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 INGLIAM COUNTY

"hollered." If the landlord was awake he heard them and responded. If asleep, the guest "hollered" until tired.
Dr. Turner's mother often related how the first legislators
cussed the town. Dr. Turner's father married here and settled
on North Washington Avenue in a little clearing past which ran
what was the city's main street. It was a cow patch at the time,
full of stumps and roots and bog holes.
SOLONS Go IN MUD.
Planks were laid down here and there for the accommodation
of Michigan's early statesmen who lived at the Hotel Seymour, a
mile or more from the place where the early legislative sessions
were held. When a legislator who had forgotten his candle
lighted lantern lost his way and fell off the planks into the mud Dr.
Turner's mother heard what they thought of the town.
"In front of our home," says Dr. Turner, "my mother used to
tell that she has heard the mud-engulfed legislators threaten time
and again to change the capital to some other town. But the
mud holes on the 'avenue' made business for the boys at the hotel
who either greased or shined the legislative boots. Legislators
generally arrived at the hotel very dry inwardly, but outwardly
wet and mud bedraggled. They all wore boots in those days."
The first landlord was Jesse F. Turner. He held forth as host
from 1848 to 1849. A man named McGlovey succeeded Landlord
Turner and listened to legislative complaints for four years.
Then in 1853 John Powell bought the property and catered to an
early public until 1861 when Horace Angell, then sheriff of Ingham county, bought Powell's business and the hotel.
Dr. Israel Richardson succeeded Angell and was landlord until
1863. Louis Daman succeeded Dr. Richardson. Finally the
property, which was not a very paying investment at the time
because of new hotels in the growing settlement near the Capitol,
passed into the hands of J. W. Hinchey. The name was changed
to the "Hinchey House." Thirty years ago George Lovely took
charge of the property and conducted it as a hotel for a number
of years. Lovely was the last landlord and during his regime
was the last period the old building was used as a hotel.
Some years ago E. S. Porter, owner of the Porter, bought the
property and entirely remodeled it. He "veneered" the sides