forefathers wrought so substantially in the days of pride of
workmanship and conscience of craft.
Dr. Frank N. Turner, who has become Lansing's official historian, and whose childhood days were spent in Lansing's first
settlement, has a most distinct recollection of the early life in and
around the old Meade building.
When Lansing was designated as the Capital of the State in
1847, James and Horatio Seymour, New Yorkers, selected Lansing as a prospect for business. They settled in the northern
part of the city and surveyed and platted out a good share of the
north side. The block on which the business relic now stands
was then and is now known as Block 8.
MEADE OPENS STORE.
The Seymour's sold the site and other property to James I.
Meade, a character even in that day of characters and Mr. Meade
built the present building upon the site of Block 8. Mr. Meade,
described by Dr. Turner as a tall, always well-dressed man,
opened a general store in the building.
Meade was a tailor and made his own clothes and own shoes.
He handled everything for the early settlers from ox yokes to
"Meade's Pills." Dr. Turner says the building has changed in
no way since the time it was erected with the one exception that
it has been lowered. Steps formerly led to the first floor.
Only a few scattered shacks surrounded the building at the time
Dr. Turner played around the Meade store as a barefoot boy.
Where the Auto Body plant now stands and much of the other
business section of the north side was a quagmire in which lived
black snakes and "blue racers." Every boy was cautioned to
keep clear of the quagmire as it was a menace.
Meade, says Dr. Turner, did a flourishing business until 1863
when he believed that the Confederate states, then at war with
the North, would win. In this eventuality, Meade believed that
the Confederacy would compel the northern states to pay such
reparation money that northern business would be completely
confiscated. So Meade sold to his three clerks, John, Charles,
and Robert Robson.