C-SPAN TV to air Lansing history week; film at Grand Trunk Train Depot, R.E. Olds Museum

Lansing State Journal

The former Grand Trunk Western Rail Station in Lansing's REO Town is where the Board of Water & Light hosts meetings and employee training sessions.

LANSING -- A national TV network will feature Lansing's history, including one of its oldest buildings, in two programs scheduled to air this fall.

C-SPAN crews are expected to visit the former Grand Trunk Western Rail Station on South Washington Avenue on Monday, according to a news release.

Footage from the 117-year-old station and other areas of Lansing will air on Book TV and American History TV during a special Lansing weekend to be held Sept. 21 and 22, the news release said.

Ashley Hill, a C-SPAN producer, said the programs will also include interviews with local elected officials and business leaders so viewers who aren't familiar with the city can get "a slice of life and sense of place."

This is a 2012 photo of crews working on the former Grand Trunk Western Rail Station in Lansing's REO Town. The renovation project was completed a year later by the Lansing Board of Water & Light.

Hill said both programs will be documentary-style.

The Lansing stop is part of C-SPAN's cities tour.

"It's our initiative to get out of Washington D.C.," Hill said.

Book TV is a program aired on C-SPAN2 (Comcast channel 104) and American History TV is aired on C-SPAN2 (Comcast channel 105). For more information about C-SPAN'S programming, visit c-span.org.

The train depot is owned by the Lansing Board of Water & Light. BWL officials spent more than $2.8 million in 2013 to restore it as a facility for board meetings and employee training.

It hasn't been used as a train depot since 1971.

A statue of automotive pioneer R.E. Olds, created by artist Nancy Leiserowitz, is displayed at the R.E. Olds Museum in Lansing.

Auto history included

The R.E. Olds Transportation Museum is also expected to be a stop for C-SPAN crews next week.

Bill Adcock, the museum's executive director, said Thursday he doesn't know the details but has been told by crews filming will begin there Tuesday.

"They are just going to ask about the museum, probably some history about R.E. Olds himself," Adcock said.

Ransom E. Olds was an automotive baron who built his first vehicle in 1887, a three-wheel steam powered car with a gas boiler.

Olds grew up in Ohio and his family later settled in Lansing. He founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Co., which later became Oldsmobile, in 1897.

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Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.

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