Annexations
Two large portions of the northern third of Delhi Township were annexed by the City of Lansing in the 1960s. The original boundaries of Delhi extended north to Jolly Road, south to Nichols Road, east to College Road, and west to Waverly Road. Today, the northern boundary of Delhi spans, west to east, from I-96, down to Willoughby Road, and finally the easternmost end up to the original boundary of Jolly Road due to nearly ten square miles of annexation away from the north end of Delhi Township.
In the late 1950s movements started in both the North District and Maple Grove District to solve the schooling problems each area faced. The independent school districts only offered primary grades and sent older students as tuition pupils to neighboring school districts - Holt and Lansing. When school capacities limited and eliminated the tuition pupil option for North and Maple Grove, the effort began to merge entirely with an adjacent districts to provide full primary and secondary education to their students.
The school problem turned into greater political problems as Lansing required full political annexation into the city before educational annexation of the school district, and Delhi Township sought to retain a large swath of its population and tax base.
In addition to the two large annexations, the 1960s also brought about two smaller annexations from Delhi Township into the City of Lansing. In 1953, the City of Lansing acquired a triangular tract south of I-96 and east of Aurelius Road, once a gravel mine, for use as a landfill. Under a state statute, the city annexed the land in October 1960 as they already owned and operated it. In 1968, the State Highway Department sold the City of Lansing 44 spare acres adjoining the east side of the landfill in Delhi Township, which spurred immediate annexation by Lansing and conflict with Delhi Township. Once closed as landfill in 1973, that tract was transformed into a community soccer complex named in honor of longtime Ingham County and Delhi Township official Kenneth A. Hope.
Later in 1965, Lansing again crossed the city limits to annex an L-shaped parcel south of Willoughby Road just east of Washington Road. This land became Willoughby Park.
North District Annexation • 1960-1961
The North School District and Miller Road Community comprised the north central portion of Delhi Township from its founding in 1842. Some of Delhi’s first settlers resided in this area, including Frederick Luther, Henry H. North, and Roswell Everett. The area includes the North Cemetery, once a private North family grave yard, later a Delhi-owned cemetery. The most distinctive component of this area was the North School, founded in 1842 on Miller Road. North was a primary school, offering grades kindergarten through sixth, then sending students desiring further education as tuition pupils to Holt or Lansing High Schools. The map at right dates to the 1950s and outlines the North District’s boundaries of Jolly Road to the north, Willoughby Road to the south, and generally Aurelius Road to the east, and a bit beyond Washington Road to the west.
Beginning in the Summer of 1958, residents of the North District began circulating petitions to place the annexation of their community into Lansing on the ballot. The initial effort was rejected by the Ingham County Board of Supervisors for lack of petition signatures. However, during the next effort in 1960, sufficient signatures were collected and the issue was placed on the ballot. Comprising a 4 1/2 square mile area and housing 5,000 residents, the residents of both the City of Lansing and the North District voted in August 1960 in favor of annexation. The total combined vote between Delhi Township and the City of Lansing was 8,878 to 4,098. The bulk of the opposition came from Delhi Township, which voted 643 to 941 against the annexation. The North District in northern Delhi Township, though, supported the move, 698 to 515.
The North District officially joined the City of Lansing on September 30, 1960. The district had $11 million in equalized value in 1960, which was about a third of Delhi Township’s tax base. After the annexation, Lansing took responsibility for the local costs associated with the construction of I-96 through the area. They were also left responsible for expanding policing into the area, extending sewer service to the area, among a variety of other local matters, including care and administration of North Cemetery. The matter of the Miller Road Community Hall also arose in late 1960 and early 1961. The hall housed the library, recreation hall, and community rooms, and was owned by Delhi Township. The City of Lansing leased the hall to keep it open in the North District, before purchasing the it in February 1961.
Perhaps the most significant and motivating component of the annexation campaign was the North School District joining the Lansing School District, providing expanded resources to North students including secondary grade levels. Lansing required political annexation before educational annexation. Despite other options explored by locals, like educational annexation into Holt Schools, or a merger between Maple Grove, North, and Forest Road Schools, it was decided that the political then educational annexation with Lansing was the best option. Because of the political prerequisite, a second vote was held on educational annexation. In December 1960, the Lansing Board of Education and North School Board agreed to the school merger and the vote went to the public in February 1961. On the second round of voting to complete the political and educational annexation, the North District approved the school merger 701 to 92, also accepting Lansing bond debt and millage rates.
Together, the pair of North District annexations were the first of what became four annexations of northern Delhi Township by the City of Lansing in the 1960s.
Maple Grove District Annexation • 1963-1965
The Maple Grove District comprised the northwesternmost corner of Delhi Township. The community was centered around the Maple Grove School on Eaton Rapids Road (M-99). It was an independent rural school district from its founding in 1853. Maple Grove also included a community hall and fire station on Hughes Road. It got its name from the main thoroughfare, Eaton Rapids Road, being a two lane road lined by old growth maple trees. That quaint area was lost when the road was widened and trees removed.
The district was bound by Jolly Road to the north, largely Waverly Road to the west (though portions of the school district cross the county line), it extended to the North District to the east (halfway between M-99 and Washington Avenue), and beyond Bishop Road (near Horstmeyer Road) to the south.
In 1959, residents of the Maple Grove District began eyeing mergers with neighboring school districts, including attempts and requests to merge with Waverly Schools and Holt School. This was just the start, however, of a five year complicated struggle over the annexation of the Maple Grove District.
As the annexation topic came into question, Maple Grove was a growing district with financial difficulties, high taxes, and the recurring predicament of educating students beyond the sixth grade. When one school building on Eaton Rapids Road was insufficient, a second elementary school was built on Wise Road in 1959 and named for the Maple Grove District Superintendent Harley Franks. The district is about four square miles in area with about 3,800 residents and a equalized value of $5.5 million. The community members brought a petition before the Ingham County Board of Supervisors in 1960 proposing a political annexation by the City of Lansing of the area broadly bound by Jolly Road, Waverly Road, Holt Road, and Washington Road, which exceeded the school district boundaries. The discrepancy in legal description of the Maple Grove area and the territory laid out in the petition caused the Board of Supervisors to deny the petition for an election on the annexation. Much of the rural delegation, bolstered by West Holt farmers unhappy at being lumped into the southern end of the proposed annexation area, led the effort to deny the petition.
Following the initial petition failure, the citizens committee reassessed their options of the status quo, merging with Holt Public Schools and remaining in Delhi Township, or political and education annexation into the City of Lansing. They opted to “wait and see” and hold out for the next best option to present itself. Recurring assessments of school mergers with Eaton Rapids, Dimondale, Holt, Potterville, Waverly, and Lansing, found the residents returning to their original goal of a Lansing annexation. By 1962, Waverly and Lansing formally denied Maple Grove’s request for merger, and Holt annexed Dimondale Schools creating space constraints for any additional new students. The district’s position worsened each year as more students joined the district and more students aged out of the stop-gap seventh grade offerings, while Lansing and Waverly slowly denied tuition pupils in higher grades than offered in Maple Grove.
As 1962 came to a close, relations and plans worsened as the factions in Maple Grove supporting Lansing versus Holt further divided worked against each other. This was further complicated by the construction of I-96, which divided the district. A small minority of the Maple Grove residents lived south of I-96 and proceeded with plans to fracture the district along the interstate line, proposing the southern portion join Holt Schools. Concerns over Lansing sewer access south of I-96 was a key factor in this move as well.
By May 1963, the “Pro-Holt” supporters had organized and placed the question on the ballot and the annexation of Maple Grove south of I-96 into Holt Schools was approved 172-144. Since Holt Public Schools crosses county lines, the matter went before the Ingham-Eaton County Board of Education for approval. Effective June 30, 1963, one small portion of the Maple Grove District’s students were taken care of by joining Holt, this was 40% of the land area, 15% of the equalized value, and about 12 1/2% of the population of the district. This area remains in Delhi Township. One vote was now successful and just a fraction of the still looming problems at hand for Maple Grove were solved.
What started as a school problem for Maple Grove exploded into much more. Officials from Lansing and Delhi courted residents of Maple Grove at large public meeting urging the district to either go to Lansing or stay with Delhi. In June 1963, the Lansing City Council together with the Lansing Board of Education formally invited the Maple Grove District to politically annex to Lansing followed by an school annexation, retaining the ‘political annexation first’ policy already in place. By July 1963, Holt Public Schools officially declined interest in accepting the remainder of the Maple Grove District due to space and funding issues. Holt Superintendent Maurice Pernert indicated that an additional school building would be necessary, the funding for which was not feasible for the district or community to shoulder. The Delhi Township Board of Trustees unsuccessfully urged Pernert and the Board of Education to reconsider in an effort to retain Maple Grove in Delhi Township, which included a third of its population and 20% of its equalized value.
The Maple Grove District citizens committee, headed up by Louis Adado, who had been of the “pro-Lansing” supporters since the beginning of the Maple Grove debacle, filed a petition with the State Elections Director, given that Lansing crossed county lines the matter no longer solely concerned Ingham County, to place the Lansing annexation question on the ballot. In August 1963, the petition was approved. With the question placed on the next ballot, Lansing Schools again accepted the ‘banned’ Maple Grove tuition students in grades eight through twelve with the assumption that they would become Lansing students in short order following two annexation votes. Delhi Township worked with the Michigan Townships Association to combat the annexation effort. In October, residents of Maple Grove and Lansing voted on the political annexation of the district into the city. The annexation vote failed in the district 333 to 418 - Lansing voters approved the annexation, but without in-district support the measure did not pass. This outcome could be attributed to the still-fractured community concerned about increased taxes.
A new citizens committee formed following the failed October 1963 vote, this group composed primarily of mothers concerned about the future of education in their neighborhood. These women came together to secure another vote on political annexation by the following Spring. A failure to do so would leave questions of whether the students in Maple Grove would have a school to attend the following Fall, and would raise taxes in the district as the school attempted to stay afloat and keep students in class. Opponents to the annexation promised a continued fight, but the political annexation question was again placed on the ballot in April 1964. This time around, Delhi Township voters in nearly every precinct outside and both precincts inside Maple Grove approved the political annexation of the district into the City of Lansing, by a vote of 728 to 567.
During the campaign cycle, Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley struck down Lansing’s policy requiring political annexation before educational annexation, indicating Boards of Education have no such authority and citing Michigan Supreme Court precedent. Following the voters annexation approval, Delhi Township brought a lawsuit against the Michigan Secretary of State James M. Hare in an attempt to nullify the vote and opposing Secretary Hare’s approval of the second ballot question on annexation for Maple Grove over petition technicalities. Delhi’s attorneys prepared to take the case before the Michigan Supreme Court. The suit was ultimately dropped in July 1964.
Still though, Maple Grove students were not yet attending Lansing Schools. Voters had approved just step one of the two-part annexation into the city. In the meantime, district voters were again called to the polls to vote on millage to fund tuition pupils and school operations for one final year of Maple Grove as an independent school district in 1964-1965. Residents approved the funds, 120 to 68, with less than 20% voter turnout.
In April 1965, Maple Grove District voters had one final election before them - a vote on educational annexation into the City of Lansing. Voters in the district approved the annexation by a 10 to 1 margin. This time, however, Lansing voters rejected a school annexation for the first time in history. The ultimate solution came with yet another final vote for Lansing and Maple Grove residents. The compromise provided for educational annexation of the district without either the city or district assuming one another’s debt. That compromise, along with mills to fund Lansing’s district takeover and operations, went before voters in April came again in June. Finally, by a 9 to 1 margin, Lansing and Maple Grove voters approved the school annexation.
Maple Grove was officially both politically and educationally joined to the City of Lansing in June 1965, more than six years since the discussions of annexation started in 1959. The Lansing School District continued to operate both the Maple Grove Elementary and Harley Franks Elementary buildings. This annexation also included the Maple Grove Park on Wise Road, originally owned by Delhi Township, and the care for all roads, sewer, and water needs of the residents of the former district.