Downtown in Lansing in Ingham County, Michigan — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

The Lighthouse

Photographed by Craig Doda, August 18, 2024

1. The Lighthouse Marker

Inscription.
In 1890, the Lansing Women's Club completed construction of its club home, a two-story red brick building located at 118 West Ottawa Street in downtown Lansing, In the same year, the Michigan Millers Insurance Company constructed next door at 120 West Ottawa a two-story brick building designed by Darius Moon. In 1911, the Club added the third floor and elevator at 118 West Ottawa.

Between 1980-1999, while Bill Ralls practiced law here, Rosemary and Bill Ralls renovated and restored these buildings to their current historic condition. Thus, they preserved them for the people of Lansing and placed them on the Federal Register of Historic Buildings in the United States. Today the buildings, which are owned by Gary Granger and Jeff McAlvey, are the home of the Lighthouse.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Fraternal or Sororal Organizations • Women. In addition, it is included in the Lighthouses series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1890.

Location. 42° 44.084′ N, 84° 33.205′ W. Marker is in Lansing, Michigan, in Ingham County. It is in Downtown. It is on West Ottawa Street east of North Capitol Street, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 120 W Ottawa St, Lansing MI 48933, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Mid-Michigan.

It is also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers.

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At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Mill Stones From Michigan Mills (within shouting distance of this marker); The Mutual Building Rehabilitation (within shouting distance of this marker); Central United Methodist Church (within shouting distance of this marker); First Regiment Michigan Engineers (within shouting distance of this marker); Honor Roll (within shouting distance of this marker); Honor Roll 1914-1918 (within shouting distance of this marker); Michigan (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Joe Louis Barrow (about 300 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Lansing.

Regarding The Lighthouse.
National Register Statements of Significance Excerpts:

The Lansing Woman's Club Building is notable as the home for sixty years of the Lansing Woman's Club, one of the earliest organizations for the cultural advancemen of women in all of Michigan outside of Detroit. The 1889-90 building, signi- ficant as one of the oldest structures in Michigan built to house a women's club, is also important in architectural terms to Lansing as a rare surviving Late Victorian block in the city's downtown business district and as the only known remaining work of its architect, James Appleyard.

The Michigan Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Company was founded in 1881 to provide fire-insurance

The Lighthouse image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Doda, August 18, 2024

2. The Lighthouse

protection for mills. The company constructed this building in 1890 to house their offices and occupied it until 1928 when the firm built the larger Mutual Building nearby. Designed by prominent Late Victorian Lansing architect Darius Moon, 120-22 West Ottawa Street is a two-story, narrow-fronted, Late Victorian commercial block with a stone·-trimmed, red-brick facade which combines Italianate, panel-brick, and Richardsonian Romanesque features. One of the most eclectic of Lansing's Late Victorian commercial buildings, 120-22 West Ottawa is now one of the few little altered nineteenth-century blocks surviving in the downtown.

Also see . . .
1. Lansing Woman's Club Building National Register Nomination Form. (Submitted on September 3, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.)
2. Michigan Millers Mutual Fire Insurance Company Building National Register Nomination Form. (Submitted on September 3, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.)

National Register of Historic Places plaque for the building image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Doda, August 18, 2024

3. National Register of Historic Places plaque for the building

Credits. This page was last revised on September 3, 2024. It was originally submitted on August 30, 2024, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio. This page has been viewed 444 times since then and 65 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 30, 2024, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.