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E. Grand River Ave., illegible name, 2019

I found this stamp at the end of a run of newish-looking sidewalk in front of the building that includes M43 Fitness, A Cut Above hair salon, and the Urban Cup. It’s on the north side of East Grand River Avenue, essentially at the spot where Hayford would be if Hayford didn’t disappear for a couple of blocks north of Grand River before resuming.

I may have to return to this one with some foil or else materials to make a rubbing. I can almost make it out, but it’s just too shallow. I believe that it’s formatted with the date flanking the contractor’s logo on either side of vertical lines, like so: “[ 20 | illegible | 19 ]”. The illegible part looks quite brief, as though it might be initials.

The edge of the former pharmacy is just visible on the right. The stamp is at the very far end of this stretch of sidewalk.

I regret now that I didn’t get a picture that includes the M43 Fitness building (2225 E. Grand River Ave.). I didn’t think it was anything very special, but then I got home and did my research and found that its history was more interesting than I expected. In the City Pulse‘s New in Town column on February 15, 2018, it states that the building “has a history of being a watering hole: [owner Scott] Abramouski said the 1959 building had a soda fountain.” A search of the Lansing State Journal turns up the name of the business. It was called Glass Pharmacy. The last time I see its name connected with this address is in 1979. The last time I see it advertised at all, though without an address given, is in 1982. Starting in 1987, advertisements for “East Side Pharmacy (formerly Glass Pharmacy)” begin appearing. The last advertisement I can find for East Side Pharmacy is in 1995.

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E. Michigan Ave., O & M, 2018

Here is a newer stamp from the city’s Operations and Maintenance Department. It’s on the south side of East Michigan Avenue between Leslie and Regent. The stamp is in front of Heartdance Studio, which hosts dance and yoga classes. I still think of it as “the scuba store,” though.

That’s because when I moved to town it was ZZ Underwater World, who apparently figured that the beginning of the alphabet was too crowded in the Yellow Pages. They were the reason for the mural of dolphins on the second floor. The dolphin mural disappeared for a while around the time Heartdance moved in, but then it reappeared. Whether it was covered and then uncovered, or is on a board that got taken down and put back up again, I don’t know. However it came to be, the dolphins have been back for a long time and serve to remind me of the former occupants of the building every time I see them.

The building was constructed in 1942, making it young for this stretch of the Avenue. In the 1950s and 60s it was Bendlin’s Shoe Clinic. The proprietor, John Bendlin, also lived at this address (above the shop, I assume) with his wife. By 1978 it was home to Michigan Divers Supply. I’m not sure if ZZ Underwater World was just a renaming of this business or a new business. ZZ Underwater World closed in 2013 according to the business that bought their assets, Capital City Scuba in Old Town, but Google Street View reveals that Heartdance had already moved into this building as of June 2011.

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E. Michigan Ave., Isabella Corp., 2016

This stamp is on the south side of East Michigan Avenue between Shepard and Leslie. It’s in front of one of the various old homes, mostly American Foursquares, that have been converted to retail. This is a particularly old house – 1880, according to the city’s records. The most recent business here was Kimlan Flowers and Gifts, but it has been out of business as long as I can remember, the awning out front getting more and more tattered until finally the last remnants of the cover on it were removed. The sign offering it for sale or lease has been there at least ten years.

I have found surprisingly little about the history of the property. The earliest reference I can find to a business at the address was in the 1970s, when it was Better Properties, Inc., a real estate business. Better Properties sold it in 1995, but in the the city records, the field that should say whom it was sold to is blank. They have an undated photo of the business as ACD Computers (the predecessor of internet provider ACD.net), which I assume came between the Better Properties and Kimlan eras.

The stamp is nothing too special. There are a lot of Isabella Corp. stamps from around 2016 on this stretch of Michigan Avenue.

The stamp is outside the frame here, but located in front of the front steps of the house.
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Prospect St., XMC, 2011

This fortunately well-lit stamp is on the south side of Prospect Street between Pennsylvania and Eighth. There are a pair of them, and they appear to be handwritten. I had noticed this one before and found it curious, as X is an uncommon initial to appear in a contractor stamp.

I assumed it was a given name such as Xavier. Instead I have discovered that this is most likely the mark of Xtreme Mason Contractors of Laingsburg. Their slogan is “Xtreme Masonry: Fortified with Hell Bricks!”1

OK, no it isn’t. Their Web site says they are a 100% women-owned business, which might be a first for the blog, and that they specialize in commercial masonry repair and historic building restoration. They were founded in 2005.

Looking east toward Pennsylvania Avenue.

1 I borrowed this joke from a Zippy the Pinhead comic from, I think, the late 1990s. I wish I could find it again. It involves a discussion of things being promoted as “extreme” and ends with Zippy declaring, “Extreme Oreos! Fortified with hell sugar!”

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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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E. Kalamazoo St., KMI Road Maintenance, 2016

This stamp is in front of a vacant lot on the south side of East Kalamazoo Street, just west of South Hayford Avenue. I didn’t get a picture of it because it was dark, but you might know this vacant lot as the one that hosts the teepee-like art installation(?) made of logs.

KMI Road Maintenance LLC is based in Burton, Michigan. According to their Web site, “KMI Road Maintenance LLC is a hard surface repair contractor serving Genesee and the surrounding counties. KMI Road Maintenance specializes in concrete and asphalt repair and maintenance of both commercial and residential properties.” I’m a little surprised to find their stamp here, since this county doesn’t border Genesee, but it’s not too far away. Interestingly, their Web site also states that their maintenance division serves as research and development for their equipment manufacturing business in North Branch.

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S. Fairview Ave., SC Environmental, 2016

I ran across this “SC Env” stamp on the east side of South Fairview Avenue between Marcus and Elizabeth. It’s only the second one of these I’ve found, both the same year, yet two completely different styles of stamp. I’m glad I saw it, because it finally motivates me to post an update that I had meant to do a couple of months ago. I discovered who “S.C. Env.” is, just a short while after posting the first stamp I found from them.

I was reading the February 24, 2021 issue of the City Pulse when I saw a brief news item as follows.

Entrepreneur John Kendrick Sears, 41, of Lansing, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Mexico. Sears was shaped by his family’s business, College Bike Shop. In 2006, he founded his own demolition company, SC Environmental Services. Sears also owned properties in Old Town and Reo Town.

The Lansing State Journal has a longer article about Sears. It describes SC Environmental Services as a demolition and environmental remediation company. This adds up: both the stamps I have found are in front of vacant lots. People who knew Sears describe him as striving to find better ways to recycle and reuse materials from demolition, and as having a love for architecture.

Looking north on Fairview.

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Bingham St., Fessler & Bowman, 2017

This stamp is on the east side of Bingham Street between Michigan and Eureka. No doubt it dates from the construction of the parking garage that it’s in front of. This was once the site of Bingham Street School (or just “Bingham School” as it seems to have been called in later years). Lansing apparently named all its early elementary schools after the residential streets they bordered, hence Foster Avenue School and Allen Street School. Bingham Street School holds a small but memorable place in my own personal history, as it was my polling location from when I moved to town through 2012. Thus, although I had no other connection with it, I was sad when it got knocked down. It looked so much like my own elementary school that going inside always triggered nostalgia.

The southernmost stamp. I have seen this same stamp template used by several other contractors, as well as the most recent city Operations and Maintenance stamps.

Bingham (Street) School closed in 2012 and was sold to Sparrow Hospital, who wanted the land to expand their cancer center. The school was demolished in July 2013 and if you want to see sad photos of the vacant rooms shortly before demolition – and the rubble afterward – you can find them on the still-extant Facebook page for the school. The local neighborhood was dismayed over the loss of green space, and that leads to another story for another entry, eventually. As for my polling place, it moved across the street to the Pilgrim Congregational Church, and though they seem like nice folks, voting in a church has never felt quite right to me.

Looking north toward Michigan Avenue with the Sparrow garage on the right.

Fessler & Bowman is a bigger company than usually gets featured here. They were founded in 1963 by Don Fessler and George Bowman and originally did residential flatwork and basement walls, but have subsequently become a large commercial contractor. Their corporate headquarters are in Flushing, Michigan, but they also have regional offices in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

The next-to-southernmost stamp. There are a few more spread out along the block but as they all look the same I didn’t bother photographing them all.
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Leslie St., S.C. Env., 2016

I went to do some more exploring of Urbandale today, and had some nice weather for it. These stamps are on the east side of Leslie Street between Elizabeth and the 496 dead end, in front of a vacant lot. (I’ve mentioned before that Urbandale has a lot of vacant lots.) I haven’t been able to figure out who “S.C. Env.” is, so if you know, please leave a comment.

The southern stamp.

The odd thing about this one is that it’s one long pour, without any separation of blocks. I haven’t seen that before.

The northern stamp. It was filled with water due to the recent thaw.
Looking south on Leslie.

Update 4/19/21: I figured out who SC Env. is!

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E. Michigan Ave., Isabella Corp., 2016

I walked out to the neighborhood I call Eastmost in order to collect a stamp I’d noted on some previous outing. I was foiled in this plan by a layer of snow covering the area where I believed the stamp to be. I gave up and started walking back. It was snowing, and even the relatively clear areas were being steadily covered. I decided I had better stop at the first sidewalk I came to that had a light coating and get to work finding something there.

I love how it looks when the snow fills in the stamp.

So that’s what I did. This Isabella Corp. stamp is in front of a pawn shop (it just calls itself “SECOND HAND STORE” on the awning, though the Internet tells me it’s properly H & M Discount Second Hand Store) on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Francis and Foster. Before the building was H & M, it was another, very similar-looking pawn shop. It was built in 1952 and its first occupant seems to have been Associates Discount Corp. I went to find out more about them and Googling their name got me pages of caselaw references – usually them suing someone but occasionally someone suing them. I learned that they were an auto finance company, so apparently the building has stayed in the loan business.

I walked along this stretch of Michigan dragging a boot at the top and bottom of each sidewalk slab until I uncovered something. I wonder what the next person to walk by made of it.

Prior to becoming Associates Discount Corp., the address belonged to Jack Royeton Inc., a Kaiser-Frazer car dealer. Once upon a time, Eastmost was the dealership district. It’s amazing to think what it that must have been like.