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Return to A Stroll Downtown
Stay a Night and
See a Show
Lansing is to be favored with some pretty large conventions with
this, the closing month of the year. . . . Clerk Grove at the Downey says the
application for rooms has never been so large or so early as this year, and the same
condition of affairs exists at the Hudson.
Lansing State Republican, December 11, 1897
Hotel Downey
The Downey, located about three blocks from the Capitol, was generally
recognized as Lansing’s finest hotel. At a time when most Lansing hotels charged
$1.00-1.50 per night, rooms at the Downey cost between $2.00 and $3.50.
The new city hospital,
which opened in 1896, was one of many local and state projects planned in its second-floor
parlors. Politicians often stayed at the Downey while in Lansing, and more than one
political deal was probably struck in its elegant bar. The tinted post card, from a black
and white photograph in the collection of the Archives of Michigan, shows the hotel lobby in
1909.
Hotels in 1897 Lansing:
- Ackerman House ($1.00) Washington Ave. n.
- Cooper House ($1.00), n side Franklin 1 e Center
- Eichele House ($1.50), 216 Washington Ave. n.
- Franklin House ($1.00), s w corner Franklin and Center
- Hotel Butler ($1.00, $1.50), n w corner Washington Ave. and Kalamazoo
- Hotel Downey ($2.00, $3.50), s w corner Washington Ave. and Washtenaw
- Hotel Ingham ($1.50), e s Grand between Michigan Ave. and Allegan
- Hotel Wentworth ($1.50), n e corner Grand and Michigan (Hotel
Wentworth during the early 20th century, 160k .jpg image)
- Hudson House ($2.00), e s Washington Ave. between Allegan and Washtenaw
- Lansing House ($1.00) 712 Washington Ave. s.
- Leadley's Park Hotel ($2.00), 3-1/2 miles s w Capitol on Grand River
- New Grand Hotel, Washington Ave. s.
- The Oakland, 116 Michigan Ave. e.
- Van Dyne House ($1.00), 411 Washington Ave. s.
- Yerkes Hotel($1.00), 745 Turner
The Phonographic Company of Ann Arbor, under the management of D. A. Clippinger,
will give an entertainment at the Maccabee Opera House, North Lansing, next Friday
evening. The phonograph used is a fine one and can be easily heard in any part of any
hall. The program is interesting and amusing.
Lansing State Republican, May 11, 1897
Baird's Opera House
 Baird's Opera House, at the corner of Washington Avenue and Ionia
Street, presented much more than opera; there were melodramas, "rollicking Irish
comedy" and blackface minstrel shows. Baird's also hosted local events, such as the
high school's commencement exercises and a play performed by students from the Boys
Industrial School to raise money for band instruments. Baird's could seat 1,500 people.
Entertainment at the Star Theater was aimed at Lansing's working class. Its ticket
prices ran from 10 to 30 cents, compared with 25 cents to a dollar at Baird's. On the site
of the former Mead's Hall, the Star accommodated 800 people in 1897.
Both theaters skirted the edge of respectability at times. In January the Star featured
the Modern Maids Co. with its "unusual array of Female loveliness." Baird's
Opera House seemed to be somewhat less respectable than usual when it advertised "A
Turkish Bath" in September. The ads, however, also insisted that the show was "A
Strictly Moral, High Class Entertainment."
The Matinee Musicale
In April 1894, Kate Marvin Kedzie invited ten women to her home on Ottawa Street to
form a music club. Already well-known as both a pianist and teacher, she was also the wife
and daughter-in-law of chemistry professors at MAC. Over the following decades, the
Matinee Musicale not only offered public performances by local artists, but also brought
soloists and major orchestras to Lansing and gave scholarships to music students.
In the late 1890s, the Musicale was often accompanied by Roy Bristol, who had resigned
from his job at W. S. Holmes & Son to form his own orchestra. Still active 100 years
later, the Musicale celebrated its centennial in 1994.
Entertainment in 1897 Lansing:
- Baird's Opera House (James J. Baird, propr), s w corner Washington Ave. and Ionia
- Billiard Hall, 117 Michigan Ave. w.
- Bristol's Orchestra, 222 Washington Ave. n. (booking office)
- Star Theater, s e corner Washington Ave. and Ottawa
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