Ionia and Lansing Railroad Ionia and Lansing Railroad The Ionia and Lansing Rail Road is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan in the 1860s and 1870s. The company incorporated on November 13, 1865; the investors hailed primarily from Lansing, Ionia and Portland. The original charter called for a from Ionia to Lansing; on January 13, 1869 this was amended with a much grander vision: a line from Lansing to the mouth of the Pentwater River at Pentwater, on the shores of Lake Michigan. In late 1869 the I&L opened a line between Lansing and Ionia; the first trains ran in
John Lansing Jr. of Robert Lansing (1799–1878), a New York State Senator and the grandfather of U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing. Lansing studied law with Robert Yates in Albany, New York, and was admitted to practice in 1775. From 1776 until 1777 during the Revolutionary War Lansing served as a military secretary to General Philip Schuyler. Afterwards he was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1780 to 1784, in 1785-86, and 1788–89, being its Speaker during the latter two terms. He served New York as a member of the Confederation Congress in 1785. In 1786, he was appointed Mayor