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S. Magnolia Ave., Able, 1986

This Able variation is on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue just south of Prospect. Their name at the time had a more generalist sound to it, versus the current moniker of “Able Concrete.”

The southern stamp, which is the one I found first.

I know now to look for a paired stamp and I found one a little way north, but both were facing in the same direction. Usually the paired stamp is facing the opposite way.

The northern stamp.

This got me wondering. Cantu & Sons has the greatest representation on the east side, hands down. But who covers the greatest span of time? I have found an Able stamp as recent as 2004 and now as early as 1986.

Looking south on Magnolia. The southern of the two stamps is visible.

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E. Michigan Ave., Able Concrete, 2004

Able Concrete and Cantu & Sons went in opposite directions: Able added “Concrete” to their stamp sometime between 1999 and 2004, while Cantu & Sons dropped it in 1987.

This stamp is on the south side of East Michigan Avenue between Magnolia and Hayford, in front of the McDaniels Insurance Agency.

This pleasantly old-fashioned little storefront was built in 1910. I don’t know for sure how long McDaniels has occupied the building, only that they don’t own it. Google Street View shows them moving in sometime between 2011 and 2015, preceded by Salon on Michigan. Based on city personal property tax records, I can see that other businesses that have occupied it include Afrikan Egyptian Bazaar (seemingly in the late 90s to early 2000s, though I don’t remember it at all) and some rando named Virgil Bernero. I’m just kidding, Virg, I voted for you. Based on the dates, he must have used it as his campaign office for the 2005 election.

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Able, Jerome St., 1999

This is another one of the many 1999-dated Able stamps around the east side, in this case on the south side of Jerome just east of Horton. When I wrote my last Able Concrete entry, I failed to recognize something that subsequently hit me while watching TV. Oh yeah… it’s the people with the jingle! “We’re ready, we’re willing, we’re Able… Concrete!” Unfortunately, I can’t find the jingle online, but if you watch TV in the Lansing market then you know what I am talking about. I had not made the connection at first.

Unlike, say, Cantu Builders, who have drifted away from their concrete business roots, Able Concrete still proudly have concrete right in their jingle. (Note: if you experience concrete in your jingle that lasts more than four hours, seek medical attention.)

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Able, Regent St., 1999

I moved to Lansing in 1999, so this pavement and I have spent about the same amount of time in the neighborhood. It’s on the east side of Regent’s 300 block, between Michigan and Kalamazoo.

Able Concrete of Dewitt is responsible for several 90s-early 2000s slabs on the blocks I walk regularly. There’s nothing really special about this one, but it does help me toward my goal of having at least one representative of each decade. I had originally figured that would be from the 1910s on, but then yesterday I had a surprise from 1907, so now I’ll be able to cover the whole 20th century.