Capital City Sidewalks

Posted on January 14, 2023 by bunnyhugger

E. Michigan Ave., painted numbers

More mysterious painted numbers like the one I previously found on Michigan Avenue at the corner of North Foster, except this time each one is duplicated in yellow and black. Two of the three have a pink square screwed into the crack next to them. I still don’t know what it all means, but if you do, please let me know because I’m curious. I found one in front of the Church of the Resurrection, on the north side of the street between Ferguson and Custer, and one in front of the GNS TV building, a little further east.

This one is in front of the Church of the Resurrection.

Posted on January 10, 2023 by bunnyhugger

Grand River Ave., Meridian Twp., Moore Trosper, 2015

This nice Moore Trosper sign is just west of the entrance drive of the Meridian Mall, on the north side of Grand River Avenue in Meridian Township. I like how the crisply-laid date makes it clear that they are using a modular stamp in which each digit can be replaced separately.

Up ahead is the main entrance drive of the mall.

Posted on January 7, 2023January 7, 2023 by bunnyhugger

Grand River Ave., East Jordan Iron Works Utility Cover, Meridian Twp.

Here is a nice East Jordan Iron Works water utility cover from the north side of Grand River Avenue just west of the mall. I wondered if the tree by the river was from the seal of Meridian Township, but no, it appears that their seal depicts a log cabin and a tipi.

Posted on January 3, 2023 by bunnyhugger

Grand River Ave., Meridian Twp., Merlo Const., 2022

Continuing my walk near the Meridian Mall, I found another new-to-me contractor stamp. This one is in front of Buddy’s Pizza on the north side of Grand River Avenue, a short distance west of the mall entrance.

Merlo Construction is based on Milford, which is pretty far afield from Meridian Township, so I assume a pretty big project brought them here. According to the About page on their Web site, the business was founded by Perry and Ray Merlo in 1991.

The stamp isn’t visible here. It is out of frame below the right side of the photo.

Posted on December 31, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Grand River Ave., Meridian Twp., Mauldon Const., 2012

I went for a walk while waiting for my car to get a tire replacement at Discount Tire on Grand River Avenue in Meridian Township. In the process, I found a few new sidewalk stamps, for the first time in a while. This one is in front of a Taco Bell on the north side of the street, across from Meijer.

Mauldon Const. is most likely Mauldon Brothers Construction of Mason, which I believe to be the continuation of Glen Mauldon Construction (Glen having died in 2012). I can’t find out much about the business or its history, except that it seems that they particularly do sewer work and have been contracted to do such work by Meridian Township at times. It is likely, then, that this sidewalk replacement was done as the result of sewer work along Grand River.

I couldn’t get the stamp in this photo without backing into traffic, but it is just offscreen in the block on the right side of the photo.

Posted on December 27, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Everett True Wants the Sidewalks Kept Clear

My husband brought my attention to this installment of The Outbursts of Everett True, which he came to via the Classic Comic Strips (@classicstrips) Twitter. According to @classicstrips, it ran February 27, 1912. I realize that the comic ran for years and years and was bound to come to the same topics repeatedly, but it sure does seem like A.D. Condo had very strong opinions about sidewalk usability.

Posted on December 24, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Happy Holidays from Your Sidewalk Fanatic Friend

First crunch time at work and then the winter storm have prevented me from photographing the next stamp on my list, so please accept instead this photo of some Christmas lights in my east side neighborhood. And please, don’t forget to shovel and salt your sidewalk this winter.

Posted on December 20, 2022 by bunnyhugger

New Crosswalk, E. Kalamazoo St. at Mifflin

As part of the recent East Kalamazoo Street construction that also saw a lot of new sidewalk laid, a crosswalk with warning arrows was painted on Kalamazoo at Mifflin Avenue.

Kalamazoo previously had no crosswalks anywhere between Clemens and Howard, a nine-block span. This one is a lot closer to Howard than to Clemens, but it was presumably placed here due to the presence of the Village Party Store. It doesn’t have a light, even a flashing one, but at least it’s something.

Posted on December 17, 2022 by bunnyhugger

S. Stockman Rd., East Jordan Iron Works, Mt. Pleasant

I saw this utility cover depicting the seal of the city of Mount Pleasant on a recent walk there. As usual, it’s from the East Jordan Iron Works.

I failed to note the exact location, but it is somewhere on South Stockman Road near Sunset.

Posted on December 13, 2022 by bunnyhugger

E. Michigan Ave., Granger Construction, 2005

I almost always stick to the south side of the road when walking past Sparrow on East Michigan Avenue, but continuing my recent effort to record stamps in front of Sparrow, I decided to cross. The stamp from last time was in front of the Professional Building, but this one is in front of Sparrow proper, or at least its parking deck.

Yesterday’s was dated 2004 and this one 2005, but no doubt they were both part of a big Sparrow expansion project that started in 2003.