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Hickory St., V.D. Minnis, undated

I call this “undated” because I can’t make out a trace of a date marking, but it’s just as likely that it once had a date and it’s gotten worn away, as with other Minnis stamps. Anyway, this stamp reads (barely) “V.D. Minnis MFG Lansing” and is probably from sometime around the teens, since the Saga of the Bum Walks (1914) mentions V.D. Minnis as a city-approved (or disapproved in the case of Alderman Young) sidewalk contractor.

This stamp is on the north side of Hickory Street between Jones and Holmes.

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Larned St., DPW, 1926

This very worn Department of Public Works stamp is on the front walk of a house on the north side of Larned Street between Holmes and Jones. The last digit is a little hard to read but I think it’s 1926. Another DPW stamp across the street, similarly hard to read, I had previously decided was probably 1926, and stamps tend to come in clusters like that. The stamp is what I call the “first style” of DPW stamps, which were used from the teens through the forties.

What’s curious about this one is that it’s on a house’s front walk, not a public sidewalk. I have seen DPW stamps on driveway aprons before (presumably replaced during road or utility work) but this is the only one I have seen on a front walk. I am assuming it must have been damaged by utility work for the city to have gotten involved.

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Bingham St., J.F. Sowa, 1908

I found another J.F. Sowa stamp! I could hardly believe it, because it turned up in an area that I walk to all the time, on the west side of Bingham Street between Prospect and Kalamazoo. This is near the old fire station, which is one of my frequent destinations. As amazing as it seems to me, I must not have walked this side of the block south of Prospect before. I most often walk to the fire station by going west along Prospect Street, then head back home by either doubling back on Prospect or by going up Bingham to Eureka and turning around there. On this occasion, as there was a pretty sunset when I set out, I decided to take Kalamazoo west, which offers a better view of the sky. That resulted in my finding this stamp that has been hiding under my nose. When I got home I had to check my spreadsheet three times to be sure I had not catalogued this one before.

This one is exciting not just because of the early date, but because J.F. Sowa is one of the early contractors about whom I have been able to find the most information. He also is possibly referenced in the famous Saga of the Bum Walks. This stamp dates just two months after the only other one I have found (which is on Prospect near Jones), but it’s slightly different: the “C” marked between the name and date is not present on the earlier stamp.

Sad to say, it’s not in the best shape, though I’m happy it seems to have been repaired instead of replaced relatively recently.

Bingham really is a treasure trove of old stamps. I have previously found two other 1908 stamps, from F.N. Rounsville and J.P. Sleight, on Bingham, plus a 1910 Minnis & Ewer.

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E. Kalamazoo St., “Electric” cover

This manhole cover is on the northeast corner of East Kalamazoo and Shepard Streets. There are several of this style around the neighborhood. When I first stopped to look at it, my brain was slow to make sense of the circular inscription; I could not readily orient myself to find the start and end of the word. Unfortunately it is just “ELECTRIC,” and there is no maker’s mark on this one.

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Regent St., Illegible

This marking is on a driveway facing the sidewalk, on the west side of the 300 block of Regent Street, between Michigan and Kalamazoo. It’s visible enough to be intriguing, but not visible enough to read. There seem to be two lines of text, with the bottom one more visible.

Please excuse the bit of my fuzzy glove visible. It was a cold day.

The letters that can be most easily made out are “JAM” and I think the next two are “IE,” which made me think “Jamieson.” Unfortunately, that clue didn’t end up unlocking anything for me in my searches. The line above it looks to include “DDY,” but that’s not much to go on. But I have come to realize it is probably actually the names of people who lived in the house at one time: the bottom one is probably just plain Jamie, and perhaps the other one is “Daddy” or “Buddy.”

I could not see the handprints with my eyes at the time, but they have become visible in this photo, which makes it very clear this isn’t a contractor’s mark but a memento.

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N. Clemens Ave., BdWL, illegible date

I found this stamp on the west side of North Clemens Avenue between Vine and Fernwood. It’s extremely worn, but I can tell it is probably one of those mysterious BdWL stamps. I never have been able to figure out who that is. The date is illegible.

I like this one because of how rugged the sidewalk is here, with all the individual stones showing through in different colors. It probably indicates how worn the sidewalk is, that it’s lost its smooth finish, but I like how it looks anyway. I like how non-uniform in appearance the sidewalks are, from different concrete mixes, different contractors’ styles, and different amounts of wear.

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S. Hayford Ave., Illegible

This is almost certainly a contractor’s stamp, but it’s hopelessly illegible. The size, shape, and placement are reminiscent of the “second style” of Lansing DPW stamps, but I don’t think it is one. The only letter I think I can make out – maybe – looks like an M. It might be the first letter, but that’s not clear. In any case, the letters that can be made out do not seem to fit with the “Lansing DPW” mark.

A closeup of the stamp.

The stamp is on the east side of South Hayford Avenue between Michigan and Prospect, in the 100 block.

Further away, to show size and placement.
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S. Magnolia Ave., DPW, 1930

This very worn Lansing DPW stamp (what I call the “second style” of DPW stamps) is on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue near the southern dead end. It’s in front of the second to last house on the west side, a house which is about seven years older than the stamp.

I’ve noticed a fair number of 1930-dated DPW stamps in the Urbandale neighborhood, so there must have been a big sidewalk replacement project around then. I figure I should capture interesting stamps on these blocks while I can, because they’ve recently started removing sidewalks from the areas near the dead ends.

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Regent St., C.D. Chamberlain, 1950

This is an encore appearance by this hard-to-read C.D. Chamberlain stamp alongside the former Pagoda restaurant on the southwest corner of Regent and Michigan. I wanted to show how a previously illegible stamp can suddenly reveal itself under the right conditions. This one taunted me for a long time, until one day I had a eureka moment. This is the most legible I’ve ever see it, though, thanks to the perfect combination of snow-melt water and silt collecting in the shallow impressions.

This gives me an idea for my next big project, now that I’ve mined just about the entire east side for interesting stamps. I should go back and check the ones I originally tagged as illegible to see if anything has changed, ideally after a bit of wet weather has come through.

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Horton St., DPW, 1944

There are plenty of 1944 DPW stamps on Horton Street, but this one, on the east side of the street between Michigan and Jerome, is unusually placed. It’s on the sidewalk across the house’s driveway, and it faces sideways, toward the house, as though it were showing off to the homeowner.

This is in front of the same house as the nearly-gone hall of shame sidewalk from the last entry.