Lansing, Michigan “From the Inside”: Business Interiors, 1875-1950s

Many times in the past years I have gathered old photos of many different places in Michigan towns and cities: grocery stores, schools, hardware stores, doctor's offices, blacksmiths...just about as many as I could scrounge up.

But those photos were usually showing the outsides of the buildings.

This time, just for a change of pace, we'll take a look at the interiors of some of Lansing's establishments, from the years 1875 thru the 1950s. In the gallery below you'll see interiors of the old Bijou Theatre, various spots in the Capitol building, churches, cigar store, drug stores, hotels (including the Kerns), ice cream parlor, cafeteria, piano store, Kositchek's, sugar company, library, barber shop, MSU buildings, dorm rooms, power plants, and the REO engine assembly floor.

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It's interesting to see how antiquated these places seem compared with the 2020s. I particularly like the shot of the auditorium in the old Bijou Theatre. This theater was open from 1910 to 1926 and was once one of Lansing's most popular movie houses.

Another eye-opener are the shots of a typical MSU dorm room from 1916: no phone, no TV, no computer...how the heck did they ever get homework done?

There's also an old barber shop (with five bow-tied barbers standing by!), the cool wood furniture in the Capitol building library, the sight of numerous spittoons on a drug store floor, and of special interest is a view of the cafeteria in the old Kerns Hotel; the Kerns burned down in 1934, killing 34 people. There is a memorial plaque at the former site of the Kerns by the Grand River, downtown.

Now see these images for yourself in the gallery below.

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