A CAPITAL IDEA - Historical Albion Michigan

Can you imagine Albion being the capital of Michigan? We all know that Marshall almost became Michigan’s capital in 1847 but missed it by two votes in the state legislature. But did you know that Albion, too was considered for the designation?

Back in 1847, the Michigan legislature was considering propositions to move the state capital from Detroit to various Michigan communities. Governor Felch encourage this action as part of his annual message to the legislature that year, and the proposals soon began.

On February 11, 1847, various communities were considered and votes were taken in the Michigan House of Representatives. They are listed here. The first number are the "yes" votes, and the number after the slash are the "no" votes. Ann Arbor 18/44; Battle Creek 23/38; Corunna 17/44; Byron 27/31; Detroit 18/43; Dexter 17/44; Eaton Rapids 27/34; Grand Blanc 23/34; Jackson 27/31; Lyons 30/28; Marshall 29/32. Although Lyons won, the House took another vote at its next meeting and chose Lansing by a vote of 35 to 27.

What about Albion? Well, our community lost out by 7 votes on that cold February day; 27 votes "yes," and 34 "no." So if we had had only 8 more votes, Albion would have been the state capital of Michigan. Can you imagine that? Bellemont Manor at Albion College would be the Governor’s Mansion, and Goodrich Chapel would make a nice State Capitol building.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present an 1835 map of Calhoun County when it was still wilderness, such as was when a new capital was considered by the legislature. The rivers are clearly marked, and the northern portion of the county was known as "Bear Plains." An Indian Village is located along Rice Creek in Section 13 of Sheridan Township, near the Jackson County line.

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
	Michigan Prints by Maggie LaNoue Michigan Prints offers limited-edition archival Giclée prints, miniprints, notecards and boxed sets featuring Michigan landmarks, nature, resorts and nostalgia. Each print and card includes a legend on the back with stories about Michigan history. Albion scenes include the Kalamazoo River waterfall and the Blizzard of 1978. Find Michigan Prints online and at local shops. Michigan Prints \| Albion Scenes \| Custom Cards \| Zazzle Gifts
	AlbionMich.net — General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net is a hub for community life in the greater Albion area, featuring current news, city council updates, river restoration stories, parks and trails. See Albion's beautiful Kalamazoo River waterfall as it looks today — and follow the story of its future restoration. Includes news from The Recorder and stories about Albion's 17 parks. AlbionMich.net \| Albion Blog \| Frank Passic on AlbionMich.net
	General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net offers two General Guides to the Albion area — one covering community life including city council, veterans, history, youth and wellness resources, and one covering the outdoors including roads, rivers, parks, trails and downtown. Both guides feature stories by local writers including contributors to The Recorder, sorted by topic for easy reference. General Guide — Community \| General Guide — Outdoors
	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
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