Last week the old Beardsley Building was demolished, ending its long history as a Lansing landmark. The building had been condemned. All that was left standing was an old piano, an outhouse and a few piles of lumber and rubble on the lot across Route 34 from Linda's Diner. It had been empty for some time. "That thing was falling down when I moved here in '56," said North Lansing resident Grey Larison.

But the building had a lively history. In the 19th and early 20th Centuries North Lansing was called Beardsley's Corners. The building housed a general store and a post office, with groceries and merchandise. Roswell Beardsley was appointed Postmaster by John Quincy Adams in 1828, and operated the post office for 65 years. He was the longest serving Postmaster in the country at that time. Visitors hitched their horses in a shed at the gas station across the street, now Linda's Diner, when they came to shop, or attend meetings or dances above the store.

The North Lansing Grange met upstairs until 1896, and held public dances there to raise money to build their own Grange hall. Evidently their dances were pretty wild, lasting until daylight. Admission was $1.00. The building was also used for meetings of the North Lansing Masons, who first met there in March of 1976. They and the Eastern Star held their meetings above the store for 38 years, until 1940.

The building had deteriorated quite a bit. "You could see right through the foundation," said Lansing Code Enforcement Officer Dick Platt. The roof leaked, and the building was deemed unsafe. Once it was condemned the representative of the McDermott family who owns the property worked with the town, signing a stipulation agreement that the building would be demolished before September 6th. This gave them time to remove antiques that were stored there before complying.

After the demolition there was one more chapter to the building's history. A large tree toppled, landing on the utility wires and closing the South-bound lane of Route 34 until it was cleared away. This last bit of excitement marked the end of the Beardley Building's nearly 200 years in North Lansing history.

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Thanks to Lansing Town Historian Louise Bement for the permission to reprint the drawing from the Lansing Historical Association's December 1993 Newsletter and for information about the Beardsley Building.

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