Fifty years ago, on a sunny Sunday in October 1975, President N. Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency dedicated a new institute of religion and student living center across the street from Michigan State University, in East Lansing, Michigan. At the time, he called the project an “experiment” in providing Church-supported student housing at a secular university.
This month, hundreds of former and current residents joined Church and community leaders in East Lansing to celebrate the Stoddard Student Living Center’s 50th anniversary — commemorating a visionary pilot program that has evolved into a spiritual haven for young single adults.
A vision to ‘build Zion in Michigan’
The Stoddard Student Living Center was the brainchild of the late Howard J. Stoddard and his wife, Jennie Stoddard. Howard Stoddard, a prominent Latter-day Saint banker, dreamed of creating a “refuge” for college students to live near campus while upholding Church standards.
In the mid-1960s, Stoddard observed many youth leaving Michigan for Church schools out west. “My father wanted to build Zion in Michigan and not ‘export’ our youth to the west,” said one of his sons, Charles C. Stoddard, during 50th anniversary festivities over the weekend of Oct. 18 and 19.
To turn that vision into reality, Howard Stoddard secured a prime 9-acre property adjacent to MSU and contributed much of the funding to build an institute building and two apartment halls.
Sadly, Howard Stoddard died in 1971, just a few years before his dream was realized. But his family carried the project forward — and in October 1975, President Tanner, the first counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the newly completed Howard and Jennie Stoddard Living Center and East Lansing Institute of Religion in Stoddard’s honor.
“At the dedication, President Tanner urged [us] to make the center work as a place where young single adults could live Church standards, worship, [and] study the gospel in the nearby institute of religion,” recalls a historical account of the center written by Lindon J. Robison and Brian A. Croft. President Tanner understood the center was meant as a prototype for possible future projects.
Robison and Croft wrote that at the dedication, President Tanner told those who have responsibility for the living center that “this is a pilot project, and if you people don’t make it work, the rest of the Church will suffer.”
“It has not happened yet,” said Charles Stoddard of replicating the concept, “but it is never too late.”
To this day, the Stoddard Student Living Center remains a singular institution — “the only Church-owned student apartment complex not associated with a Church school,” as a 1998 Church News article observed.
One-of-a-kind experiment proves successful
From the outset, the Stoddard center drew attention as a one-of-a-kind operation. Church authorities and educators periodically visited East Lansing to see how the living and learning experiment was faring.
Over five decades, the center has become an anchor for Latter-day Saint student life in Michigan. Its modest campus features a 6,000-square-foot institute of religion with chapel and classrooms; two 17-unit apartment buildings, separate for men and women; an indoor recreation room; and even outdoor amenities like a fire pit and nature trails along the Red Cedar River.
This close proximity of living, learning and Church facilities created a unique spiritual community.
Max Fernandez, who currently resides at the student center, said he has found a “spiritual safe haven from the world.”
“With the provided resources of both the living center and the institute building,” he said, “I was blessed to grow spiritually and stay grounded in the gospel.”
A student branch of the Church was organized at MSU in 1972 and moved into the new institute building in 1975. By 1978, that branch had grown into the East Lansing Young Single Adult Ward, headquartered at the Stoddard center.
“You always wonder if the living center wasn’t there, what would have happened,” Charles Stoddard reflected. Countless alumni testify that their college years at the center strengthened their commitment to the gospel — yielding missions, temple marriages and lifelong friendships that continue to bless the Church far beyond East Lansing.
That influence has extended even to those not of the faith. Charles Stoddard recalls giving a tour of the complex to Michigan State’s basketball coach Tom Izzo in 2013, when the coach was recruiting a Latter-day Saint athlete. Izzo was so impressed by the center’s Honor Code-style standards that “he said he wished his entire team could live there.”
Golden anniversary reunion and reflections
On October 12, 2025 — 50 years since the original dedication — the Lansing Michigan Stake hosted a reunion weekend for the Stoddard Student Living Center’s golden anniversary. Hundreds of alumni, current residents and friends of the center gathered in East Lansing to reminisce and give thanks for five decades of blessings.
The festivities included a service project — collaborating with local nonprofits — where students and former residents worked side by side, educational and devotional classes, a commemorative program and dinner and a special Sunday devotional and sacrament meeting for all the reunion attendees.
Elder Brent B. Ward, Area Seventy, said, “I trust you will leave with lasting memories as you celebrate the impact of the Stoddard Student Center — yesterday, today and for decades to come."
Elder Ward also expressed deep gratitude to the Stoddard family for their “pioneering vision and extraordinary generosity” in establishing the center, noting that without their investment “none of this would have been possible.”
Charles Stoddard traveled from Michigan’s Lower Peninsula to represent his family. He shared personal stories about his father’s determination to “have a Church living center at MSU,” his friendships with General Authorities who helped approve the project and memories of that beautiful autumn day in 1975 when President Tanner dedicated the center.
He fondly recalled that the dedication was so well-attended and warm that the folding chairs sank into the freshly paved parking lot — leaving behind what he jokingly called a “holey parking lot.”
The stories shared by current and past residents echoed common themes of spiritual growth, safety and friendship. “Living at the Stoddard center completely changed the direction of my life,” said Brady Cox, who moved in during the COVID-19 pandemic while struggling with his faith. “I wasn’t sure if I even believed in God … [but] the Stoddard Living Center became a sanctuary for me.”
With Brady surrounded by encouraging roommates and full-time missionaries, his doubts turned into faith. “Ultimately, those experiences led me to serve a mission,” he said, adding that he “wouldn’t have the same testimony” without having lived at the center.
Beth Fredrickson, a current MSU student, said the center and institute provides “one of the greatest communities for me” during college. “As a member of the Church, it’s often hard to find people who share similar values … The community at the living center allows me to have fun while still being faithful,” she shared. Like many others, Fredrickson said she is grateful every day for the “blessings that come from … living with people who follow” the gospel.
Those sentiments fulfill exactly what Howard Stoddard hoped to achieve back in 1975. His goal was not only to keep young Latter-day Saints close to the Church during their college years but also to help them “build some lifelong friendships and marry in the temple” — in short, to build Zion at MSU.
“We are unified here. It is like family,” one early resident, Kristine Parker, said of the center.
Looking ahead: Building Zion wherever Latter-day Saints gather
As the anniversary celebration concluded, participants reflected on the ongoing purpose of the Stoddard Student Living Center — and its broader legacy.
Fredrickson said, “One of the most important things you can have in college is a community. The Stoddard living center and MSU institute have been one of the greatest communities for me.”
For 50 years it has been that community, blessing countless lives and providing a model of Zion in miniature: a community of Saints united in gospel living amid the often chaotic world of college life.
Isabelle Christensen, who currently resides at the center said, “College has been quite the adventure, and being able to live at the living center as well as attend institute has made that adventure all the better.”
While that adventure could be hard for many, Ruben Contreras-Spencer, who lives at the center, said that “the Stoddard center has also been an environment that has helped me to grow and learn and overall thrive here.”
Dan Jones, also living at the center, agreed. “The Stoddard center, and especially the Spirit felt here, has transformed my life.”
Speaking of the center’s future, Charles Stoddard said, “Given its success the past 50 years, it is well positioned to touch many lives for another 50 years.” And while this singular pilot project has yet to be duplicated elsewhere, its influence endures.
As the Stoddard center enters its next half-century, it continues to be a beacon of light and fellowship for young adults seeking to, as President Tanner prayed at that dedication so long ago, “strengthen one another, that [the Lord’s] will may be done and much good accomplished.”
