Welcome to East Lansing & Lansing, Michigan

 East Lansing is located directly east of Lansing, Michigan, the state's capital. Most of the city is within Ingham County, though a small portion lies in Clinton County. It is best known as the home of Michigan State University.

MSU's Division I sports teams are called the Spartans. They compete in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except ice hockey, in which the team is part of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. MSU's football team won the Rose Bowl in 1954, 1956, and 1988 and boasts six national championships.Its men's basketball team won the NCAA National Championship in 1979 and 2000 while currently enjoying a streak of five Final Four appearances in the last past 11 seasons. MSU men's ice hockey has won national titles in 1966, 1986, and 2007.

The settlement of East Lansing began around 1847, the same year nearby Lansing was made the capital of the state of Michigan. Downtown East Lansing was an important junction of two major Native American trails: the Okemah Road, and the Park Lake Trail. By 1850, the Lansing and Howell Plank Road Company was established to connect a toll road to the Detroit and Howell Plank Road, improving travel between Detroit and Lansing, which cut right through what is now East Lansing. The toll road was finished in 1853, and included seven tollhouses between Lansing and Howell.

Michigan State University was founded in 1855 and established in what is now East Lansing in 1857. For the first four decades, the students and faculty lived almost entirely on the College campus. A few commuted from Lansing, and that number increased when a streetcar line was built in the 1890s, but there were few places to live in the then-rural area immediately around the campus.

The city's downtown area is centered around Grand River Avenue, a wide tree-lined boulevard that evolved out of the 19th century plank road that connected Lansing to Detroit. Grand River Avenue serves as dividing line between the Michigan State University campus and the rest of the city. Grand River Ave. is lined with many college-oriented businesses, such as bars, tanning salons, coffee shops, head shops, restaurants (many dine al fresco) and bookstores. Immediately north of downtown are predominantly student neighborhoods. Further north of that is the residential part of the city, which is much like any other suburb. At the very northern tier of the city are several new student-oriented apartment complexes.

Michigan State University (MSU) is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act. Its alumni include at least six winners of the Pulitzer Prize. Behind the University of Michigan, MSU has the second-most Rhodes Scholars of any Big 10 school. MSU pioneered the studies of packaging, hospitality business, telecommunication, and music therapy. Today its study-abroad program is the largest of any single-campus university in the country, offering more than 200 programs in more than 60 countries on all continents including Antarctica. It is considered to be one of America's Public Ivy universities, which recognizes top public research universities in the United States.

Football has a long tradition at Michigan State. Starting as a club sport in 1884, football gained varsity status in 1896.It won the Rose Bowl in 1954, 1956, and 1988. The Spartans accounted for four of the top eight selections in the 1967 NFL Draft, the only time a college football program has accomplished such a feat.

Today, the football team competes in Spartan Stadium, a renovated 75,005 seat football stadium near the center of campus. The current coach is Mark Dantonio, who was hired on November 27, 2006.Dantonio had an 18–17 record in his three year tenure at the University of Cincinnati, including a 1–0 Bowl Game record.He led the team in its first season to a 7–6 record. The Spartans played in the Champs Sports Bowl against Boston College on December 28, 2007 and the Capital One Bowl against Georgia on January 1, 2009. MSU's traditional archrival is the University of Michigan, against whom they compete annually for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Michigan State is one of three Big Ten teams to have an annual non-conference football game against Notre Dame. MSU's record against the Fighting Irish is 25–44–1 but the Spartans have had much success against the Irish recently, becoming the first team ever to win six straight games at Notre Dame Stadium.

MSU's men's basketball team has won the National Championship twice: in 1979 and again in 2000.In 1979, Earvin "Magic" Johnson,along with Greg Kelser,Jay Vincent,and Mike Brkovich, led the MSU team to a 75–64 win against the Larry Bird-led Indiana State Sycamores. In 2000, three players from Flint, Michigan, Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell,and Mateen Cleavesled the team to its second national title. Dubbed the "Flintstones", they were the key to the Spartans' win against the University of Florida. On December 13, 2003, Michigan State and Kentucky played in the Basketbowl, in which a record crowd of 78,129 watched the game in Detroit’s Ford Field. Kentucky won 79–74. The team currently plays at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center under head coach Tom Izzo, who has a 331-136 record. The student spirit section is the Izzone. Izzo's coaching has helped the team make five Final Fours since 1999, winning the title in 2000, and twelve consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. In 2009 the Spartans made it to the National Championship and lost 72-89 to North Carolina

The MSU men's ice hockey team started in 1924, though it has only been a varsity sport since 1950. The team has since won national titles in 1966, 1986, and 2007. The Spartans came close to repeating the national title in 1987, but lost the championship game to the University of North Dakota. They play at MSU's Munn Ice Arena. Former head coach Ron Mason, is college hockey's winningest coach with 924 wins total and 635 at MSU. The current head coach is Rick Comley, who has a 34–19–3 record at MSU.Since the Big Ten Conference does not include Division I men's ice hockey, Michigan State competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Michigan State leads the CCHA in all-time wins, is second in CCHA Conference championships with 7, and is first in CCHA Tournament Championships with 11. Along with the University of Michigan (U-M) and the Ohio State University, it is one of three Big Ten schools in the CCHA. As with other sports, the hockey rivalry between MSU and U-M is a fierce one, and on October 6, 2001, MSU faced U-M in the Cold War, during which a world record crowd of 74,554 packed Spartan Stadium to watch the game end in a 3–3 tie.In the 2006–2007 season, the Men's Ice Hockey team defeated Boston College for its third NCAA hockey championship.