This Minnis & Ewer stamp is on East Kalamazoo Street between Jones and Holmes. There are several of these in the area and I’ve always admired them. The border and curved lettering add a touch of eye appeal. They’re a good size and have deep and clear impressions.

Unfortunately it is undated, as are all of the Minnis & Ewer stamps I have found. I find a listing for Minnis & Ewer in a 1908 Lansing city directory which identifies the proprietors as Verner D. Minnis and Edward C. Ewer. They also have a sideline ad in the directory which reads, “MINNIS & EWER | Contractors and Builders of CEMENT SIDEWALKS AND FLOORS / Bell 1113-L. Citizens 1188 / 725 PINE STREET NORTH.” Oddly, 725 N. Pine St. is a residence built in 1891, implying that Minnis & Ewer operated out of a home, which doesn’t quite make sense to me.

One of my goals is to find the oldest stamp I can. Since Minnis & Ewer were active in 1908 it’s possible this is older than the oldest date I’ve found so far (1929, and more on that in a later post no doubt). There’s no way to know short of doing a bit more research than I’m prepared to right now, but if I get invested enough in this blog, maybe someday I will.