Editing Lansing, Michigan (section)

===Notable events===

====Anti-slavery movement====
In the late 1840s to early 1850s, the citizens of Lansing were unified against slavery, and the city became a secondary stop on the [[Underground Railroad]], as one of the last steps of an escape route that led through Battle Creek, Schoolcraft and Cassopolis. From Lansing, the route led to Durand, and then to either Port Huron or Detroit.<ref>{{cite book |first=Birt |last=Darling |year=1950 |title=City in the Forest: The Story of Lansing |location=New York |publisher=Stratford House |chapter=Chapter 3. Revolution: The New Party |pages=34–37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Wilbur Henry |last1=Siebert |first2=Albert Bushnell |last2=Hart |year=1898 |title=The underground railroad from slavery to freedom |location=New York |publisher=The Macmillan Company |chapter=Routes through Indiana and Michigan in 1848 as traced by Lewis Falley |page=138 |oclc=562699342}}</ref>

====Major fires====
The [[Kerns Hotel fire]] on December 11, 1934, was the deadliest in the city's history. Perhaps thirty-four people died in the fire, although the hotel register was also destroyed making an exact count impossible.

On February 8, 1951, the [[Elliott-Larsen Building]] was intentionally set on fire by a state office employee. The following morning, the seventh floor collapsed down to the next level, which destroyed a large number of state historical records.<ref>{{cite news |first=Bill |last=Castanier |title=Memories of Lansing's most devastating structural fire |location=Lansing, Michigan |work=City Pulse |url=https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/memories-of-lansings-most-devastating-structural-fire,15571 |date=February 10, 2021 |access-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-date=April 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430042821/https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/memories-of-lansings-most-devastating-structural-fire,15571 |url-status=live}}</ref>

====Elephant incident====
On September 26, 1963, a 12-year-old, 3,000-pound female dancing elephant named [[Rajje (elephant)|Rajje]] (alternately reported as Raji and Little Rajjee, among other variations) rebelled against her trainer during a performance in a shopping-center circus near what was then Logan Street and Holmes Road in Lansing, and escaped into the streets, aggravated by the frenzied pursuit of nearly 4,000 local residents. The incident ended with the shooting of the elephant by Lansing police.<ref name="life">{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFIEAAAAMBAJ&q=elephant&pg=PA34-IA2 |title=Death for a Dancing Elephant |magazine=[[Life Magazine]] |date=October 11, 1963 |page=34B |access-date=June 25, 2013 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=3838 |title=Little Rajee at King Amusements |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109020218/http://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=3838 |archive-date=November 9, 2014 |work=Elephant Database |date=October 27, 2011 |access-date=June 25, 2013}}</ref> Provoked by the growing crowd, Rajje's rampage took her through the men's wear, sporting goods and gift departments of a local [[Arlan's]] discount store before leading police on a two-mile chase in which she knocked down and injured a 67-year-old man, tried to move a car, and caused thousands of dollars in damage before being killed.

''[[Life Magazine]]'' quoted Rajje's trainer, William Pratt, as shouting at the scene, "Damn these people [...] They wouldn't leave her alone."<ref name="life"/>

The incident was widely reported, including a photospread in ''Life''.<ref name="life"/> While the ''[[Lansing State Journal]]'' coverage stressed the danger of the incident,<ref name="LSJ">{{cite news |last=Schneider |first=John |url=http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20111027/COLUMNISTS09/110270318/Regret-lingers-after-death-elephant-63?nclick_check=1 |title=Regret lingers after death of elephant in '63 |work=[[Lansing State Journal]] |date=October 28, 2011 |access-date=June 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130628031020/http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20111027/COLUMNISTS09/110270318/Regret-lingers-after-death-elephant-63?nclick_check=1 |archive-date=June 28, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the ''[[Detroit Free Press]]'' noted that witnesses cried out "Murderers! Murderers!" as police fired eight shots.<ref>{{cite news |last=Meyer |first=Zlati |url=http://www.freep.com/article/20120923/NEWS06/309230143/This-week-Michigan-history-Runaway-elephant-shot-killed-Lansing |title=This week in Michigan history: Runaway elephant is shot and killed in Lansing |work=[[Detroit Free Press]] |date=September 22, 2012 |access-date=June 25, 2013 |archive-date=February 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201033521/http://www.freep.com/article/20120923/NEWS06/309230143/This-week-Michigan-history-Runaway-elephant-shot-killed-Lansing |url-status=live}}</ref>

Author [[Nelson Algren]] cites the injustice and sad end of the pursuit of "Raji, the Pixie-Eared Elephant" in continuity with the ambush of [[Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow]] in his introduction to a 1968 biography of the outlaws.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fortune |first=Jan I. |display-authors=etal |year=1968 |title=The true story of Bonnie & Clyde |page=xiii |publisher=Signet Books |location=New York |isbn=0451058844}}</ref> Then teenage Lansing residents who had goaded the elephant later on recalled the incident with sober regret in a local newspaper retrospective in 2011.<ref name="LSJ"/>