From the Archives: The Lansing State Journal

LANSING - The Lansing Republican, the earliest precursor to the Lansing State Journal, published its first edition on April 28, 1855.

The weekly newspaper was started by Henry Barns, a strong abolitionist and a founding member of the Republican Party in Michigan. Barns arrived by stagecoach on April 24, 1855, the same year work began on the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, which became Michigan State University.

Four days later, the first edition of the paper was published. Barns would publish only one more issue before selling the paper and returning to Detroit. But now, Lansing had a weekly Republican paper in competition with the Democrat paper, the Lansing Journal. The paper's first office was a log cabin at the corner of Washington Avenue and Ionia Street.

The new owners, Rufus Hosmer and George Fitch, both pledged support for the anti-slavery movement.

Over the subsequent decades, the name of the paper would change almost as often as the publishing site. A long succession of owners and editors would parade into and out of the picture, but the newspaper offices were always in, or close to downtown Lansing.

The Lansing Republican became the State Republican. When it began publishing two editions daily in 1910, its Democratic competitor suffered, and in 1911, the State Republican absorbed the Lansing Journal. A new newspaper, the State Journal, was born.

Ard Richardson and Charles Halsted bought the paper in 1914 and moved it to new headquarters at Grand Avenue and Ottawa Street,where it remained for more than 30 years.

Soon radio and television filled the air waves with news, and the State Journal needed to publish and distribute the paper faster.

Under the direction of longtime publisher Paul Martin in the late 1940s, plans for a new newspaper plant came together, and, in 1951, the paper had a new home at 120 E. Lenawee St. It was the Journal's first newspaper plant, housing all facets of the operation.

The newspaper's name became the Lansing State Journal in 1984 and in 1994, LSJ opened its first production facility in Delta Township. That facility closed in the summer of 2014.

The Lansing State Journal will move its offices to the Knapp's Centre in January.