House's myths are baseless

By KELLY L. ANDERSON
State News Staff Writer

Rumors. They surround Wills House, the red-brick structure on MSU’s northwest border near Michigan Avenue.

Many students envision important MSU visitors enjoying its glass-enclosed tower. Some believe a former University president lived there.

But they’re wrong.

It is not a former home of a University president. Nor is it a halfway house for wayward MSU students. And it definitely is not a residence hall for genius children attending MSU.

Cheri Estes, a hotel, restaurant, and institutional management junior, said when she walks by at night, a light burns in back. But rest assured, no ghosts haunt the empty bedrooms, said Carol Fosburg, a secretary for the MSU Resources Team.

"Since Mr. Wills moved out, the building has been used as headquarters for various offices. The Michigan Press Association was located on the first floor from 1969-1976," --Carol Fosburg MSU Resources Team secretary.

BUT WHAT IS the dwelling used for?

The house was built in 1927 and named for H. Merrill Wills. The U.S. Weather Bureau meteorologist lived there until the 1940’s, when he retired and donated the house to MSU. According to a document in University Archives and Historical Collection, Wills worked closely with MSU’s eighth president, Frank S. Kedzie. The one-page typed sheet is signed by Madison Kuhn and dated May 14, 1969. It is the only evidence of the house’s initial purpose in the archive’s folder.

Wills relayed forecasts that came out of Chicago and assembled returns from Michigan stations. Each afternoon he issued his own predictions for stations. He would climb to the third floor of his house, which was an observation tower, and make his predictions, according to the document.

After Wills’ retirement, the house was used as office space.

“From 1949 to 1965, the MSU personnel office was located here,� said Fosburg, who works on the first floor.

“SINCE MR. WILLS moved out, the building has been used as head- quarters for various offices,� she said. “The Michigan Press Association was located on the first floor from 1969 to 1976.�

The offices for the MSU Expanded Nutrition Program occupies half the second floor. The balk half of the second floor once held bedrooms that now stand empty.

Through a back door in the last bedroom, a narrow staircase winds up to the third-floor glass-enclosed observation tower. At the end of the tower, a door leads to the roof and a clear view of the sky.

Also on the first floor are the offices for Future Homemakers of America and Future Farmers of America.

No brutal murders, no mysterious deaths, no gentle hauntings—just a generous meteorologist who used to climb to the top of his home and predict the weather.

And that’s no snow job.