As an undergrad from Michigan State University I came upon an article entitled “MSU’s link to automotive heritage showcased in community exhibit.” Naturally, as an SAH member the topic of automotive heritage captured my attention. I pondered, for far more than a minute. Ranson E. Olds is the character with the large head. This is not the MSU mascot Sparty.
I reached out to Professor John Beck of MSU who was kind enough to provide me with some background on this MSU automotive history endeavor. My alma mater is in East Lansing, Michigan. It is not in Detroit. But the state of Michigan has a rich “automotive legacy”, to quote the MSU article, that extends far beyond Detroit. My AI inquiry, assuming it was not hallucinating, suggests there were over 150 different individual auto makers in 22 different cities in Michigan. MotorCities, a nonprofit linked to the US Park Service and supported by the Big 3 as well as UAW, identified nearly 300 locations in Michigan worthy of some identification as contributing a National Heritage Area “…where historic, cultural and natural resources combine
to form cohesive, nationally important landscapes.”
MSU has told the story well and needs no embellishment from this alum. However, what caught my attention was not that MSU was celebrating the automotive heritage sites in the Lansing area and improving the signage – home to Olds Motor Vehicle Co. founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. Rather, what grabbed me were two observations in the telling of the MSU story where this automotive magnate played “then” and plays “now” an important role for MSU.
First, a connection attributable to a tragic coincidence. Olds had opened another company, Olds Motor Works, located in Detroit in 1899. It was destroyed by fire in 1901. Hence, a return to Lansing. Professor Beck told me the story of the engineering school at MSU burning to the ground in 1916, a State of Michigan General Assembly reluctant to provide funding for MSU to rebuild, and Ransom Olds stepping in with a large donation that helped rebuild the engineering school building for MSU. So, a connection between a prominent Lansing automotive tycoon and the University linked each by catastrophic fires.
Second, an unintended yet undesirable separation attributable to cultural differences. I noted Professor Beck’s observation that “…there is a disconnect between the MSU community and Lansing, stressing that efforts to bridge that gap are important.” As a Big 10 grad of another institution of higher learning, Indiana University, I immediately thought of the story line in the 1979 movie, “Breaking Away.” The stone cutters from the quarry vs university students and Indiana University’s Little 500 bicycle race – campus vs community. Just as the lore attributable to the famous open wheel race helps to connect people, so does the towering influence of Lansing’s own automotive giant – Ransom E. Olds.
If you care about auto history as I do, take a look at MotorCities. If you care about coming of age movies, go see “Breaking Away”. (ds)