A Brief Stop in Lansing

I decided to head over to Grand Haven yesterday.  It was actually a fairly nice day except that it was clouded over.  It has been a couple of months since I've been over there and we were running low on some coffee we get from there.

 First I stopped at the Capitol Building in Lansing.  It has been a while since I've taken pictures of it as well.  I don't know why they have these cannons in front of the capital building but I think it's kind of cool.

 Then I took a picture of what is now known as the Boji Tower.  It used be known as the Olds Tower and was named after Ransom Olds (founder of Oldsmobile) and financier of this tower when it was built in 1929.

 A light cannon.

 And the capitol building itself.

 A memorial to all of the veterans in Michigan.

 When Michigan was first founded, the state capital was Detroit.  It was decided that it needed to further inland in case there was another war with the British.  After considering Ann Arbor, Jackson and Grand Rapids it was decided to move the capital to Lansing in 1847 because it was the closest to the center of the state.  A temporary building was erected about a block to the southwest from the current building.  When construction was completed on the current capitol building, that capital building was sold and used as a factory until it was destroyed by fire in 1882.

 In 1861, Austin Blair was elected Governor and served until the end of the Civil War in 1865.  He was a strong supporter of the Civil War and contributed a significant amount of resources that effort.  He was also an opponent of the death penalty and led a successful effort outlaw it in 1846.  He was also a staunch abolitionist.  After the war, he served in the US Congress and on the University of Michigan Board of Regents.  He died in 1894 and this statue was erected a year later.

 A statue dedicated to the soldiers of the Spanish-American War.

 And one of a few statues dedicated to the Civil War.

 Another angle of the capitol building.

 Another angle of the Boji Tower.

 Looking up at the Boji Tower.

 As I was heading back to the car, I noticed all the leading lines in this shot and decided to take a picture of it. 

And one more shot of the capitol building.