Bigelow–Kuhn–Thomas House, 334 N. Hagadorn (1849) SR

Bigelow–Kuhn–Thomas House, November 2003. Photo Credit: Kevin S. Forsyth.

Historic Marker text: “By 1986 this Greek Revival house was the only privately owned pre-Civil War house still used as a residence in East Lansing. Horace Bigelow (c. 1822–1891) built it in 1849. According to the 1874 Atlas of Ingham County, Bigelow was ‘a farmer, stock and wool grower, and breeder of Essex hogs.’ He was also a member of the Marble School Board. His daughter Jennie Kuhn (1853–1925), long-time secretary of the Marble School Board, lived in the house all of her life.”

Horace Bigelow’s granddaughter and Jennie Kuhn’s niece, Grace LaVerne Fuller (1869–1900, M.A.C. ’91), was one of just twenty-one women* to earn an agriculture degree prior to introduction of the Women’s Course.[MAC Record, 5(17), 9 Jan 1900, p. 4]

By the mid-1950s this was the home of Gordon and Phyllis Thomas. Gordon Lawrie Thomas (1914–1997, M.S.C. M.A. ’41) was first appointed as Instructor in Speech and Dramatics in September 1942, but was drafted into the U.S. Army just two months later. After the war ended he returned to Michigan State, earned a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1952, and served thirty-eight years (1945–1983) as Professor of Speech, Dramatics, and Radio Education, later holding concurrent positions as Assistant Dean for Continuing Education and Secretary of Faculties in the Provost’s Office. As if that did not keep him busy enough, he was mayor of East Lansing 1961–1971, the longest serving mayor in city history. The private residence is still owned by the Thomas family today, meaning that only a few families have owned this house in over 170 years.[Minutes, 14 Jun 1941, p. 1725, et al. LCD (1955), p. 892. LSJ, 20 Oct 1938, p. 14; 26 Feb 1967, p. 51; 17 Oct 1997, p. 14. politicalgraveyard.com]