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Prospect St., unsigned, 1949

Here is a curiously unsigned date stamp from the north side of Prospect between Bingham and Pennsylvania. Most of the 1940s stamps I find are from the Department of Public Works, so I am inclined to suspect their hand in this. If so, I am sorry they didn’t complete the marking, as I have no 1949 DPW stamps recorded, and I am trying to figure out when they switched to stamping DPS instead. The latest 1940s stamp I have found is a 1945 which probably says DPW but that part is worn enough to be unclear. The next prior one I have is a clear 1944 DPW stamp. After that it skips to 1950, at which time they were now identifying themselves as the Lansing DPS.

Looking west at the corner of Prospect and Pennsylvania. The house here faces Pennsylvania.

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Hall of Shame: Unstamped sidewalk on Allen St.

I’m inducting this unstamped stretch of new sidewalk into the Hall of Shame. It’s located on the east side of Allen Street north of Kalamazoo, in front of the new Allen Place development. Contractor, your name is not upon the walk.

Strange that this one is unstamped, when the new sidewalk on the Shepard Street side of the building, laid late last year and earlier this one, is very neatly marked by Leavitt & Starck.

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Horton St., Cantu & Sons, undated

An awful housefire happened the day before yesterday, on the west side of Horton Street between Michigan and Jerome (125 Horton). The family lost four pets and all their possessions, and the house was ruined. I walked past it today and it had already been demolished. It was a nice old house, built in 1914. The whole business is very sad.

The southern stamp, barely legible in the mud. (It was raining.)

To mark the end of the house’s time in the neighborhood, I collected the only stamps from the sidewalk out front. They are both Cantu & Sons, probably a pair. The southern stamp is undated. The northern stamp may have been dated originally; it’s hard to tell because of how worn it is. I have seen Cantu stamps in this style from 1986 and ’87, so this likely dates from around then.

The northern stamp is easier to read but does not appear to have been dated.

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E. Michigan Ave., Fessler & Bowman, 2016

This isn’t a unique or especially interesting stamp, but at least I got a moody photo for you. I went for a walk in light rain since it didn’t look likely to let up before bedtime. It actually ended up being pretty pleasant, with a little help from an umbrella. Anyway, this stamp is on the south side of East Michigan Avenue between Holmes and Bingham, in front of Sparrow Urgent Care.

The date on the stamp corresponds with when this building was constructed. It’s part of the shiny new Cancer Center complex, which caused the demolition of Bingham School, as discussed in my entry on another Fessler & Bowman stamp. Fessler & Bowman were evidently involved in the construction.

I find it very peaceful to walk in downtown Lansing late in the evening.
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Mifflin Ave., Cantu & Sons, 1987

This stamp is on the west side of Mifflin Avenue between Michigan and Prospect. It could only be on the west side; the east side of Mifflin Avenue has no sidewalk, even though there are residences on both sides. There is (I believe) a clear explanation for this: the border between the city of Lansing and Lansing Township runs down the center of the street. I have observed that Lansing typically installs a sidewalk on any block that has residences. Lansing Township is largely uninterested in sidewalks.

Mifflin Avenue doesn’t serve as the shining example of Lansing sidewalk superiority that this would suggest. The sidewalk on Mifflin is awful, some of the worst I’ve found on the east side. Many slabs have subsided far enough to be partially or fully covered in a layer of mud and weeds. Many are crumbled. Walking from Kalamazoo to Michigan, I noticed that all the stamps were Cantu 1987 marks like this one. Notably, that suggests little or no sidewalk work has happened on this block since 1987. It shows.

Looking north on Mifflin Avenue. This is actually the best stretch of sidewalk on the block. I should have faced the other way.

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N. Magnolia Ave., Oren Morse, 1940

This stamp is on the west side of North Magnolia Avenue between Michigan and Vine. I can find references to Mr. and Mrs. Oren Morse, mostly in the society pages, in the (Lansing) State Journal around this time period, but nothing much of interest.

On November 6, 1956, Oren Morse advertised in the classifieds seeking to sell “Purebred Holstein, cows and heifers. Will sell herd or separate.” What is with the overlap between sidewalk contractors and cow breeders?

Facing south on Magnolia. The stamp is at the bottom of the nearest full slab.

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S. Clemens Ave., illegible name, 1952

This stamp on the east side of South Clemens Avenue between Michigan and Prospect is small and indistinct. I suppose that’s why I have evidently overlooked it many, many times; this is a block I walk often and yet I don’t remember noticing it before.

The date seems to be 1952, but the name is a puzzle. I am pretty confident it is _ _ G L _. I also think the first letter is R, or maybe B, and the second letter looks like an E. What do you think?

Looking south on Clemens. The stamp is on the far end of the nearest full slab, facing the other way.
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N. Magnolia Ave., Barnhart & Sons, 1988

What do we have here, on the west side of North Magnolia Avenue between Vine and Fernwood? It’s kind of a mess. The date is upside down, and then the name is stamped twice, presumably because the first one didn’t come out as well as they hoped.

Barnhart, I think you need to have a word with your sons.

Looking north on North Magnolia. Fernwood is in view.
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N. Francis Ave., DPW, 1925

This “second style” Department of Public Works stamp is on North Francis Avenue just south of the southeast corner of Francis and Fernwood. The stamp is unusually far off center, and is getting cozy with a large evergreen tree.

I had to lean right into the adjacent evergreen to take this photo.

The house by this sidewalk faces the 2500 block of Vine Street and was built in 1986. Few of the houses on the east side are that new, so I was curious if another house had preceded it here. I tried looking for a real estate card in the Belon Real Estate Collection at CADL. There are plenty of cards up through 1530 Vine, then there are only two more, one in the 2200 block and one in the 2400 block. This leads me to theorize that this part of Vine was still largely undeveloped in the 1960s (when the cards date from). Still, there must have been a sidewalk here at least back to 1925.

Facing north on Francis, with Vine in view.

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S. Magnolia Ave., [?] Cox, illegible date

This stamp – alas, largely illegible – is on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue between Michigan and Prospect.

The name appears to be [something] Cox, but I don’t have any leads on that contractor. The date looks like 1950, but looks a bit like 1980 too.

Looking south on South Magnolia Avenue. The stamp is on the nearest block, below the Cantu & Sons mark. It’s hard to point a camera at a sidewalk without getting a Cantu & Sons stamp.