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Regent St., Lansing DPW, 1921

This stamp, on the east side of the 300 block of Regent Street (between Kalamazoo and Michigan), is very worn and is more easily visible at certain times of day, especially on a sunny late afternoon. I’ve learned that just because I can’t read a stamp at first doesn’t mean I never will; sometimes it’s a matter of passing it at the right time. I really wanted a picture of this one despite my recent glut of Department of Public Works stamps because of its strange placement.

The great majority of stamps are centered, left-to-right, at the bottom of the slab. Occasionally they are at the top of the slab instead. But this is the only one I have seen like this, diagonal in a corner. I have seen plenty of similar DPW stamps, but all of them more conventionally placed. I wonder what happened here.

The date is difficult to read, but after seeing it in a few different lighting conditions and feeling it carefully with my fingers, I am pretty confident it is 1921. There seems to be a month stamped before the year, but it is illegible. Maybe someday I’ll walk past it at the right time.

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Regent St., Lansing DPW, 1939

Continuing my project of cataloguing the changes in Lansing Department of Public Works stamps over the years, I present this very worn stamp on the east side of the 200 block of Regent Street, between Kalamazoo and Michigan. There are at least three 1938 or 1939 DPW stamps in that area, which makes me wonder a little bit about whether I have correctly dated that “1938” B.F. Churchill stamp nearby.

And, oh, yes: welcome to fall.

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Regent St., DPW, illegible date

This was taken just after a heavy rain, when the silt had the effect of making the very faint letters a little more readable. I am frustrated by my inability to read the date. Even feeling it with my fingers, I can make out only the initial “19” and nothing else.

This stamp is located on the east side of Regent Street, the 400 block, between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth. The style matches the 1918 Department of Public Works imprints I found previously, and is distinct from the 1944 DPW stamp and some other 1940s DPW stamps I have seen on my walks. I hope in time to find some stamps eventually that will narrow down when they switched styles, so I can give a latest possible date for this stamp.

Update 12/10/20: the date has become visible! See my update.

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Prospect St., DPW, Oct. 1918

Well, now, look what I found on the south side of Prospect between Magnolia and Fairview – close to the corner of Prospect and Magnolia. Remember this 1918 Department of Public Works stamp from N. Fairview? I was pretty sure it said 1918, anyway, though it was very worn. I feel even more confident in that judgment now, since I have found another 1918 DPW stamp.

This one is much clearer, but the previous one gets to retain its place as the oldest I’ve found so far, since it was dated August. Still, finding another 1918 mark so soon does give me hope that I have older ones yet to find. It’s interesting that they marked not just the month but even the day. Almost all the other dated stamps I have found have only the year.

Comparing this one with the August slab yields another interesting observation. This one has month/date/year, in that order. The other had year/month/[something illegible]. I also notice the crookedness of the year. I am led to the conclusion that the month and year stamps were separate from the name stamp, and that the two workers chose to stamp them in different orders. (I am not sure if the date is a stamp or hand written; it looks disproportionately large.)

This slab is in much better condition than the Fairview one, not cracked or unduly worn. I would expect it to last decades yet to come.

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Shepard St., DPW, 1952

One of my goals (besides finding the earliest and latest stamps I can, and I may have peaked too early on the former) is to find a stamp from as many different decades as possible. So here is an otherwise not particularly distinguished one I saw on my walk today to represent the 1950s.

Another one from the Department of Public Works, 195…7? 2? I initially thought 7, but it looks too rounded. On the other hand, there’s definitely no bottom bar to make it a 2. It’s on the east side of Shepard between Kalamazoo and Stanley Ct. (a curiously tiny, glorified alley between Shepard and Leslie).

Update 2/27/21: Based on seeing several others like this, I am now sure it’s 1952.

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N. Fairview Ave., DPW, 1918

Today found me walking up Fairview to find the 1924 marking my husband directed me to. I did find it – actually, there are a few – but by the time I did, I had already found something else I wanted to share today. I’ll get back to the 1924 slabs another time.

A sunny morning on N. Fairview Avenue. Why do the streets east of Clemens get to be Avenues instead of Streets? It sounds much grander, doesn’t it?

I found this on the east side of Fairview between Vine and Fernwood. It’s easy enough to read “Department of Public Works” but the line underneath is nearly worn out and obscured by plant growth. Still, that year…

It reads to me as 1918. I stopped and felt it with my fingers (I wonder if any of the neighbors were watching) and this seemed to confirm it. I can’t be sure because of how worn it is but I’m not sure I see a plausible alternate interpretation either. The rest of the bottom line is largely illegible due to the plants, which were growing through the pavement. At the time, in the sunlight, I couldn’t make anything out of it at all, but my photograph seems to reveal that the next word might be August. If I’m right, I happened to stumble upon something from another August and another pandemic.

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Horton St., Lansing DPW, 1944

There are a half dozen or more stamps bearing a 1944 date on Horton St.’s northernmost block (between Jerome and the new Eastern High School). They caught my attention because I haven’t noticed 1940s dates anywhere else on my walks around the east side.

Horton is a nicely shady street with sturdy old houses. Its dead end is a little strange, since the street evidently used to curve around to join the Armory lot, but is now blocked with a rusty gate. The stretch of street past the gate still has wooden posts demarcating it and the pavement is visible though starting to succumb to weeds. I wonder how long it’s been inaccessible.

The dead end of Horton St.

Most of the 1944 stamps have a clear, easy-to-read date, but a very worn name. I managed to find a legible one. It reads “Lansing D.P.W.” That would be Department of Public Works. Lansing no longer has a Department of Public Works (though East Lansing still does). I assume that it became the Public Service Department. One of the divisions of Public Service is Operations and Maintenance – so this stamp seems to be the 1940s version of the O&M stamps from the other day.

I wonder what was going on that Horton got so many new sidewalk slabs back in ’44?