Ludington Center Opens – Preview Tour

Also known as the “101” building, the Ludington Center at 101 N. Superior Street, on the corner of W. Cass Street (next to City Hall) and N. Superior Street,  is a newly restored building adding vitality to downtown Albion. Below is the executive meeting area and we also show a gallery of views from inside.

The Executive Suite upstairs at the Ludington Center

Take a tour below by hovering on a photo to see the caption, and you can click on a photo to enlarge it and to read the whole caption.


About the building:  (from Leslie Dick on facebook) “It was the old Kessler-Parker building after the 1908 flood that destroyed many buildings on the block. In most of our oldest memories it was Knuth Furniture. It was the original site of Gale Manufacturing, then Albion Malleable Iron Company before the removal of those industries to the west side. It was named for William Kessler, owner of AMIC, and his stepson, Harry Parker who also built Parker Hotel (Munger Place) and 501 E. Michigan Ave, where Albion College president lives today.


“This can be viewed in two ways,” said Andrew French, the College’s director of community action and the building’s manager. “It can be viewed as a College building where the community participates, or it can be viewed as a community building where the College participates. We want to make it a community place. We want our community to think of this space as a place where they collaborate, with each other or with folks who work at the College, on all sorts of projects.”

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The Ludington Center at 101 N. Superior St. in downtown Albion, has opened to the community and the College.

French said the Ludington Center is the latest downtown project – following the Kids ‘N’ Stuff Children’s Museum in 2002 and the Bohm Theatre renovation in 2014, and ahead of the Courtyard Marriott hotel, currently under construction – to bring the community and the College together.

Source:  Albion College website article


“The Ludington Center, Albion College’s latest connection between the College and the City of Albion, officially opened January 3, (2017).

Located at 101 N. Superior St. in a renovated building constructed in 1900 that is adjacent to Albion City Hall, the Ludington Center will be the new home for several College organizations as well as a community career and internship center, and includes classroom and meeting space.

‘This can be viewed in two ways,” said Andrew French, the College’s director of community action and the building’s manager. “It can be viewed as a College building where the community participates, or it can be viewed as a community building where the College participates. We want to make it a community place. We want our community to think of this space as a place where they collaborate, with each other or with folks who work at the College, on all sorts of projects.’ ”

Source:  Albion College website:


The Build Albion AmeriCorps VISTA Initiative serves at the Ludington Center when they are not throughout the community at their partnering service sights. You may see more of them in the next few months as they are doing their Albion Forward Community Survey. More information on that can be found at their facebook page – Facebook.com/BuildAlbionVista