LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Newly adorning the Heritage Hall of the Capitol is a recreation of the office of former State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Henry Romaine Pattengill – who passed away more than a century ago.

The New York native moved to Michigan in his youth, and graduated from the University of Michigan with a literary degree in 1874, just over a decade before he would move to Lansing and take up a teaching position at Michigan Agricultural College, Michigan State University’s former name. 

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Later, he became the Superintendent of St. Louis School District in Michigan before later moving to Ithaca schools. A permanent display in the state commemorates his accomplishments, including a historical marker. 

“As a textbook author, an orator and editor of Moderator-Topics, a journal for educators, he shaped Michigan’s education system,” the Historical Site sign reads. “He championed the creation of rural district libraries, free textbooks, compulsory attendance and teacher certification. Running as a Progressive, he lost his bid for governor in 1914.”

According to Valerie Marvin, a Capitol Historian and Curator, the purpose of the “Office Case” exhibit is to “evoke the idea of the original departmental offices in the Capitol.” 

“This iteration honors the Superintendent of Public Instruction,” she said in an email to Michigan News Source, “The historical equivalent of the State Superintendent of Education. Our long term goal is to redress the case roughly once a year to reflect a different department that once worked in the Capitol.” 

According to Marvin, the original office for the Superintendent of the Public Instruction’s office was located in the west wing, on the first floor. 

“It originally started out in what is now Rep. Aiyash’s office (the current House Floor Leader) and then expanded into Senator Moss’s office (the current President of the Senate),” Marvin added, “Eventually, the Superintendent’s staff also used all of the west wing rooms on the ground floor.”

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Pattengill was one of 21 Superintendents of Public Instruction who used the office when it was located in the Capitol according to Capitol Education Coordinator, Cambray Sampson. 

“In 1892, Henry Pattengill was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction,” she said. “Today, the Superintendent of Public Instruction is an appointed position, but at that point in time it was still an elected position. He was re-elected in 1894 and served until 1896.” 

The bust of Pattengill and his other materials were donated by Lille Foster, a local historian supporter and Pattengill descendant. 

Patengill was laid to rest in Lansing’s Mount Hope Cemetery after his death in November 1918 at the age of 66.