When making a trip to the Capitol to meet with legislators, visitors will often hear their meeting is in either the HOB or BOB office buildings.  Those acronyms stand for the Anderson House Office Building (HOB), the offices for the House of Representatives and the Binsfeld Office Building (BOB), which is where Senate offices are located.  The meaning behind those buildings’ names holds some important Michigan history.

The Binsfeld Office Building (BOB) is named after Michigan’s 60^th Lt. Governor Connie Binsfeld.  I had the honor of knowing and working with her when I was on Senate staff as she was nearing her retirement from politics.  Throughout her career, she had many noteworthy accomplishments. There are too many to list in one blog post, so I’ll focus on some of the highlights. In addition to being the first woman in Executive Branch leadership, she was also the first female to hold leadership positions in the state House and Senate.  She’s also known for working on a number of issues that significantly benefited our state and its citizens.  One such area involved being a tireless advocate for children.  She headed up the “Binsfeld Children’s Commission” which led to numerous reforms in state law that helped the youngest Michiganders.

Cora Reynolds Anderson, whom the Anderson House Office Building (HOB) is named for, is someone that I have not had the pleasuring of working with and there is a good reason, she was born in 1882!  She also had many achievements during her career, including becoming the first woman elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 1925.  She holds another distinct honor of being the first Native American elected to the state House.  If you visit the HOB, her portrait, and a description of her life’s work, will greet you as you walk in the main entrance.

As someone that works in Lansing every day, it’s nice to know that these two buildings are named after important trailblazers in our state’s legislative history.

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