1910s – Capital City Sidewalks

Posted on July 29, 2022July 27, 2022 by bunnyhugger

1914 State Journal Editorial

I found this short editorial on page 4 of the the August 7, 1914, State Journal. This was four days prior to the “Bum Walks” city council meeting report that has given me so much joy. Evidently, the subject of sidewalk construction contracts was an ongoing controversy. I will reproduce the article here, as I believe it is out of copyright.

The State Journal‘s recommendation that the city do all of its own sidewalk construction work was clearly not adopted, at least not for long, since otherwise this blog would be 100% Department of Public Works/Department of Public Service/O&M stamps. On the other hand, this has caused me to look over my records and notice that there are certain spans of time in which I do not have any non-DPW stamps recorded. All the stamps I have from 1910 and 1911 are Minnis and Ewer, then I have no stamps collected from 1912 through 1918. The 1918 and 1919 stamps are all DPW, then from 1921 until 1924 there are quite a lot of DPW stamps mixed with a small number of Wm. Meister. Another notable period is 1941 through 1945, during which time all the stamps I collected were DPW.

Posted on June 18, 2022June 18, 2022 by bunnyhugger

“Condemn Walk to School” clipping, 1917

Between the heat and other interruptions, I still haven’t had a chance to collect any more sidewalk stamps lately, so here’s another old State Journal clipping. The front page (!) of the September 25, 1917, State Journal contains this report from City Council, quoted in its entirety:

Condemn Walk to School. Ald. Bovee denounced the condition of sidewalks leading to Columbia Park school across Michigan Ave. as disgraceful, saying that the lives of school children who were obliged to cross at these places were endangered. Eighth ward citizens were called upon and they declared that the conditions should be remedied. Ald. McKinley then remarked that all that was necessary to do was to circulate petitions and said that If Ald. Bovee was not able to start the petitions that he would try to do it for the eighth ward alderman.

I was surprised to discover that Columbia Park School was a previous name for Foster Avenue School. It joined the Lansing school district in 1916 and received the new name (which is in keeping with the normal Lansing scheme for elementary school names) in 1917 when it was remodeled, according to Capital Area District Library’s local history collection. The new name must have happened rather late in 1917 since it is still known as Columbia Park in this article from September. I’m not sure what the original name refers to.

Posted on June 16, 2022June 16, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Lansing Artificial Stone Co. “Removal Notice”, 1914

It was too hot to go collecting stamps today, so instead I have a news clipping for you. On May 8, 1914, in the State Journal, the Lansing Artificial Stone Co. ran a classified advertisement with a “removal notice.” I had missed this one when doing some research on Lansing Artificial Stone previously. I have to suppose that “removal notice” is a 1910s term for an announcement of moving. Here is the text of the advertisement, in its entirety:

REMOVAL NOTICE We have moved our office to 109 North Cedar first door north of Michigan Ave. Let us give you prices on your sidewalks. Lansing Artificial Stone Co., J. P. Sleight, Prop.
State Journal, May 8, 1914

There is also another removal notice elsewhere in the classifieds, with the same text except that instead of offering prices on sidewalks, it says “We have full line of building material, etc. See us for right prices. Special attention given to farmer trade. Full stock on hand at office warehouse.”

109 North Cedar Street no longer exists; the site is currently a permit parking lot beside the Lansing Center. The latest reference I can find to an establishment at 109 North Cedar (though it may well not have been the same building) is from February 1967, at which time it was… any guesses? I’ll give you a moment. Time’s up, it was a car dealership, specifically England-Cook Chevrolet (subject of the famous book, Unsafe With Any Spice). The Artificial Stone Co. was certainly gone from there by March 1921, replaced by “Cooper-Ehinger Company, Builders of fine homes.” England-Cook was in residence there by 1937.

Posted on April 28, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Prospect St., DPW, Oct. 1918

I’ve posted this one before, a long time ago; it was among my earliest entries. But when I passed it recently, the light on it was so perfect that I thought it deserved another outing. The photo, while nice, doesn’t quite get across how perfectly the shadows fell on it; in person, it caused the optical illusion that the letters were raised instead of inset.

This stamp is at the northeast corner of Prospect Street and Foster Avenue.

Posted on April 9, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Hickory St., Illegible

This is somewhere around the fourth time I’ve gone to try to read this stamp, located on the south side of Hickory Street between Euclid and Pennsylvania. I really wonder what the resident here thinks about the person who keeps pulling up, getting out of the car, kicking at the sidewalk a bit, and then leaving again. Unfortunately, I think this one is uncrackable. It’s just too worn. I’ve tried different times a day and different sidewalk conditions, and I think all that’s left would be to use one of the tricks of gravestone readers and push aluminum foil into it. I’m not sure I quite have the nerve to do that because of the likelihood of having to explain to someone what I’m up to. I’m tempted, though.

It’s clearly old, not just because it’s worn but because of the style. The date looked (and felt; I traced my finger in it) like “10” on this visit. I’m almost positive the first digit is 1 but the second could be anything relatively round.

Posted on July 14, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Bement St., DPW, October 1918(?)

This one is on the south side of Bement Street between Jones and Holmes and it’s an old-timer, though it’s hard to be sure of the year. When I first saw it I thought it read 1914, which would have been the earliest Department of Public Works stamp I’d found. When I got back there to photograph it, it was in wetter conditions, and I think they made the date more legible and unfortunately revealed it to probably be 1918. It’s probably either that or 1916, but I favor 1918. Anyway, it’s quite an old one. Ones that include a month are, in my experience, always from 1924 or earlier.

The placement is a bit nontraditional. Usually the DPW stamps the month and date underneath the name, rather than side by side like this.

Posted on July 10, 2021 by bunnyhugger

S. Pennsylvania Ave., Minnis & Ewer, August 1910

Yes, it looks like several Minnis & Ewer stamps I’ve done before, but this one is new, I promise. It’s on the east side of South Pennsylvania Avenue between Prospect and Kalamazoo. There are a lot of Minnis and Ewer stamps with the same date (8-10) in this vicinity.

Actually, there are a pair of them, roughly on either end of a residential lot. At the moment they are copiously decorated with mulberries that have fallen from a tree that shadows the sidewalk.

Posted on March 21, 2021 by bunnyhugger

N. Clemens Ave., DPW, 1919 (?)

Here is an extremely worn Department of Public Works stamp from the east side of North Clemens Avenue between Vine and Fernwood. It caught my eye because the date appears to be from the teens, making it among the oldest DPW stamps I have catalogued. That penultimate digit sure looks like a one, anyway, though it’s strange that I don’t see a spot for a month. As far as I have seen, they used a month stamp through at least 1924. It might be worn away, but it’s less likely given that the year is nearly centered.

The last digit is harder to read. I took it to be a nine when I saw it in person, though on closer look at the photograph it might actually be an eight.

Posted on March 9, 2021March 9, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Jones St., Minnis & Ewer, June 1910

I didn’t forget you for long, fellow Minnis & Ewer fans. Check out this stamp on the east side of Jones Street between Prospect and Kalamazoo. Notice anything about it? I mean besides what a beautifully preserved stamp it is.

Exactly! It solves the mystery of the “910” date stamp found elsewhere on Jones Street. (The area near Jones and Prospect is a rich vein of Minnis & Ewer stamps.) I wrote that I had never seen a four-digit year in a Minnis & Ewer stamp, so I couldn’t figure out why “910,” and was puzzled how the “910” were perfectly clear and there wasn’t even the trace of a “1.” But in this stamp we see both a four-digit year and a fainter “1” suggesting that it had a tendency to print lighter. Of the Minnis & Ewer stamps I have found with a legible month, this is the oldest. It appears that they phased out the four-digit year stamp between July and August 1910.

Posted on February 23, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Jones St., Minnis & Ewer, 1910

Welcome back to Capital City Sidewalks, or as it will soon be known, the Internet’s premier Verner D. Minnis fan site. Today I have for you a very hard-to-read 1910 Minnis & Ewer stamp from the west side of Jones Street between Prospect and Eureka. I walked out to this spot today specifically to get this one for today’s entry, only to find that it photographed quite poorly due to a glaze of slush that fell on it this morning and was in the process of freezing over. At first I thought I should wait until I get better conditions for a picture, but I wasn’t able to find anything else of interest that wasn’t similarly buried. Besides, I thought to myself, I’m pretty sure by now my readers all know what a Minnis & Ewer stamp looks like. It’s another one with an illegible month, though I was able to make the year legible by scraping the slush out with my bare finger. On est grand par l’amour, et plus grand par les pleurs…

You’ll notice the heavy sprinkling of evergreen needles decorating the stamp. They were contributed by this impressive tree, seen here as I approached the stamp from the north.

A portrait-oriented photo? Isn’t that against the rules?

I suppose all the needles must get tiresome, but I am always rather envious of houses that have majestic evergreens shading their front yards. All my trees are plain old Norway maples, except for the small ornamental cherry the previous owner planted behind the garden pond.