In 1837, Michigan was admitted to the Union. Through a provision in the Constitution of 1835, Detroit was selected as the first capital of the new state. A territorial courthouse, built in 1823, was pressed into service as the first capitol building.

The 1835 Constitution, however, carried another provision. Detroit would remain the state capital "until the year eighteen-hundred and forty-seven, when it shall be permanently located by the Legislature." This provision unleashed a firestorm of debate as legislators vied for the honor of locating the capital in their districts.

With Ann Arbor, Jackson, Marshall, and many other cities promoted and opposed for various reasons, James Seymour, a land speculator with considerable acreage in Ingham County, drew attention to Lansing Township. On March 16, 1847, after months of debate in the legislature, the governor signed into law a bill naming Lansing Township in Ingham County as the new state capital. Horrified observers, noting that there was not so much as a village at the location, termed it a "howling wilderness".

Nonetheless, the legislature would be required to convene in the new location in January 1848, so there was no time to waste. In late 1847, a wooden structure was hastily erected to serve as a temporary capitol building and a settlement began to rise around it. At first called "Michigan,Michigan," this confusing name was changed a few months later to "Lansing." Although Michigan's capital since 1847, Lansing was not actually incorporated as a city until 1859.

Michigan's second capitol was built in Lansing in the winter of 1847-1848. After the construction of our present Capitol, the second capitol was sold and used for offices and manufacturing. It was destroyed by fire on December 16, 1882.

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