80 Years: Elsworth/Bowie

Elsworth/Bowie:

80 Years of Cooperative Living in 2020!

The original Elsworth Cooperative, left, and the Annex, right. They were located on Albert Street, in what is now a parking garage with senior living above!

One day during the winter term of 1940 three freshmen rooming in Wells Hall were doing some very simple cooking on a small hotplate in one of their rooms. Their names were James Lyons, Ralph Newton and Delmar Ruthig. As they were eating the hot snack they had prepared, Ruthig remarked that there ought to be some way for a number of congenial students to live together: not only to provide themselves with room and meals more economically, but also to enjoy the group fellowship during their student years at college…

--George Motts, MSU professor and Elsworth advisor

In the beginning… (by Jim Jones) Elsworth (now called Bowie) has been one of the most important cooperatives in Michigan State’s history. Started in 1940, Elsworth was just the second independent housing co-op in East Lansing, following Hedrick in 1939.

A group of eight students soon met with Dr. Orion Ulrey, the faculty advisor to Hedrick, and several other faculty members, and by the end of the spring term had organized themselves into a cooperative association. Motts continued his story:

Thus began a busy summer. The 23 boys had left for their homes to earn money to help finance the house that existed so far only in the strength of their own faith. That faith was justified. Shortly after school closed we learned that the house at 218 Albert Street could be bought at $8,700 on a land contract provided (1) a $1,000 down payment could be made by July 1… An emergency letter and urgent appeal to the 23 boys – all were under 21 – brought in a growing flow of hard earned dollars that reached a total of $1,075 just 24 hours before the July 1 deadline!

Comes the war

The house was purchased, and just in time. On December 7 of the next year, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and the world

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Wind Through the Pines

changed. A cloud of uncertainty hung over the entire campus, as men began to feel detached from their studies, and many enlisted in the armed forces. At the end of the school year in 1943, the co-op gave up its attempts to continue operations as usual and leased their house to the military.

In fall of 1944, the army announced that they would no longer need the house after December 31. Dr. Ulrey took on the responsibility to find a group willing to restart the co-op during winter term of 1945, identifying 25 individuals through personal contact and newspaper ads. Many had conditions that prevented them from serving in the military, including one who was blind. “Living in a cooperative house was a new experience for everyone, and there were few guides to follow except the constitution, House rules and suggestions by Dr. Ulrey,” wrote Motts.

The next fall, the rush of returning G.I.s began to hit the campus. Enrollment at Michigan State grew to double the number from pre-war years. The coop somehow squeezed 36 men into every corner of the house, including the attic. Because of the G.I. bill, members had more money than before the conflict, and the group was able to increase their land contract payments from $40 per month to $60 per month, allowing them to purchase the building more quickly.

Hedrick was still empty, and the members of Elsworth worked frantically to reactivate the group. Five Elsworth members volunteered to move into Hedrick in the fall of 1946 if enough new and returning members couldn’t be found. The group also offered to loan Hedrick $300 for startup costs, replicating a loan from Hedrick when Elsworth began.

Jerry Smith, extraordinary co-oper

Particularly important in this effort was Jerry Smith, a pre-war member who had returned to Elsworth. Smith also was responsible for finding 12 people to start a third house in the fall of 1945, and starting an Inter-Cooperative Council that began in fall of 1946. Smith became the first president of the new ICC – and then the first president of the North American Student Cooperative League, established in that same year.

The first meeting of the North American Student Cooperative League, Jerry Smith center.

A moving experience

There was still more growth in the spring of 1947, when Elsworth cooperative paid off their land contract and purchased the house next door on Albert Street, bringing their total membership to 46. But within a year, the heavy use of the original house began to cause real problems. Large maintenance expenses quickly drained the modest reserves, and the group decided to sell the two properties and purchase a larger house in better condition.

As luck would have it, the city of East Lansing decided at this same moment that they wanted the Elsworth land for a new parking lot. The property was sold in 1950, and a net gain of $14,069 was deposited in the bank. The next year was consumed with hunting for a new location.

When it proved impossible to find another building that was large enough, a small house at 711 West Grand River was

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Construction of the new house on Grand River. Members did much of the work, particularly the painting.

purchased. (Five years later, three adjacent lots on Grand River were purchased to ensure that there would be enough parking and recreation.)

The new house “opened” in September of 1950, but work wasn’t completed before the members moved in – a common problem with construction. The house was built to house 40 members, all in double rooms. And of course, it was all men – there were no coed houses until the legal age of adulthood was lowered to 18 in the late 1960s

1971: The day that changed everything

Thirty years later, a number of co-ops, led by members of Hedrick and New Community, incorporated the new MSU Student Housing Corporation (later changed to Cooperative) in 1969, but it didn’t become a sound and sustainable organization until 1971.

In that year, Elsworth was a mess. Looking back in 2001, I wrote:

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Elsworth… was inhabited by an apathetic group living off the fat of the land. The mortgage had been paid off several years earlier, and people were living cheap. Repairs (particularly to the roof) were needed, but somehow the money was never there and no one had the time to do the work. The house had vacancies, but members were discouraging applicants so that they could enjoy single rooms. It was a mess.

But the groups trying to organize the SHC were having a different kind of trouble. They were all so different from each other that bringing them together with joint ownership seemed impossible. New Community was a group on a mission, filled with activist organizers, and the Free University ran out of Eleutheria, while Bower had a large group of Viet Nam vets who were way into motorcycles, and Montie at that time resembled a fraternity. Elsworth was somewhere in the middle, with ROTC enthusiasts, international students, and a large group who stuck to themselves.

The Hedrick members were willing to transfer titles for their two houses (140 and 146 Collingwood) into the new organization, but another of the older co-ops needed to contribute equity in order for SHC’s finances to work. The co-ops broke into factions, and some key groups pulled back. A pivotal meeting broke down amid recriminations.

Then, a miracle happened. Remembering that night, I wrote:

As the meeting broke up in confusion, I felt a sense of failure. As I stood there in Montie’s living room, an Indian man who I’d noticed sitting silently across the room came up and introduced himself. His name was Satnam Mathur, and he was president of Elsworth. He said they might be interested in the SHC and we should talk some more.

Elsworth, it turned out, was willing to contribute their property if in turn they could get the roof fixed. Elsworth had neither the financial expertise nor organization to get a bank loan on their own. Once again, enter Dr. Orion Ulrey. Along with another retired professor, Henry Larzelere, he controlled a fund that held money left over from the sale of an early, failed co-op. They agreed to loan money from the fund to Elsworth for their roof if they would contribute their property to the new umbrella group.

The deal was struck, and before the beginning of summer semester, the new MSU-SHC was a financial reality.

Today... (by Kirsten West) Never has a place felt more like home than the David Bowie’s Memorial Co-op [renamed from Elsworth]. From the first time you enter, the people living in the house really emphasize how they function like a family. I never realized what that meant until I saw they would be there for me in any situation I needed, even if you didn’t think you were close at first!

I became friends with people I never would have met or thought I could connect with if we didn’t live in this space. There is also a great community between the generations of people who lived there. I’ve become friends with people who lived in Bowie but never at the same time as me because we share the same ideals

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for family and staying open minded to growth.

Having all single rooms meant you had your own space too if you needed a break from socializing, but I quickly realized I wanted to maximize how much time I could be present in the house because I loved it so much. Whether that was cooking meals for everyone, studying hard in the basement, creating art together (on canvases and the house walls), playing board and video games, or tuning in to new episodes of our favorite show every week (from Jeopardy to RuPaul).

Living with 20 other people means someone is always going to be down to do something with you, like go to your favorite band’s concert, or drive two hours away to get a new couch for the living room. It also means that someone is going to be inviting you to try new things that you would never even think about or have had the chance to do, like visit a sunflower field or drive to a music festival with music you never listened to!

The diversity of backgrounds people come from also is great because the house will have open and constructive conversations of people’s different viewpoints so that we can learn from each other. This can be about anything from politics, to how the house could run even more efficiently than it already does, to what the best TV show is and why.

I’ve had my best memories and greatest friendships created in that big gray box on Grand River. It’s a space that accepts differences and change so you can grow together and become a better version of yourself.

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Elsworth Dedication Dinner, Nov. 17, 1940

Pickles Baked ham with vinella sauce Candied sweet potatoes -- buttered peas Pineapple and cottage cheese salad Fruit jello and cake Coffee -- Milk

Wind Through the Pines

To Bowie from Budapest, with Love

The first time I fell in love with Bowie Haus was on a warm summer day on my housemate Brett’s boat. Around ten of us drove out to Grosse Point to spend the day on a lake and get to know my newfound friends. After sharing lots of laughs, photoshoots, and tubing session on the boat I knew I had to spend another year living in Bowie Haus with these amazing people.

The past two years Bowie Haus has spent spring break in the Smokey Mountains. Around 25 housemates and close friends spend a week in a huge cabin in the middle of the mountains—there’s nothing like it. Even though I get to know the 20 people I live with pretty well throughout the year, these spring break trips always bring us closer together while hiking through the mountains, singing along to Zach’s guitar playing, and staying up all night playing games or having dance parties. These spring break trips have been some of the most amazing memories of my college experience, and I’m so lucky to have gained so many lifelong friendships through Bowie.

I am currently sitting in a hostel in Budapest with four of my housemates and two close friends of the house. This past January my housemate Luc was looking up tickets to Europe after we joked about backpacking through Europe this summer. When he found $190 plane tickets to London, we decided this was our chance, so we spontaneously booked these tickets. So far we have experienced London, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Budapest, and we even met up with some people from Orion in these cities. The bonds I have made with the people on this trip have strengthened while sharing tiny hostel rooms and exploring these foreign cities. If I didn’t move into Bowie two years ago, I would never be on this amazing trip with so many awesome and fun people.

Last summer all the Bowians had to relocate due to the rewiring project. When we decided that we would all have to move out in October of last year, my heart sank. I felt so sad for weeks, knowing I would have to leave this house that I had a newfound love for. In the end, I think our relocation created a stronger bond between us all. We spent the whole year stressing about the project and making sure the house was getting the work it deserved. At one point, members of the EC [Exec. Committee] were trying to convince us to get a conduit wiring, instead of the full rewiring like we had originally planned back in October. This came to our attention when Mike McCurdy reached out to us in April—right before we were supposed to be moving out—and we had to hold an emergency meeting to convince members of the EC to return to the original plan. After we succeeded in doing this, Bowie members took hours to move literally everything out of the house, so our big, gray box could get the work it deserves. At the end of August, Bowians moved everything back into our rewired house with blank walls. My housemates and I spent the year cleaning the house of the construction mess, putting everything back together, and splashing paint on the walls, and I believe this inconvenience made our house become so much closer because we had to fight for what we deserve and turn Bowie into a home again.