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Marsh Road (Okemos), H & C, 2007

I had business at the Meridian Mall today, so I thought I would do my first Meridian Township stamp, and get one in front of the mall. To that end I started look on Google Street View, which I sometimes do to scout a spot before walking there. It’s often possible to see stamps and even sometimes possible to read them. I was disappointed that it didn’t look like there were any stamps to be found near the front entrance. That got me wondering whether Meridian Township has the same rule about sidewalk stamping as the city of Lansing – that is, that sidewalks must be stamped with the name of the contractor and the date. I went to the Meridian Township code, but there it only said that sidewalks must be constructed according to the specifications of the Director of Public Works and Engineering. I dug around a little on the Meridian Township Web site until I found those specifications. Regarding stamping, they state:

At each end of the pour, or at least every 80’, the sidewalk/pathway must be imprinted with the contractor’s name and date stamp. The letters of the stamp shall be 1 1⁄2” high.

Meridian Township Department of Public Works

I’m surprised it specifies an exact height for the letters instead of “at least” an inch and a half as it says in Lansing’s code. It is also more specific about how frequent the stamps should be. Nevertheless, they seem infrequent in the vicinity of the mall.

Looking northeast with the mall on the left and Marsh Road on the right. The only spot I found where the public sidewalk cuts in to the mall is in the center of the picture, and the stamp is near the bottom.

Sidewalks themselves get short shrift around the mall, probably unsurprisingly, but irritatingly nonetheless. I set out to walk the outside edge of the mall and found that a sidewalk at the edge of the building exists only intermittently, mostly around the doors. The longest unbroken stretch of sidewalk is around the Macy’s wing. None of it is stamped. There is no sidewalk at all around the mall’s perimeter road. I only found one place where the public sidewalk even offers a pedestrian entrance to the mall, and it’s on the Marsh Road side rather than near the front entrance on Grand River. Having one lonely access path is so inadequate that it hardly seems worth having any at all. It makes me wonder if the township required them to have pedestrian access when they built the mall so they complied in the stingiest manner possible.

It’s near that access sidewalk that I found a stamp. I had spotted it on Google Street View so I knew it was there, and a couple more like it, though those were hidden by snow at the moment. The contractor is probably H & C Earthworks and Construction of Bath Township, about which I can’t find much information.

Looking toward the Dick’s wing of the mall from approximately the site of the stamp.
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Kipling Blvd., George Hagamier, illegible date

I was surprised and delighted to find this faint George Hagamier mark on the west side of Kipling Boulevard, alongside Capital Imaging, the commercial printer on the corner of Michigan and Kipling. I considered leaving it until I could come to it in better light, but then I remembered that sometimes streetlights make something more visible, so there would be no guarantee it would look better in daylight. The fact that I have walked this block several times without noticing it suggests that the light must have been lucky, so I decided to grab it now.

I kicked ice away to find a date and was disappointed to see that it was totally illegible. I could just make out the impression of where it would have been, but there is no hope of reading it. It is rare to find especially old stamps on or near Michigan Avenue. They are mostly 1980s through the present. I suppose it’s because the the sidewalks here are replaced a lot more often. The only other George Hagamier stamps I have found so far are from 1929 and 1930. The Capital Imaging building was built in 1926, so perhaps the stamp is from then.

Looking north on Kipling Avenue. The stamp is hard to see here but it is right at the bottom of the picture. Capital Imaging is on the left.

I tried to find out who the original occupant of the building was, and failed. From 1946 until 1998 it was Alexanian’s, a rug dealer. (Old ads state that they have “Oriental and domestic rugs” for sale.) When Alexanian’s moved out, it then became Capital Imaging. But I don’t know who was there from 1929 until 1946.

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Clifford St., Henry Davis, illegible date

This Henry Davis stamp is on the east side of Clifford Street, just north of the corner of Marcus. The important part of the date is unfortunately very marred. I would guess it is 1955, the same as the other two Henry Davis stamps I have featured.

This spot is across the street from Hunter Park, which interrupts the east-west street grid. Marcus and Elizabeth (and Fuller, which barely exists) end at Hunter Park and on the other side, Hickory, Bement, and Larned take their places, but offset. I’m curious how it developed that way. Sadly, I don’t know the history of Hunter Park and should try to look into that sometime.

Looking west into Hunter Park, with the Henry Davis stamp visible.

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Regent St., C. Gossett, 1969

I didn’t have a lot of choices again tonight, so I’m afraid all you’re getting is a very badly-lit C. Gossett stamp on the east side of Regent Street (400 block) between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth. I think that’s 1969, but I’ll have to check back in daylight to be sure.

Reviewing some previous C. Gossett entries, I notice that they were inconsistent about whether they put the date above or below the name. That’s not the most interesting observation, but it’s what I can offer.

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E. Michigan Ave., Isabella Corp., 2016

I walked out to the neighborhood I call Eastmost in order to collect a stamp I’d noted on some previous outing. I was foiled in this plan by a layer of snow covering the area where I believed the stamp to be. I gave up and started walking back. It was snowing, and even the relatively clear areas were being steadily covered. I decided I had better stop at the first sidewalk I came to that had a light coating and get to work finding something there.

I love how it looks when the snow fills in the stamp.

So that’s what I did. This Isabella Corp. stamp is in front of a pawn shop (it just calls itself “SECOND HAND STORE” on the awning, though the Internet tells me it’s properly H & M Discount Second Hand Store) on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Francis and Foster. Before the building was H & M, it was another, very similar-looking pawn shop. It was built in 1952 and its first occupant seems to have been Associates Discount Corp. I went to find out more about them and Googling their name got me pages of caselaw references – usually them suing someone but occasionally someone suing them. I learned that they were an auto finance company, so apparently the building has stayed in the loan business.

I walked along this stretch of Michigan dragging a boot at the top and bottom of each sidewalk slab until I uncovered something. I wonder what the next person to walk by made of it.

Prior to becoming Associates Discount Corp., the address belonged to Jack Royeton Inc., a Kaiser-Frazer car dealer. Once upon a time, Eastmost was the dealership district. It’s amazing to think what it that must have been like.

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N. Clemens Ave., Mike & Son, 2018

This plain and to-the-point stamp is on the east side of North Clemens Avenue between Michigan and Jerome, next to the parking lot behind Asian Gourmet. I have passed it by several times recently thinking I had already featured it, but this evening I finally checked to discover that no, I hadn’t.

The only Mike & Son I can find is Mike & Son Asphalt in Bath, but their Web site only mentions asphalt paving and there isn’t anything there to suggest they do concrete work, so I don’t know if there is a connection or not.

Looking south on North Clemens. The stamp is on the closest full slab, facing away from the viewer.
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N. Fairview Ave., J.A. Johnson, 1968

It was another night of slim pickings as snow was falling, dusting even the sidewalks that had been cleared, except the scant few that had been salted. (Bless those folks.) This one is on the east side of North Fairview Avenue between Michigan and Jerome, next to the parking lot for the Arcadia Smokehouse.

This is a nicely crisp J.A. Johnson stamp. The date is less clear, but with a flashlight and a few angles I figured out that it is 1968. I haven’t learned anything about J.A. Johnson, unfortunately, despite seeing their stamps scattered around the east side. I do always mull over the unlikely possibility that J.A. was a relative of the Jim Johnson I used to play in a local pinball league with.

Facing south on North Fairview. Whoops, I think I failed to get the stamp in this photo. I believe it’s just below this photo.
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Leslie St., Cantu & Sons, 1988

Yes, it’s the blog’s bread and butter, a Cantu & Sons stamp. It must have been a real sight to see so many sidewalks around the east side worked on at (almost) the same time in 1987-88. I wonder why the city did such a huge sidewalk replacement project then?

Note the imprint of the YakTrax I’ve been wearing over my boots ever since I took a spill on a patch of ice and cracked my head on the pavement.

Anyway, I didn’t have much choice. Even most of the sidewalks that had been cleared after last night’s snowstorm had another fine layer of snow on them. Luckily I could make out the white shadow of a stamp in order to know where to brush the pavement off with my mitten.

Looking south on Leslie.

I walked this way because this house still has long strings of lights on their fences, stretching impressively along the west side of the 400 block of Leslie, between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth. They flash and twinkle and on a cold winter night like this, I’m sure glad they’re still around.

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Hickory St., Minnis & Ewer, 1911

I walked a bit around the neighborhood west of Hunter Park, and fortunately got a stamp photographed before the heavy snow started in the second half of my walk. I haven’t surveyed this neighborhood for sidewalk stamps very much yet, so I was delighted to find a Minnis & Ewer stamp I haven’t recorded yet, on the north side of Hickory Street between Pennsylvania and Jones.

The western stamp.

Most Minnis & Ewer stamps are very clear and crisp. This is the most faded one I’ve encountered. It’s not entirely legible, and I could recognize it mainly by shape. I could not read the month, but at least I could make out the 11 for the year.

Looking east on Hickory. This is quite close to the Pennsylvania intersection.

There is a second one, even more worn, in front of the next house to the east, which might be the other half of a pair. Supporting this is that it faces in the opposite direction. I haven’t observed any obviously paired Minnis & Ewer stamps before, but it might just reflect how many of them have been lost over the years.

The stamp to the east, possibly part of a pair.
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N. Fairview Ave., Beaver Systems, undated

The whimsical name on this one caught my eye. It’s on the west side of North Fairview Avenue between Fernwood and Saginaw.

When I went to search for the contractor involved, a bunch of pictures popped up, showing a drainage system such as I have in my basement. From that I learned that a Beaver System is a trade name for this kind of setup, in which a channel (or, as I have now learned it’s called, a dam) is installed at floor level to trap infiltrating water and send it to a sump pump. Ours was not a brand name Beaver installation, but the name “beaver system” seems to have genericized and gets applied to any such installation.

From what I can tell, Beaver Systems is a franchise. It doesn’t look like anyone is doing business under that name in metro Lansing, but I can find references from about ten years ago to a Beaver Systems in Holt, and other undated references to one in Grand Ledge.