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Rolling Brook Ln., East Lansing, Fessler & Bowman, 1965

Continuing on my stamp-collecting expedition into the Pinecrest neighborhood, I found this stamp on Rolling Brook Lane north of Red Leaf. At the time it was totally illegible to me, but I took photos in hope that they would make the name visible. Sometimes that works, and this time it did. Once home, I was pretty sure that the first word was Fessler and the second started with a B – likely Bowman, since I am already familiar with Fessler & Bowman. The difference is that all the previous Fessler & Bowman stamps I have found were quite recent, from 2016 and 2017. This one is from the 1960s and based on being able to make out a flat line on top of the last number I am pretty sure it is a 5.

According to the company history on Fessler & Bowman’s Web site, the business started in 1963, so this is one of their early works.

Here, by the way, is the corner of Rolling Brook Lane and Red Leaf Lane. You can see why I initially noted the name of the street as “Rollingbrook.”

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Horton St., C. Wilkinson, 1965(?)

Here’s another extremely worn stamp from the northernmost block of Horton Street, on the west side of the street. This one I recognized more readily, as a C. Wilkinson stamp. The date is 1960s and I think it’s 1965, though I’m not entirely confident of the last digit.

I wonder why so many stamps on Horton are so worn compared with the same vintage stamps on other blocks? It does seem like there are more of these very faint ones around there.

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Regent St., “T. Gallie” graffiti, 1965

This fading graffiti is on the driveway apron of a house on the 400 block of Regent Street (between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth). I often find that such graffiti reflects who lived in the adjacent house at the time, though the research I’m able to do online doesn’t tell me who that was. I do find that in the 1960s, there was a police officer in Lansing named Thomas Gallie. I don’t have any way to connect him with this and it may be a relative or just a sheer coincidence.

I know only a couple of things about Gallie. One is that he was the defendant in a lawsuit, as reported in the February 2, 1966, Battle Creek Enquirer. (Interestingly I was not able to find anything in the [Lansing] State Journal about it.) An MSU senior sued Gallie and three other police officers for brutality, alleging that he was beaten at the police station. The student was later found not guilty of drunken driving, which he claimed he was charged with as a ploy to cover up the beating. The next reference I can find to Gallie is in the February 21, 1968, State Journal, in a summary of recent business of the Police Board. It briefly mentions that Gallie has submitted his resignation in order to take a job with the state, and notes that he is the only officer in the department with a master’s degree.

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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.
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E. Kalamazoo St., C. Wilkinson, 1965

I am not sure whether to read this as “C. Wilkinson” (my initial impression) or “G. Wilkinson” but either way I haven’t been able to find anything out about the business.

This stamp is on the north side of East Kalamazoo Street between Magnolia and Hayford. Specifically, it is out in front of a community garden on the site of the former Paro Party Store (and another party store before that, and apparently a butcher’s shop when it was built in 1938), which was torn down in 2014. Despite some noise made to the contrary, everything that the Land Bank gets its hands on in this neighborhood turns into another community garden. The current occupants of this one have put up a sign dubbing it “Paro Party Garden.”

The Paro Party Garden.

Updated 1/5/21: Based on another one I have found, I am now pretty sure it is “C. Wilkinson.”