North Presbyterian Church / North Presbyterian Church

On October 19, 1863, fourteen members of Lansing’s First Presbyterian Church signed the Articles of Association creating the Franklin Street Church Society. The society acquired a lot for a church from James Turner, a merchant and leading Methodist, with the proviso that the Presbyterians would supply Lower Town (now North Lansing) with gospel preaching. The first Franklin Street Presbyterian Church was dedicated on this site on October 3, 1865. Built in 1915-1916 on the site of the congregation’s first church, the Franklin Avenue Presbyterian Church was constructed to accommodate North Lansing’s growing population. Edwyn Bowd, Lansing’s leading architect of public buildings in the early twentieth century, designed the church and manse. The extensive Arts and Crafts detailing is unusual among Michigan churches of this period. The congregation changed its name when Franklin Avenue became Grand River Avenue in 1934.