I had to check my records several times before satisfying myself that I hadn’t done this one before. It’s in a part of town I walk very frequently and it’s two things I always stop and photograph: a 1920s stamp and a diagonal one. Except for a crack, it’s in really nice shape, too. Somehow, I have missed it before now. It’s on the east side of South Fairview Avenue between Michigan and Prospect.
The house it’s in front of was built in 1910, so it was relatively young when the stamp was place.
Here is a beautifully preserved Department of Public Works stamp on Vine Street, just east of the northeast corner of Vine and Ferguson. I’m surprised that I hadn’t captured this one before and I had to double check to make sure.
This stamp from William Meister is on the northwest corner of North Hayford Avenue and Fernwood Street, facing Fernwood. (Google Maps thinks Fernwood is an Avenue but all the street signs I’ve seen have it as Street. I’ve found quite a few of these Street/Avenue discrepancies.) There’s another one a bit further west on Fernwood, the same year.
My previous entry on William Meister referenced an old Lansing State Journal article I had found which reported that Meister and Fred Johnson would be constructing a new cobblestone entrance to Moores Park from Woodlawn Avenue, one which promised to be “one of the most attractive and artistic of any in any of the municipal walks.” I remarked in that entry, “I am not very familiar with Moores Park, so I don’t know what the walk in question looks like today.” Now seems like a good time to mention that I later checked the Google Street View of the Woodlawn entrance to Moores Park and could plainly see the sloping cobblestone-lined path. It is indeed attractive. It would lead one right to the Moores Memorial Natatorium, a historic and impressive-looking raised pool currently threatened with demolition.
This is a beautiful 1924 Department of Public Works stamp on the west side of North Fairview Avenue between Vine and Fernwood. I’m really surprised to search the blog and find I haven’t done this one before. Back in August I mentioned it and said I would eventually come back to it. I don’t think I expected it would be this long.
1924 seems to be a common date for 1920s-era DPW stamps, though the months attached are more diverse. This stamp is about five years younger than the house it’s in front of.
Here’s an interesting one (another 1924 stamp, like yesterday’s) on the north side of Eureka Street between Jones and Bingham. I wish I had kicked that cigarette butt out of the way. It was getting dark and I was worried about losing the light, so I must not have noticed it. Well, it adds authenticity. The curving layout is something I notice mainly in stamps from the 1920s and earlier, though occasionally it pops up in newer ones, like one of the variations of Able Construction.
In an August 11, 1928 advertisement in the Lansing State Journal classified pages, I find this: “CEMENT WORK Of all kinds. Phone 2793. 609 N. Grand River. Wm Meister.” There is no such address as 609 N. Grand River today, but Grand River’s routing is such a mess in that part of town that the spot in question has very likely received a new address since the 1920s and might be on a different street entirely.
I also find this interesting brief news item:
In Fred Johnson and William Meister, the city park board has found a happy combination for the building and laying of a new entrance to Moores Park from Woodlawn Avenue. Johnson, fireplace builder and expert stone mason, and Meister, cement worker, volunteered for the job. Both have been employed for years in Lansing in contracting work in their line. According to Lee Bancroft, city forester, the new walk will be one of the most attractive and artistic of any in any of the municipal walks. The walk leads from Woodlawn Avenue down a grade into the east part of the park. Because of the grade several landings will be made. The whole length of the new walk is about 55 feet. Cobble, or field stones, are being used by Johnson for the sides of the walk and for ornamental purposes. Meister is laying the landings and steps. The walks wind down into the park by easy stages and nearly all of it is under fine old trees. Following the completion of the walk the park board plans to embower the walk with shrubs and ornamental bushes. An artistic approach of pergola effect is to ornament the head of the walk at Woodlawn Avenue.
Lansing State Journal, July 7, 1927
Today I learned that “embower” is a word. I am not very familiar with Moores Park, so I don’t know what the walk in question looks like today. I will have to go over there and look for it sometime.
I can find a William Meister buried in Hillside Cemetery in Delta Mills. He lived 1872 to 1935. This could be our Mr. Meister. Then again, it could well have been a common name at the time, or this could be a relative. And sadly, that’s all I can tell you about William Meister.
I turned down a block I don’t usually visit on my walks because there were some Christmas lights I wanted to see. I was rewarded twice, with the lights and with this very well preserved Department of Public Works stamp. This is the east side of Allen Street, just south of Elizabeth (the last block before I-496).
I’m sorry the flash washed this out a bit because it really is a beautifully-preserved stamp, especially the date, from when they still stamped a month. It is on the west side of North Clemens Avenue between Fernwood and Vine.
The block itself is a bit cracked due to having been heaved up, but not too bad.
I walked a different route from usual which took me to the east side of South Clemens Avenue between Kalamazoo and Prospect, instead of the west side where I more often walk. And look what I found there.
So the oddly placed 1921 DPW stamp on Regent Street isn’t unique or a misfire after all. There are stamps from both before and after this one that are more conventionally placed. There is even another one from 1924. So my new hypothesis is that there was one particular foreman in the 1920s who liked it this way.
Too bad about the crack; it’s otherwise very clear. It also gives me my new latest date for DPW stamps marking the month as well as the year.