I have cleared up the mystery regarding the initial before “Gossett” on those Regent Street stamps: it is definitely “C”. I found this very clear example on the south side of Fernwood Avenue a short distance west of the intersection of North Hayford.
C. Gossett must have been in business at least a little while, as I found a classified advertisement in the October 29, 1949, Lansing State Journal: “Building, repairs, concrete work, and basements sealed.” Unfortunately, nothing else is given besides the name and a phone number.
These stamps are on the east side of North Clemens Avenue between Jerome and Vine. There are two of them, a few slabs apart, facing in opposite directions. There is also one more that I know of on Clemens a short way south of these.
The northerly of the two stamps.Looking south on Clemens. Sorry it’s too dark to be a very useful picture, but the above stamp is at the very bottom of the picture.
I haven’t been able to find out anything about T.E. Little. I did find a couple of references to a Mr. and Mrs. T.E. Little in The Lansing State Journal‘s society pages in the 1940s and 50s, but I can’t say if it is the same T.E. Little or not.
I know what you’re thinking. “Another Cantu & Sons stamp?” Look, if I published Cantu & Sons stamps in proportion to how common they are, this would just be a Cantu blog with occasional impurities. As I’ve said before, Cantu stamps are by far the most common stamps on the east side.
This variant Cantu & Sons stamp is on the north side of East Kalamazoo Street between Fairview and Magnolia. The most common Cantu stamps are the 1987-88 stamps that just read “Cantu & Sons.” The next most common are the ones from prior to that, reading “Cantu & Sons Cement Cont.” This rather faint one adds “Cantu & Sons Const” to the mix. Unfortunately, it’s undated.
Looking east on Kalamazoo. The stamp is on the closest slab.
This 1941 Department of Public Works stamp is decades older than the building that currently occupies the address. It’s on the south side of East Michigan Avenue, just west of the intersection of Francis and Michigan. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to readily locate information about what was at that address prior to the current building’s construction in 1970. Given what I’ve come to learn about Eastmost, it was probably a car lot. In decades past, it seems that this was the car dealer district.
I have a sentimental attachment to this building because it used to be Fish & Chips, a former Arthur Treacher’s that decided to keep going after the chain pulled out. It still had the old IN and OUT signs, the big lantern, and some of the menu boards. Just the name “Arthur Treacher’s” had been removed from the signage. I loved their fries and hush puppies.
Looking west on Michigan Avenue. The stamp is at the lower center.
Fish & Chips finally closed up shop in 2018, lasting about ten years past the point when I kept thinking it would surely close anytime now (but then thought maybe it never would). For a short while afterward it was Lee Lee’s Coney Island, and now is Amanecer Mexicano. I haven’t tried it, though I hear it is good. I just can’t get past wishing it was still what it used to be, and missing those hush puppies every time I walk by.
Looking southeast. This is the opposite end of the building from the stamp.
This BBRPCI stamp is on the west side of North Foster Avenue between Michigan and Vine. There are lots and lots of these around the East Michigan Avenue corridor, many from the 1980s.
Yeah, yeah, I know. They can’t all be exciting. I was working late today and didn’t have time to seek out something novel (and well-lit after sunset) on my walk.
Looking south on Foster. The stamp is at the very bottom of this picture.
This B.F. Churchill stamp is on the west side of the 200 block of Shepard Street, between Kalamazoo and Stanley Court. I have become convinced that both the Churchill stamps I have found are dated 1908 even though, as noted in my entry on the one on Regent Street, this doesn’t seem to make sense of the personal history of Churchill as I understand it. Both have a month as well as a year, something that seems more typical of the earliest stamps I have found. The “AP” of “APRIL” is very faint; I couldn’t see it in person, but with the contrast turned up a bit in this photo I can just make it out.
I’m hoping I may still find more B.F. Churchill stamps to give a greater sample of years.
Looking north on Shepard with the stamp visible in the closest block.
These two stamps are located on the east side of North Foster Avenue just north of Michigan Avenue, beside The Tattoo Shop (which is on the corner of Foster and Michigan). They are several slabs apart, facing in opposite directions.
This is the southern stamp.
There are several B Traverse stamps on this block, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about B Traverse. I have found one classified advertisement from them in the October 1, 1961, Lansing State Journal, offering cement work. But my knowledge of B Traverse ends there.
This is the northern stamp.
When I first started this blog, one of my early curiosities was how they decided which direction to face the stamps. Since then I have noticed a pattern wherein if there are two stamps from the same contractor in the vicinity, they will be facing in opposite directions. I have come to realize that they probably mark the beginning and end of a stretch of pavement installed at the same time.
Looking south toward East Michigan Avenue, The stamp pictured above is a bit below and to the right of center in this photo. The brick building on the left is The Tattoo Shop.
I don’t know what to make of this one I stumbled across on my walk tonight. It’s on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue between Michigan and Prospect, close to the corner of Prospect.
My first thought was that the “BWL” makes me think of the Board of Water and Light. Is that “d” looking character some sort of shorthand for “of”? It’s not one I recognize, but maybe. But why wouldn’t there also be a mark for “the” in that case?
Looking south on Magnolia. The stamp is on the closest (full) block.
This old-looking, diamond-shaped marking is on the west side of the 100 block of North Foster Avenue, between Michigan and Vine. I have taken notice of it several times and finally decided to feature it.
I don’t know for sure what the word in the middle is. There was once a George Leavens in the concrete business in Lansing; that much I know for sure, and most probably this was he. So the third word isn’t part of his name but rather the name of his company or line of work. My guess is “MAKER.”
Sadly there is no date either. George Leavens was in the concrete business by 1922. I know that from the October 23, 1922 issue of American Builder, in particular an article titled “Truck-Mounted Concrete Mixer Saves Time and Labor for Contractor.” Leavens had apparently figured out a novel method for pouring concrete from a moving truck. I notice that they reference his knowledge of gasoline engines as helping him determine the optimal horsepower for the mixer. The September 14, 1933, issue of the Ingham County News includes a legal notice of the dissolution of the Lansing Cast Stone Block Company, naming George Leavens as one of the directors.Concrete sidewalks used to sometimes be called “artificial stone” so that is probably still part of his career in the concrete business.
Looking south on Foster.
Some helpful person (probably a family member) has shared their research into Leavens’s life at FindAGrave.com. He was born in Cambridgeshire, England, in 1888 and moved to Lansing in 1906. He had a surprisingly varied career according to census records. In 1910 he was an iron foundry worker in Lansing, then in 1920 he was an auto factory worker in Dewitt (there’s the source of his knowledge of gasoline engines). In 1930 he is back in Lansing as a manager at a concrete block company (that would presumably be the Lansing Cast Stone Block Company) and then in 1940 (the year he died) he and his wife were owners of a grocery store in Lansing. An interesting thing to note is that he and his wife, Ellen, had a great disparity in age, and not in the more usual direction; he was born in 1888 and she in 1866. Yet they had three children, two daughters and a son. Their first daughter was born in 1910, which is at least plausible for a biological child for Ellen, and I don’t know when their second daughter was born, but their son was born in 1923. I was puzzling over the dates here and mentioned it to my husband. He said, “They didn’t have a son. They had a relative who got embarrassed.”
I have also found George Leavens at PoliticalGraveyard.com, or at least I assume so. He ran for township supervisor of Lansing Township as a Republican in 1939, losing out in the primary. (The Democrat had no primary opponent.) This spurred me to check whether there is even a contested primary for township supervisor in Lansing anymore. I learned that in the most recent primaries, no one ran as an Republican. One person ran in the primaries as a Democrat, receiving all but one vote. (That one vote was a write-in.) Apparently the Lansing Township supervisor elections were a little more exciting in the 1930s.
I have been mulling over the idea of starting a new blog feature called the Hall of Shame, documenting sidewalks which were clearly installed relatively recently without any identifying stamp. With that in mind, I stopped to observe this patch of new-looking sidewalk on the northwest corner of North Foster Avenue and East Michigan. (Whether you consider this to be on Foster or Michigan is, I suppose, a matter of interpretation.)
Looking southeast from the corner of Foster and Michigan.
Upon looking at it more closely, I spotted something. What’s this?
