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General Information
An
1829 act of the Territorial Legislature created Ingham County.
Called a "cabinet county," it bears the name of Samuel
D. Ingham, who was Secretary of the Treasury under President
Jackson at the time.
The area
was a forest wilderness filled with wide tamarack marshes, and
was sparsely populated. Because of its dense forest, early Michigan
settlers tended to avoid Ingham County and to settle its perimeters.
The first piece of land purchased and deed recorded was in the
Okemos area in 1832. Settlers, moving into the county from the
east and south, followed old Indian trails from Jackson, the
Dexter-Stockbridge area and Pontiac. By 1842, all of the present
townships of Ingham County were organized.
The State
Legislature met in Detroit in 1846 to choose a site for a capitol
for the new State of Michigan. Lawmakers presented bills proposing
many localities, each, of course favoring his own district as
a site. Lansing township was a surprising compromise made by
the legislators, for the nearest railroad was 40 miles away
and there was only a few trails to the site, which was still
a wilderness. The deciding factors for Ingham County were its
central location and the offer by James Seymour of a large tract
of land at the bend of the Grand River.
The Capital
City was soon carved out of the forest. Travel was facilitated
by the construction of a plank road from Detroit to Lansing.
This toll road, financed with federal funds, was completed in
1860 and gave force to the large number of new Michigan settlers
that poured into the region. The seat of Ingham County government
was established in Mason, which is centrally located, fulfilling
the requirements of the time that the county seat be no more
than a day's travel from any location in the county.
The Lansing
area grew gradually over the years, with industry and the educational
facilities of a land-grant college contributing to its expansion.
The remainder of the county developed into an agricultural area,
much of which remains at the present time. The spread of suburban
living has recently cut somewhat into these rural areas.
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