Posted on by bunnyhugger

Will Groesbeck Join the Land of Milk, Honey, and Sidewalks?

I have to apologize for the lack of sidewalk content today. It’s been very hot, so I’ve been taking my walks at night, which isn’t good for finding sidewalk markings to share. So instead I’ll offer a link to an article that has nothing at all to do with sidewalks. The City Pulse has reported today that residents of the part of the Groesbeck neighborhood that lies within Lansing Township have requested to be annexed by Lansing. My immediate reaction was, “Of course they have. We have much better sidewalks.”

According to the article, “a leader of the effort… declined to discuss why the residents were seeking annexation.” Surely, though, it’s because they have noticed how only the Lansing side of Mifflin Avenue has a sidewalk and how the border between Lansing and Lansing Township on Michigan Avenue is marked by the sidewalk mostly disappearing.

Admittedly, I think that the Groesbeck neighborhood itself has adequate sidewalk coverage (though they’re probably not stamped, since I don’t think Lansing Township has a marking ordinance). But the overall better effort with respect to sidewalks in Lansing is surely still a point in the city’s favor.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Sidewalk construction notice, 1940

The May 16, 1940, State Journal has a “Notice to Property Owners of Sidewalk Construction” for a large number of properties on Lenawee, Washtenaw, and Gordon Avenue, all on the west side. I see such notices a lot in the 1910s, but not so often this far into the century. The official verbiage used is nearly the same as it was 25 years previous: “Resolved by the city council of that it Is a necessary public Improvement…” but instead of saying that “a sidewalk shall be constructed” this commands that a sidewalk shall be “repaired.” So evidently, someone had laid a lot of bum walk on Lenawee and Gordon, since it was already in such need of repair by 1940. Also of interest is that the resolution was brought by an Alderman Schneeberger; I don’t know if he was any relation to the E. Schneeberger whose name turns up in 1920s sidewalk markings.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Mifflin Ave., Saddest Sidewalk in Lansing?

This forlorn half a block of sidewalk is a contender for the saddest sidewalk in Lansing. I’m pretty confident in crowning it the saddest sidewalk on the east side, anyway. It’s the southernmost part of the side of Mifflin Avenue that actually has a sidewalk, which is of course the Lansing (i.e. west) side. The Lansing Township side has none.

Looking south toward the southern terminus of Mifflin Avenue’s sidewalk. The last house on this side of the block is visible, and beyond it, the Harton Street Pump Station.

The sidewalk here ends a short distance south of the last house, probably at the edge of that house’s lot. Further south from here, across Harton, is the Harton Street Pump Station. North of the last house there are two vacant lots where neighboring houses were torn down. The sidewalk is overgrown and disappearing from the start of the vacant area through to the end.

Looking north.

I nearly had my first sidewalk-blog-related injury taking these photos. Do you see what I suddenly saw as I stood there taking a photo (below) of the very last piece of concrete?

Look toward the center of the sidewalk, just past the end of it. Hint: it has three leaves.

It’s poison ivy. I thought to myself that I was lucky I hadn’t gone any further, but then suddenly I had a bad feeling and turned around to look behind me. I could see more patches of it, some of it actually over the sidewalk such that I would have had to walk through it to get where I was standing. I never had poison ivy in my life until sometime in the last decade, and then I had a bad case of it that lasted six weeks. Now I am usually more careful, but being in the city caused me to let my guard down, foolishly. I was wearing shorts and sandals, so I walked home immediately after taking these photos and scrubbed myself down with Tecnu poison ivy remover. I would have broken out by now if I was going to get it, so either I somehow obliviously dodged it like a baby crawling through a construction zone in a cartoon, or I got all the oil off before I could react.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

S. Francis Ave., Cantu & Sons, 1987

This is from the very last, sad-looking piece of sidewalk on the west side of the south end of South Francis Avenue, in the beleaguered Urbandale neighborhood. The sidewalk peters out at the southern end of the southernmost house’s lot. Unlike on the other side of the street which has had its sidewalk removed, it appears that the sidewalk may always have ended here, based on there being no trace of it in the 2007 Google Street View. The stamp looks off-center, but only because the sidewalk is sinking into the earth on the left.

Oddly, the vacant land south of here (at least part of which is occupied by an urban farm) is owned by the City of Lansing Parks and Recreation Department. A lot of parcels on the southernmost blocks of Urbandale are owned by the city or the county, but the puzzling part is what the Parks Department’s involvement is in this. I haven’t seen that in other city-owned lots. The boundary sketch of it in the city records show a fairly large piece of land that stretches way out to the west behind Foster Avenue, where it forms an L-shape around something labeled “DNR Polluted Site.” I’d like to know more about that, too.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

S. Hayford Ave., Telegraph/Fire Alarm cover revisited

I was walking past this telegraph/fire alarm utility cover on the northeast corner of South Hayford Avenue and Elizabeth Street, and I decided to try kicking dirt off it in order to read the rest of the manufacturer’s name.

It’s hard to see in the photo, but I was able to determine that the outer edge reads “Capital Casting Co., Lansing Michigan.” According to OpenCorporates, the Capital Casting Company was incorporated in 1905 and dissolved in 1986. Its registered address is given as 6869 West Grand River Avenue, which (if the numbering is the same) would be in the vicinity of the Capital Area Humane Society today. An article from the May 8, 1938, State Journal titled “Lansing has 65 little industries-from guns to automobile,” which Timothy Bowman has republished in his highly recommended local history blog, instead gives its address as 500 South Hosmer Street. Today that address belongs to Lansing Flooring Supplies, but the building is newer. A similar article on local industries from the February 4, 1973, State Journal does not mention Capital Casting.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Prospect St., illegible name, 1952(?)

This hopelessly worn stamp is on a driveway apron on the south side of Prospect Street between Virginia and Holmes. The only part that can be made out is the date, which I am inclined to say is 1952, especially since that’s the year the house was built. I had hoped that I would be able to make something of the contractor name by tweaking the photo, but no luck. The style of the date marking is unfamiliar – it’s larger than most – so I wonder if it is a contractor I haven’t covered in the blog yet. Sadly, I’ll never know.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Prospect St., J. DeHoney, illegible date

This is a rare stamp that I had overlooked in the past, probably because it’s on the side of Prospect Street that has no sidewalk. It’s on the apron of a driveway on the south side of Prospect, right across from where the T-intersection with Virginia is.

I can recognize the contractor’s name, J. DeHoney, based on the couple other DeHoney stamps I have found in the past, which were also on Prospect. The date is a lost cause, but based on my previous research on DeHoney, he was active in the 1950s and 60s. As noted in my previous entry, there is a classified ad in the December 14, 1951, Lansing State Journal for “CEMENT Basement floors, garage, slabs, footings and general concrete construction. Free estimates. Satisfaction assured. DeHoney and Forsberg.” At the time I wrote that entry, I did not yet recognize the name Forsberg, but now I do. DeHoney was most likely partnered with T.A. Forsberg, a big name in Lansing construction and real estate development.

The stamp is on the driveway of this 1920s house.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

Rumsey Ave., Don Plantz, 2020

Here’s a new stamp for the blog. Unfortunately I can’t tell you much about it that isn’t right there on the tin. Don Plantz Concrete, LLC, has no Web site that I can find, but OpenCorporates says it was incorporated in 2018 in East Lansing, and it seems to still be active.

This stamp is on the driveway of a house on the west side of Rumsey Avenue’s northernmost block.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Rumsey Avenue, new unsigned sidewalk

I don’t know whether to put this one in the Hall of Shame – because it is newly installed walk that lacks the correct markings – or the Hall of Fame – because it’s newly installed walk in a place that didn’t have any before and needed it. So I’ll take the average, and leave it in the heap with the rest of the ordinary entries. It’s an extension of the sidewalk at the north end of Rumsey Avenue, on the west side of the street.

In this photo I’m facing south, and standing on the new asphalt path.

The sidewalk used to stop at the end of the street. There is a long, narrow green area that runs east-west from Marshall Street next to Lansing Catholic High School to the Don Johnson Fieldhouse, passing the dead ends of Rumsey and Ferguson. People often use it to walk their dogs. Recently, an asphalt path was added to the strip, making it a good route for bicyclists and pedestrians. This sidewalk extension connects Rumsey to the new path. I’ll be using this route to walk to my polling place soon, which is being moved to the Fieldhouse from the Pilgrim Congregational Church, where it’s been since the previous location to that, Bingham Street School, was demolished.