New Semester, Last Semester

The beginning of the end of my time at MSU is off to a great, but busy start!

My first day of classes began with HST 480: Public History with Professor Knupfer--the reason in fact that I have created this blog.

The class sounds really interesting--seems like it will be anything but an ordinary, run-of-the-mill history class--I'm looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to the project we will be doing with the Michigan Historical Center on the construction of I-496. This topic is particularly interesting to me because my Dad works for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) in the Real Estate division. Thus, I have grown up hearing about the building of Michigan's roadways, including how the state has to purchase property from residents in order to build a road on their land. I was so excited about this topic in fact that I emailed my Dad during class to tell him about the project. He had this to say:

"I didn't work on that project (before my time) but let me know if you need details as I could probably do some research.

That inner-city, depressed expressway was similar to I-696 in Detroit & M-59 in Pontiac. For instance on I-696, it went thru an Orthodox Jewish n'hood that since they weren't allowed to "work" on Sabbath, they had to be able to walk to synagogue & we arranged to build a big plaza "over" I-696 to allow them access to the synagogue. That's the sort of things we do in Real Estate to facilitate our takings.

In fact, our field office was an Orthodox Jewish home & they were explaining how they'd do all kinds of things to avoid working on the Sabbath like tearing sections of toilet paper & fold them before Sabbath, pretty interesting."

I am looking forward to using my Dad's knowledge as a resource. My Grandpa also worked for MDOT, including during the time that I-496 was built.

Below are the pictures I took for our first class assignment. As I live in Grand Ledge and worked on campus throughout break, I decided to visit Cowles house.

1.) What questions would any visitor ask about this site?

*Why is the building significant?

*What was this building once used for?

*What is it used for now?

*Why did its use change?

*Why is it named Cowles House?

2.) What questions would an historian ask about this site?

*Why is preserving this building important to understanding the history of Michigan State University?

*Why has the building been preserved?

*What can this building tell us about the history of Michigan State University?

*What other pieces of the history of the University are tied to this building?

*Who is the building named for and why was this person significant?

My favorite historical sites, however, reside in Washington, DC, where I spent this summer interning:

*one picture is of my favorite memorial: The Jefferson Memorial

*the other is of me and my Dad and of course, Lincoln :)