A free tour of historic sites on Michigan State University’s campus is taking place on Saturday.
For the first time, the Historical Society of Greater Lansing is teaming up with the MSU Archives and Historical Center to offer this kind of walking tour on campus.
Jennie Rankin is the acting records manager with the MSU Archives. She says the tour will focus on sites around Circle Drive and history between 1900 and 1929.
“You had Faculty Row. You had College Hall, and now Beaumont Tower’s there, and it’s a sacred space," she said.
Rankin adds she’s looking forward to telling people about a drinking fountain donated by the class of 1900.
“It’s off the path. People don’t see it, and it looks out of place, but at the time it made a lot of sense for where it was located … why it has a horse water trough on the side, because horses [were] the mode of transportation," she explained.
Along with the fountain, there will be stops to tell stories about the composer of the MSU Fight Song and the first Black woman to graduate from Michigan State.
The walking tour starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Beaumont Tower.