On the west side of North Magnolia Avenue between Vine and Fernwood, there are two houses that share a driveway, and on that driveway are three undated Hosford Brothers Inc. stamps (one on each of the three big blocks making it up). Shared driveways are fairly common in my neighborhood, and from reading the various neighborhood social media groups, I have learned that they are an unending source of neighbor disputes. This one looks to have been repaved pretty recently, making me wonder about the logistics of shared driveway projects.
This is the rightmost of the three stamps. They all look pretty much the same, so I figured you didn’t need to see all three.
Hosford Brothers Concrete Inc. is located on Saginaw Highway in East Lansing, at least per their postal address. That actually places them closer to Haslett or Bath. Their Web site is broken but they seem to still be in business, based on recent online reviews. Their Facebook page says they have been in business since 1994.
This is the driveway in question; the photo is facing south down North Magnolia. The driveway looks wide enough for multiple cars, but (as the shrub should make clear) the right side of the pavement is actually serving as a sort of front walk to one of the houses and is not actually part of the driveway.
I found this one in a driveway on the east side of North Clemens Avenue between Fernwood and Saginaw. I took it to read “Ed Crackins,” but looking at the photo at home, I was bugged by the fact that it really looks much more like “Drackins.” When I zoom in on it, the dubious letter resembles the “D” of “ED” more than the “C” of “-RACKINS.” The trouble is that “Drackins” is a less likely name and I can’t find a reference to an Ed Drackins or any other Drackins in Michigan.
I can find three classified ads (in 1959, 1967, and 1971) from Ed Crackins for basement floors and driveways, so that inclines me back to my initial judgment. There is a little bit of uncertainty because I am relying on Newspapers.com’s OCR scans and they often contain errors, especially in the fine print of the classifieds. (After all this time I am still too stingy to pay them for an actual subscription that would allow me to view the original pages.)
Looking south on North Clemens. The stamp is quite small, in the lower right corner of the upper driveway.
Updated 6/5/21: I now realize the name is Ed Brackins.
The City of Lansing is, in one respect, more powerful than God: the City is not compelled to obey its own laws.
Looking east on Kalamazoo with Foster Park on the right.
This new stretch of sidewalk was laid as part of the installation of a new bus shelter in front of Foster Park, on the south side of East Kalamazoo Street between Francis and Hayford. The new shelter is a welcome amenity, and looks sharp in its shiny red paint and decorated windows. But I disapprove of the absent sidewalk stamp, and that is what lands this in my Hall of Shame.
There is a similar new shelter, with a different decoration in the windows, at Hunter Park.
This neatly-rendered smiley face often adds a note of whimsy to my walks. It is on the east side of South Clemens Avenue between Michigan and Prospect.
The smile welcomes visitors to the front walk of this house.
This stamp is very faded but the best I can figure is that it is “M & D Const.” It’s on the north side of Hickory Street between South Pennsylvania and Jones (close to Jones). Unfortunately it is undated.
According to OpenCorporates, there is an M & D Construction Company, Inc., based in Dearborn Heights. It was incorporated in 1968. It previously used the name “M & D Concrete Contractors, Inc.” I can also find the Facebook page of M & D Concrete LLC, based in Romulus. I’m not sure whether those are two different businesses. I’m also not confident they have anything to do with this stamp, since this would seem to be outside their likely service area.
Looking northeast; Jones Street is in sight. The stamp is at the bottom of the photo, facing the other way.
This stamp is on the south side of East Michigan Avenue between Charles and Detroit, just outside the city limits of Lansing in Lansing Township. It’s in front of the building on the corner of Detroit Street that now houses the People’s Kitchen restaurant. The building was built in 1958 and for most of its existence it housed various offices. Prior to the building’s construction, the site was (of course) a Bud Kouts used car lot and before that it was Bill Otto Buick.
In 2017, a food truck called Street Kitchen moved in, which was started by a former co-owner of the (in)famous Old Town breakfast spot The Golden Harvest. In 2019 Street Kitchen remade itself as the People’s Kitchen, a full-fledged restaurant.
Facing the People’s Kitchen’s entrance. The stamp is facing away from the viewer, underneath (and facing) an arc-shaped Able Concrete stamp.
Hanneman is most likely Carl Hanneman, who started a concrete business in 1953 and then sold it to Mark A. Fineis in 1988. The business is still in existence today as Hanneman & Fineis. I wrote a little bit about them in a previous entry. This allows me to date the stamp between 1953 and 1988, which I admit is not narrowing it down much. I wonder if it was connected to the office building’s construction.
This stamp is on the front walk of a house on the west side of South Pennsylvania Avenue between Eureka and Prospect, the next house south from Monday’s F.N. Rounsville stamp.
I don’t recognize the contractor name and I’m not confident about it. It looks like “Basile” but there might be something worn away before that. I haven’t yet found a surefire match to the name. The best lead I have is that there is, or was, a company in Livonia called Peter A. Basile and Sons. In fact, I have just learned I am not the only person in Michigan taking photos of sidewalk stamps, as someone on Flickr has posted a photograph of a Peter A. Basile and Sons stamp in Detroit. And that led me to the very startling discovery of an entire Flickr pool of sidewalk stamps. Unfortunately, the last posting to its discussion board is someone a year ago complaining that the group admin has gone silent and it is no longer possible to get photos approved for the pool.
Looking north on Pennsylvania. The stamp is at the foot of the front walk.
This is on the last bit of sidewalk on the north side of Larned Street, before the sidewalk abruptly vanishes to the west. It’s nearly across the street, just a couple of lots west, from where the sidewalk ends on the south side of Larned.
It appears to be O.E. Porter, but who that was is something I have yet to determine. I hope I’m reading it right. “Porter” is certainly clear, as is the E before it. I’m not sure whether this one is undated or whether those vague markings below the name are the ghost of an illegible date.
Looking back eastward on Larned from the point where the sidewalk ends.
Here is a new contractor for this blog, via a stamp located on the southeast corner of Jerome Street and Custer Avenue behind the Church of the Resurrection’s parking lot. It really is right on the corner so it’s impossible to designate this slab as uniquely on one street or the other, though the way it’s oriented would make it Custer. This is an interesting one, unfortunately undated. I can narrow down an earliest possible date – 1924 – but then things get fuzzy.
Most readers will be familiar with the legacy of Francis J. Corr, though might not know it. He was the Fran of Frandor (his wife Dorothy was the dor). He was the original owner and developer of Frandor, and one of his big wins was lining up Sears as an anchor before construction. It was a good run, Frankie. Speaking of good runs, Corr died in 1972 at the age of 92, according to a Lansing State Journal obituary on December 26 of that year. (I note that the person who clipped that article at Newspapers.com is username “mckrill” who previously supplied a source of clippings about sidewalk contractor W.H. McKrill. I don’t know what to make of this, except that there might be some connection between the McKrill and Corr families.)
This photo, facing south on Custer, demonstrates that the stamp uses a pretty large typeface, as they go.
The State Journal of January 7, 1945 has a piece titled “Executives of Corr Brothers Construction Firm.” It states that Corr Brothers Construction Firm had announced the addition of Francis J. Corr, Sr., as a partner. According to the article, Corr started in the construction business in 1911 as a partner in McHenry and Corr. When Gerald McHenry died in 1924, Corr continued the business under the name Francis J. Corr. Then in 1937 he brought his son, Francis J. Corr, Jr., into the business and changed the name to Francis J. Corr and Son. Finally, in 1944 he sold his interest in the business to his wife, Dorothy. It appears to have existed at least into the 1950s, since the May 11, 1956, State Journal reports that the Francis J. Corr company was involved in the Michigan State University stadium project. I assume that Francis Jr. stayed with the original company; the Corr Brothers business that Francis Sr. joined was run by two other sons.
I did some more Urbandale rambling today, as I wanted to return to a stamp I had made note of, but found illegible, in the past. It’s on the east side of South Hayford Avenue between Elizabeth and Harton. Initially I didn’t find it any more legible today, but when I looked at it mediated through my camera suddenly I thought I made something out. It seems that sometimes having less information lets my brain find letters in the noise. It appeared to read “Kegle.” Could that be a name?
In front of the vacant lot south of 605.
Yes it could, and it was. Kegle Construction Company Inc. advertised in the February 8, 1981, Lansing State Journal: “Kegle Construction Company has been serving the highway industry in Michigan since 1957.” The ad promises “Concrete Roads, Streets, and Parking Lots” and gives the address 3508 Wood Street (today home to Sanches Construction). The business was founded by Howard S. “Red” Kegle (who had previously run Kegle Dairy Company) and continued by his son, James F. Kegle. According to the May 21, 1978, Lansing State Journal, James was elected president of the Michigan Concrete Paving Association, meaning this stamp has a real pedigree. Sadly, according to an obituary posted at Find A Grave (titled “James F. Kegle, Road Builder, Weightlifter”), James died in 1984 at the unripe age of 44. Weightlifting was his hobby and he won many awards in competitions.
Looking south on Hayford. On the left is a vacant lot (really, probably a few vacant lots) that is (what else?) an urban farm. The stamp is on the nearest pictured full block.
I haven’t been able to determine a date for Kegle going out of business, so I don’t know if the company survived James’s death. Unfortunately the stamp is undated.
A typical Urbandale view. The stamp is on the block of sidewalk in the center of this photo, though not visible here.
