By Laura Weber, Michgan Public Radio Network
LANSING, MI –
The casket of Michigan's first governor will be on display at the state Capitol until Wednesday. Stevens T. Mason was buried in Detroit, which was the capital city of Michigan while he was in office.
Barb Thumudo is a historical researcher at the state Capitol. She says Mason never even saw the Capitol building in Lansing.
"We had the first in Detroit, that he would have governed from, and then in 1847 we had a temporary wooden Capitol here in Lansing that was used for 30 years before we even constructed this building in 1879," she says. "So he never set foot in this building, but we still felt that it was appropriate to bring our first governor to our seat of government."
Mason's body has been on the move since he died in 1843. He was buried in New York, his casket was moved to Detroit several years later, and was exhumed again recently for renovations to the Capitol Park. He is scheduled to be reburied on Wednesday.