Faculty Row: Michigan State University Historical Review


It began in 1857, two years after MSU's founding in 1855 - a project to house faculty on campus in residential settings. A total of 11 homes were built, but only two survive to this day. 

There is a very comprehensive and highly navigable history of Faculty Row here (click to view).

One of the surviving homes is now "known to all" as Cowles House. It was the only Faculty Row structure built south of West Circle Drive (all the others were north of W C Drive), was originally known as "Faculty Row #7", and was built in 1857.

It has been extensively remodeled and received significant additional add-ons through the years.

The other surviving home is "Faculty Row #9", built in 1884.

But, what became of it?

That was the question posed to me by a couple of my high school classmates, George and Marc.

Here's the photo from the history link (above):

My first clue came from a now-lost source. It said that the house, #9, was moved to Collegeville in 1919. So, I went to East Lansing's city website and found a map showing the boundaries of that neighborhood, below, in grey:

Linda and I drove all over that area, and saw nothing faintly resembling the photo in hand. Dang!

Then that same source (I believe) said the house, first relocated to Collegeville, subsequently stood in the way of a road-widening project in front of Peoples Church, so it was moved a second time, in 1924.

But where?

 George sent me another article from a huge collection gathered by Kevin Forsyth, which confirmed the above narrative, and gave the exact address of the final resting place of Faculty Row #9... 217 Beech Street.

Here's my shot of the house on Dec. 19, 2021:

And a closeup of the distinctive dormer above the front door:




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