East Lansing City Map Poster

About East Lansing

East Lansing was founded in 1848 as the village of "Michigan" within the township of Arcadia. The name was changed to East Lansing in 1854, and it became a city in 1889. Although there had been some scattered settlements along what is now East Lansing since ancient times, modern development began when Judge John Allen and his wife Elizabeth built their log cabin on the corner of Grand River Avenue and Red Cedar Road (now Michigan Avenue) around 1823; they named their settlement "Jug Town". In 1840, Joshua Smith laid out a town plan consisting of four villages surrounding a common, looking something like today's downtown area. There were 104 residents at this time. By 1850, 'Jug Town' had grown to 389 residents.[6] The village became known as simply 'the Village', but informally it was referred to as 'Collegeville'. When Michigan State University (MSU) opened in 1855,[7] most students settled on farms outside town because there were no dormitories or classrooms yet available for them.