835 West Genesee Street
Genesee Street School, The Black Child and Family Institute, New World Flood, 835 Genesee LLC
In 1912, the Lansing Board of Education approved $40,000 for a 12-room school at Genesee and Butler Streets, a half-mile northwest of the Capitol. By April, Edwyn A. Bowd was chosen to be the architect. The Board decided that his plan would only work should costs not run over. However, when they did, they voted to approve the extra funds for the school. In the end, it cost just under $44,000, or over $1.3 million today.
The general contractor was Early, Fitzpatrick, & Wilcox. The Capitol Electric Company did the electrical work, J. G. Gross & Company did the plumbing, and Shields & Leadley did the heating.
In July, the Board officially named it Genesee Street School. Many were in favor of just calling it the Genesee School, but other Lansing schools had ‘Street’ in their names, so it was decided best to stay continuous.
During the construction progress, local boys were caught throwing rocks at the new windows and playing with the elevator used to move materials inside the structure. Officials asked parents to control their children to now not slow progress.
After multiple delays, the school opened for the 1913 school year.
The new school hosted some of the first indoor soccer practices in the state. Students practice in the basement, and there were a few other teams at schools around Lansing. The states wouldn’t see their first proper national soccer league (the American Soccer League) until 1921, so Lansing was well ahead of its time.
In 1962, a multi-purpose room was added to the east side of the structure. It was designed by Charles V. Opdyke, one of Lansing’s premier architects at the time. It was completed by the fall school year.
The neighborhood’s population continued to blossom until the 1970s, when the loss of manufacturing jobs and other economic issues caused people to leave Michigan’s capital city.
Genesee Street School’s pupil count remained relatively stable. In December 1975, the Lansing School Board was ordered by a federal judge to determine a plan for the desegregation of their elementary schools. Most black students in Lansing went to schools that were majority black. Middle and high schools had been desegregated a decade earlier.
This led to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders at Genesee Street School, who were primarily black, being bussed to Gunnisonville School. 4th, 5th, and 6th graders from Gunninsonville, who were primarily white, were bussed to Genesee Street School. The schools were roughly eight miles apart. This continued to happen for roughly another decade.
In April 1984, a new administration report from the Lansing Board of Education suggested that Genesee Street School may close. This shocked parents in the Genesee Neighborhood because a month earlier, reports had stated that Genesee would stay open and Walnut Street School would close.
In May, the Board said that if the plan were to go through, all students from Genesee would be bussed to Gunnisonville. Parents were outraged and attended meetings to try and save the school. They argued that the school had a stable population, had been recently upgraded, and was one of the most energy-efficient schools in Lansing.
Students marched outside the school to try and save it in mid-May. The neighborhood and student population at Genesee Street School were more diverse than those at Gunnisonville. Looking back from a historical perspective, it’s hard to think that it didn’t play a role in the proposal.
After a vote, the Lansing Board of Education decided to close Genesee Street School after the 1984/85 school year. The final students walked out of the building in June of 1985.
An article in the Lansing State Journal in August 1986 stated, “Genesee school has been on sale for $125,000 since June 1985 when it closed…”
The Board received an offer from New Covenant Christian Church to purchase the building for $103,000. They planned to turn it into a school. The Black Child and Family Institute proposed that they wanted to lease the structure for $1 a year for five years.
In the end, the Board chose to go with The Black Child and Family Institute, which would reside there for around a quarter century. They offered after-school programs, summer camps, computer literacy classes, and other community engagement activities. By 2006, the non-profit was looking for a new home. They left the building around 2012 and still operate in Lansing.
In 2013, the building was sold to Zero Day, a non-profit, for $1. For all those years prior, it was still owned by the Lansing School District.
Zero Day was founded to help veterans experiencing homelessness get back on their feet. They helped them find jobs and taught them trades, and their first project was Genesee Street School. The plan was to turn it into offices, classrooms, and 16 two-bedroom apartments for veterans to stabilize their lives.
I’m not sure what happened to the plan, but by 2015, Zero Day had changed their registered address to Battle Creek, where they currently reside. There were reports of break-ins and theft at the property, but it’s apparent that their work was never completed.
At some point after that, New World Flood purchased the building. The non-profit was founded by former MSU and NFL running back T. J. Duckett and Heather Sheets. Their site states that the non-profit’s purpose is “to encourage and provide opportunities for education and volunteerism in children and adults, both locally and in underprivileged areas abroad.” The building fell on hard times under their ownership and was sold.
Online records show that 835 Genesee LLC currently owns the structure. That LLC is a real estate holding company in which Julian J. Darden is the registered agent. Darden is a graduate of Waverly High School and Central Michigan University. I believe he is a part of a development group working to repurpose the structure.
Said group laid plans in 2019 to redevelop the school into small apartments. A Lansing City Pulse article stated that they had an ambitious plan for the school’s rehabilitation and hoped to open by June 2020. Whether work ever started, I can’t be sure.
Genesee Street School is the centerpiece of a vibrant Genesee Neighborhood. It deserves to be redeveloped, and I think it has a good shot at receiving such treatment.
If I’ve learned anything from researching this piece, it’s that kids will always love throwing rocks at windows, whether it’s 1912 or 2023.
