Editing Lansing, Michigan (section)

===Founding myth===
Historians have lamented the persistence of a myth about Lansing's founding.<ref name="peckham">{{cite web |last1=Peckham |first1=Linda R. |last2=Votta |first2=David |title=Daniel Buck's Biddle City: a myth about the founding of Lansing has persisted for more than 100 years. Begun by a well-meaning mayor, it evolved over the decades with each retelling—even making an appearance online, in a Wikipedia entry about the capital city. |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Daniel+Buck%27s+Biddle+City%3a+a+myth+about+the+founding+of+Lansing+has...-a0319975270 |via=The Free Library |work=Michigan History |access-date=April 4, 2023 |date=March 1, 2013 |archive-date=April 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404044444/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Daniel%20Buck%27s%20Biddle%20City%3A%20a%20myth%20about%20the%20founding%20of%20Lansing%20has...-a0319975270 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The incorrect story of Lansing's beginnings states that in the winter of 1835 and early 1836, two brothers from [[New York (state)|New York]] plotted the area now known as [[REO Town]] just south of [[downtown Lansing]] and named it "Biddle City". This land lay in a [[floodplain]] and was underwater during the majority of the year. Nevertheless, the brothers went back to [[Lansing, New York]], to sell plots for the town that did not exist. They told the New Yorkers this new "city" had an area of 65 blocks, a church and a public and academic square. 16 men bought plots in the nonexistent city, and upon reaching the area later that year found they were the victims of the scam. Many in the group, disappointed and now without funds to move on again, opted to stay and ended up settling around what is now metropolitan Lansing.

The story has persisted due to a 1904 newspaper article, which cited a memoir told by Daniel W. Buck, a respected Lansing mayor and son of one of the early pioneers. His story was cited in Michigan pioneer papers and retold in newspaper articles multiple times in the decades that followed. His characterization of the city as being born from a "land scam" was incorrect, though his story had some elements of truth as well.