Sunday, June 3, 1923 - Tour of Lansing

Beautiful, Bright & Hot. Very humid. Arose 9 A.M. Shaved etc. Breakfast. Mother, Father, Nellie, H.H. & I to Central Methodist Church. Very fine service. To M.E. Temple House, gift of Mr. & Mrs. Richard H. Scott. Mr. Scott is president of Reo Motor Car Company. A very fine gift and spirit which prompted it. A most wonderfully equipped building. All most modern conveniences and equipments. For ride to Michigan Agricultural College. Very fine campus, back to 913 W. Lenawee. Wrote in diary. Letters etc. Talked. To Central M.E. Church. Sacred Musical Concert by Reo Motor Car Company Band & Glee Club. Very fine. Downtown for lunch. Back to house. Talked etc. Lansing a very nice city of about 60,000 people. Very favorably impressed. At evening service, Rev. C. Jeffares McCombe recognized us boys and had us stand up before the congregation. We had a very pleasant visit and stay with Nellie. To bed 11:30 P.M. Thankful for God's Protection.

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One of the letters Stanford wrote was to Mary Leah. See that letter at the Page entitled Letters: June 1st & 3rd. As mentioned in the previous post, his description of his tour of Lansing, including his tour of Michigan State University (then Michigan Agricultural College) and the place where Nellie worked (Michigan Children's Aid Society) is much more detailed in the letter. His enthusiasm for the city is quite apparent there.

Below are recent photos of what is now the Central United Methodist Church in Lansing--the outside front entrance and the auditorium of the Temple House which is now the Fellowship Hall. It is indeed a very beautiful building still. The photos were taken from Google Maps.

Front Entrance, CUMC

Temple House (Fellowship Hall)

There is a lengthy section of the Church's history (on their website) that tells of the origins of the Temple House (see below). As you can see, the building had just been dedicated not 30 days earlier. I think it's amazing that Stanford got to see both this place and the Reo factory on the same trip--two places inextricably linked in 1923.

THE TEMPLE HOUSE At the First Quarterly Conference held on November 8, 1921, the pastor, Dr. C. Jeffares McCombe introduced a proposal from Richard H. Scott, church member and an official with the Reo Motor Car Company: For several years Richard and Gertrude Scott had considered the church improperly equipped to do the work that it should do in the community, that the church should be operating to render a seven day weekly service to build up the physical and social life of the people as well as deal with the spirits and morals. Mr. Scott then placed before the conference, plans that he and architect Lee Black Page 3 of 5 had been working on for many months. He proposed building a Community House on the lot just north of the church lots, acquired from Mr. Robert Holmes. The proposal was accepted. 

The basement of the new community house would be used for a large banquet hall, two auxiliary dining rooms and a tea room. There was to be a janitor’s apartment of five rooms. On the main floor were to be an auditorium, offices, Sunday School rooms and a lounge. The second floor was to be devoted largely to the use of the ladies and their church activities. In addition, there was to be a balcony to the auditorium and classrooms. The third floor was to be for the men, including a recreation hall to be used for basketball and other sports. Also on this floor was a room for the exclusive use of the Boy Scouts. Further, there was to be a two lane bowling alley. On a smaller fourth floor there was to be a dormitory to be outfitted for young men who found themselves stranded in the city and in need of lodging. . . .

The cornerstone of the Temple House was laid on Decoration Day, May 30, 1922. The Temple House was dedicated on May 6, 1923, with Dr. Marion LeRoy Burton, President of the University of Michigan giving the dedicatory address. The building was valued at $250,000.