What a beautiful day it was for a walk today, and what an interesting stamp I found, on the east side of Bingham Street just north of the corner of Prospect. Actually, I had seen this one before, but always at dusk when it wasn’t worth trying to photograph something so worn. Although it was daylight this time, I still couldn’t read the name, except that it ended with “-sville.” But the date is what really got my attention: 6-08, or June 1908.

At home, I showed the photo to my husband, on my small mobile screen. We both puzzled over it for some time. The first two letters were likely two initials. We both independently arrived at the idea that the last name started with an E and that the second letter might be a Q. I tried searching for various combinations based on that and found nothing. I set the project aside for dinner.

After dinner I brought the photo up again, but this time on my laptop screen. Immediately, out of the blue, a different name emerged and I realized I was looking at “Rounsville.” It’s funny how this happens sometimes. A search confirmed it. The Annual Report of the Board of State Auditors for the State of Michigan contains several estimates from F.N. Rounsville, in September 1903, for “cement walks surrounding blocks 78 and 79.” I don’t know what blocks those are, or how blocks were numbered at the time, but I do note that it’s the earliest reference I have yet found to sidewalks in Lansing.

More searching turned up some exciting connections to names that have graced this blog before. According to James McLean and Craig A. Whitford’s Lansing: City on the Grand, 1836-1939 (a book that has helped me with research before), F.N. Rounsville was Fred Rounsville:

Rounsville Market, established in 1891 on the corner of Cedar and Michigan. Fred N. Rounsville operated this market for ten years until starting J. Clear Company, later to be known as Rounsville Cartage, which he operated for 45 years. He was also associated with Jacob Sleight’s Artificial Stone Company and was a director of the Duplex Truck Company.

James McLean and Craig A. Whitford, Lansing: City on the Grand, 1836-1939, p. 37.

On July 12, 1973, the Lansing State Journal ran an article describing a walking tour of what they called Old North Lansing, better known today as Old Town. Among the historic properties described is 1017 North Washington: “Most famous as the former home of Fred Rounsville, the founder of the Rounsville Dray Lines and the Lansing Artificial Stone Co., the house is noteworthy for its gables, porch and steeply pitched roof.” I have checked out the house in Google Street View and it is indeed lovely. I will have to visit it in person sometime.

J.P. Sleight has appeared in the blog twice so far, for a 1907 and 1908 stamp. I have also featured a stamp from the Lansing Artificial Stone Co., which was eventually owned by J.P. Sleight. Based on my own research, the LSJ may be mistaken about Rounsville being the founder of the Lansing Artificial Stone Co. I don’t doubt that he had an association with it (I have found a lot of connections between early sidewalk contractors) but an 1880 history of Ingham and Eaton Counties by Samuel W. Durant states that the Lansing Artificial Stone Co. was founded by C.W. Stevens.

Fred N. Rounsville died in 1951 around the age of 88 and is buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery.

Sadly, this sidewalk is in very bad condition, with cracks like lightning striking through it. It is in front of a large and rather unusual-looking house on the corner of Bingham and Prospect, which according to the city’s property records was built in 1909. Directly across the street is the old L.F.D. No. 4 fire station. It’s a nice corner of the neighborhood, so why not visit this stamp before it has completely crumbled away?