Posted on by bunnyhugger

Regent St., C. Gossett, 1968(?)

I had a more interesting one planned for tonight but I happened across a small, shivering dog running around Hunter Park. I spent a little while trying to gain his trust, but while he would come right up to me, he would get defensive if I tried to grab his collar. Eventually I gave up, but after leaving the park I ran across the dog again, with a guy trying to use a hamburger to entice him. The fellow Samaritan had the same results as me: the dog would come up to him but if he tried to grab him he would get snapped at. As we stood there talking about it suddenly a car pulled up and asked if we had seen a small dog. We both pointed up the street and the car took off in pursuit, so at that point I was relieved and figured I could now exit the scene. This excitement caused me to forget to take the photo I meant to and I ended up having to just grab what I could since I didn’t have time to extend my walk.

Anyway, here’s the stamp. It’s on the east side of the 400 block of Regent Street (about midway between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth). It’s a C. Gossett stamp. Those are pretty common, as I’ve mentioned, and they are usually from the 1960s as far as I’ve seen. I am not entirely sure of the year on this one. It looks like 1968, but could be 1966 or even 1960.

Looking south on Regent Street. It’s hard to see, but the stamp is in the nearest full block.

Now for a little bit of irrelevant reminiscing. The house this is in front of (the steps of which can be seen in the photo above) is one I have actually spent time in, many years ago. When I was first living in town two fellow grad students (a married couple) lived there, and my husband-a-the-time and I were friendly with them. I still think of the house (it’s actually a duplex) as “[Couple’s names’] house” even though they moved out in the 2000s and I long ago lost contact with them. For years, the very numerous tulips and daffodils planted by my old friends would come up each spring and I would think of them. I think a few might still pop up in the front yard.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

N. Clemens Ave., BdWL, 1969

This stamp is on the west side of North Clemens Avenue between Jerome and Vine and it’s notable for being the first dated BdWL stamp I have come across. Now I have an idea of the time period in which BdWL, whoever that is, was operating.

As noted in the past, I have no information about BdWL, including what the initials stand for. It occurs to me that one reason to use a lower-case d would be if the initials were a name, and “d” was “de” or “du.” [Something] de Waal [Something], for instance.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Horton St., C. Wilkinson, 1965

Another C. Wilkinson (and I’m now more confident that it is C rather than G), this time on Horton Street between Jerome and the dead end. I grabbed this one just as another example of a double stamp. There are two stamps (both with name and date) on either end of the slab, facing opposite directions. I have come to realize this probably is a way of conforming to the practice of marking the beginning and end of a newly constructed section of sidewalk when there is only a single slab being replaced.

The northern stamp.

Happy Twelfth Night! I passed a favorite lit tree on Elvin Court while taking my walk this time and saw the sad sight of two people working to take the lights down. Alas, the season is nearing its end, but I hope some people remain slow to take things down.

The southern stamp.
Looking north on Horton Street. The dead end and the former Pattengill Middle School, now Eastern High School, are visible.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

Elvin Ct., P. Beasley, 1960

Here’s another contractor I haven’t seen before, P. Beasley. I found this one while walking up and down Elvin Court to look at people’s Christmas lights, since there are several houses still decorated there. It’s on the east side of the street, between Jerome and the dead end. (That’s all of Elvin there is. It starts at Jerome and stops abruptly where the old Armory’s grounds begin.)

I did not find anything about P. Beasley, but I have a possible lead. I found several references to W.H. Beasley and Son, general contractors, in the Lansing State Journal between 1948 and 1951. They were connected with several civic projects, including building Midway Elementary School in Holt. Could P. Beasley be the “Son” of Beasley and Son?

Sorry, only a small lights display to look at here. The good ones were all behind me. This is looking north on Elvin. The old Armory building is visible past the end of the street.

Another piece of evidence suggests so. Find A Grave shows that there is a William Hosa Beasley buried in Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens in DeWitt. The symbol on his gravestone, and the fact that he is buried in the Masonic Garden section of the cemetery, shows that he was a Freemason, which would be quite fitting for a builder, if this is our man. This W.H. Beasley died in 1951, matching the fact that I do not see any references to Beasley and Son after that date. Perhaps P. Beasley was indeed the “Son” and carried on the business in his own name after the death of his father.

That’s a tidy enough story, but there is a major problem. Whoever has entered the family history into Find A Grave has W.H. Beasley as having one son named William W. So I am inclined to say that this W.H. Beasley is indeed the contractor I read about, but I doubt that P. Beasley was his son. Find A Grave’s information could be wrong, of course, but usually these are entered by people doing family genealogy and so it is likely based on census information or another semi-reliable source.

So alas, while I have learned a bit about W.H. Beasley, I have possibly learned nothing about this specific stamp. My research so often goes that way.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

N. Holmes St., C. Gossett, 1960

It was another peaceful night of walking around looking at holiday lights, that is, until shortly after I took this photo, when I hit a patch of ice and ended up flat on my back with numb limbs and fuzzy vision. My first thought was “oh good, my camera is fine” and my second thought was “I hope I’m not hurt.” I was OK after lying on the sidewalk a little while.

Anyway, this one (on the east side of North Holmes Street between Vine and Jerome) is a C. Gossett stamp, one of the especially common stamps around the east side. You might have to take my word for that. It looked perfectly clear to me at the time but apparently the flash was too much. There is a paired one (separated by one block) but my photo of that one came out even worse. So instead, enjoy some lights.

Looking north on East Holmes. The closest house is the one with the stamp, in front of its driveway.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Regent St., C. Gossett, 1962

As foreshadowed in my recent entry about Regent Place apartments, I returned to the vicinity to take a picture in front of Regent Place’s next door neighbor, the Regent Arms apartments. This is on the east side of Regent between Michigan and Kalamazoo (100 block).

The southern stamp.

The stamp is a C. Gossett stamp from 1962. Actually, there are a pair of them, framing a short run of sidewalk (which is interrupted by a later Cantu & Sons stamp in the middle).

Looking north, with the southern stamp closest to the camera. The light colored block two away is a later Cantu & Sons stamp; the northern stamp is past that.

This stamp pre-dates the Regent Arms, which was built in 1966, in case that isn’t obvious from looking at it. When I first lived here, it was painted dark brown and had a weathered sign with its name on the front. Later it got its current paint job, which coordinates it with Regent Place but, I think, suits it less. I think that is also when it lost its identity as “Regent Arms” and just got its street address on the front instead. The landlord’s Web site still uses the Regent Arms name. I’m not likely to stop.

The northern stamp.

I do know what was here when this pavement was stamped. A while back I downloaded a set of real estate cards from the 1950s and 60s for properties on Regent Street, part of the digitized local history collection of the Capital Area District Library. While trying to figure out what house had previously been on the Regent Place site (it turns out no house was ever located there), I discovered the card for a house on the site of the Regent Arms. It was an American Foursquare house, very typical of the east side. The owner was one Ruth Clippert whose reason for selling was “doesn’t need.” The house was vacant. From this I infer that it was an investment property.

(Update half an hour later: I have discovered something that leads me to retract the “investment property” theory. That is this clipping from the Lansing State Journal of January 23, 1941, reporting on a wedding reception held at the home of “Mrs. Martin Clippert” – the address given is the one for Ruth Clippert in the real estate card. Was Mrs. Martin Ruth, or a relative? Either way it seems this was someone selling a family home.)

The neatly typed card has a handwritten addendum written crosswise over it: “Sold 1-5-65.” That was probably the sale to whomever demolished it to build the Regent Arms, as according to the landlord’s Web site, the apartment building “was designed by Architect Howard DeWolf in 1965 and built in 1966.”

The boldly modernist hulk of the Regent Arms. On the right side, the building hangs preciously over empty space, allowing for parking underneath. This allows the building to come impressively close to the boundary of the lot.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

Regent St., J. Wilson, 1963

Here’s a very worn one on the west side of Regent Street midway between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth. The date is definitely 1963, in a big, stylish typeface. It’s always a bit strange when the date is bigger than the name.

As for the name, I believe I can make out “J Wilson.” The name is too common for me to learn much by trying to search the Lansing State Journal, so the contractor will have to remain a mystery for the foreseeable future.

Looking north on Regent Street.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

S. Hayford Ave., O.M. Smith(?) [actually O.V.], 1962

This corner-placed stamp is on the west side of South Hayford Avenue midway between Prospect and Michigan. The contractor is definitely Smith, probably O.M. [something] Smith, and tentatively O.M. Smith. It does look like an M to me. There is another similar stamp on this block but unfortunately the second letter on that one is at least as worn. Although at first glance this looks like 1982, closer inspection shows it is 1962. (I find that is often a hazard of the fonts they like to use for numbers; they tend to have a highly curved 6.)

I haven’t been able to find anything out about the contractor. I can find from the Lansing State Journal that an O.M. Smith was living in Lansing in the 1940s, but nothing about a cement business. Perhaps I’m wrong about it being O.M. Or perhaps I just haven’t done enough research yet. (I can’t help thinking of the character One Million, who goes by “O.M.,” from the Rankin-Bass special Rudolph’s Shiny New Year.)

Looking south on South Hayford.

A tween-aged kid was practicing basketball solo in his driveway, making a go at doing flashy moves like spinning around as he approached the basket. I glanced away as I passed in order to avoid embarrassing him but honestly it was pretty endearing. It reminded me of my brother messing around on his skateboard when we were that age. You can make out just his legs in my photo above.

Update 3/21/21: I now know that it is O.V. Smith, as I happened across his name in the classifieds while research a different contractor!

Posted on by bunnyhugger

Regent St., L. Miller, 1963

This very worn and craggy stamp is on the east side of Regent Street between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth (500 block). I read it as L. Miller, 1963. It looks handwritten, and could almost be taken as graffiti, but I lean away from that interpretation because the the placement and name/date format is standard for contractor stamps.

I can find evidence of a contractor and builder named Lloyd Miller in some mid-1950s Lansing State Journal classifieds pages. Miller was based in East Lansing. There also seems to have been a Lloyd Miller real estate agency during the same time period, so it seems like ol’ Lloyd would build you a house or sell you one. My guess is that this is Lloyd Miller’s mark.

Looking north on Regent, with the stamp at the very bottom here.
Posted on by bunnyhugger

N. Hayford Ave., J.A. Johnson, 1960

Here’s a first so far: two stamps on the same slab, facing opposite directions. This is on the west side of North Hayford Avenue between Fernwood and Vine.

It’s difficult to read in the photo, but based on the several others on this block of Hayford (all 1960) I know that it says J.A. Johnson.

The other end of the above slab.

I didn’t notice any other doubled up stamps on this block, even though there are several other J.A. Johnson stamps. My guess is that their practice was to stamp the beginning and end of a run of sidewalk paving, and this was a solo block so they stamped both sides. It makes sense to me, anyway.

Looking north on Hayford.