1970s – Capital City Sidewalks

Posted on February 4, 2023 by bunnyhugger

Oakland Dr., East Lansing, Eastlund Concrete, 1975

Sometimes when I’m driving around town I’ll pick a neighborhood street at random to divert into to look for sidewalk stamps. This time I was driving home from the Meridian Mall on Grand River Avenue and made a snap decision to turn into a street I had never noticed the existence of before, Oakland Drive.

The street was an odd mixture of midcentury ranch homes and 1920s English cottage and Tudor style. It’s a narrow street, with sidewalk erratically appearing and disappearing on both sides. In front of one of the older homes I found this Eastlund Concrete stamp dated 1975. It’s on the west side of the street between Grand River and Roseland.

Posted on June 28, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Dodge River Drive, BdWL, 1970

Here’s the last of the few stamps I collected while visiting the streets near the Turner Dodge House. It’s one of those mysterious BdWL stamps (I still don’t know what that stands for and will be really excited if I ever figure it out) and it’s on Dodge River Drive at the southeast corner of Black Court.

The stamp is a long younger than the house it’s in front of, which faces Black Court and was built in 1924.

Posted on June 14, 2022 by bunnyhugger

“Sidewalk Need Cited” in Lansing Twp., 1970

Here’s a clipping I found that some helpful Newspapers.com subscriber has clipped from the May 6, 1970, State Journal. Titled “Children Endangered: Sidewalk Need Cited,” it reports on a discussion of the need for sidewalks on Brynford and Deerfield Avenues by the Lansing Township Trustees. “Trustees are concerned about a lack of sidewalks which forces children to walk in the two streets while going to and from classes at either Windermere Park Elementary or Waverly East Junior High,” according to the article. “A particular problem area, according to Frank Fitzgerald, township supervisor, is Brynford and W. Saginaw….”

I haven’t been to the blocks in question as far as I can remember, but a Google street view shows that there is no sidewalk anywhere on Deerfield Avenue. Brynford has no sidewalk on the Saginaw end, then a sidewalk suddenly picks up on the west side of the street for a while before disappearing again mid-block. Further south, a couple more disconnected bits of sidewalk briefly appear and disappear again. One of them traverses just a single lot, as though some past owner built it voluntarily and watched in disappointment as neighbors failed to follow suit.

This is all on brand for Lansing Township. While sidewalk coverage in the City of Lansing isn’t perfect, it is much more erratic in the Township. A fairly reliable way to tell that you have crossed into Lansing Township from Lansing is the disappearance of the sidewalk.

Posted on April 14, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Downer St., unsigned, 1975

Sometimes I pick an unfamiliar block semi-randomly and divert to it on my way home from work to look for sidewalk stamps. This time I picked Downer Street between Woodruff and Hopkins. There wasn’t much of interest there, but I did find this driveway on the west side of the street. It has a year, 1975, stamped in each corner, but no contractor name. There is a matching driveway stamped with the same date in the corners on Elizabeth Street, undoubtedly the work of the same anonymous contractor.

Posted on March 26, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Elizabeth St., unsigned, 1975

I like two things about this front walk on the north side of Elizabeth Street between Shepard and Leslie: the very crisp, angled “1975” in either corner of the front step, and the way the walk forks instead of coming straight forward to the street.

I dislike just one thing about it: the lack of the contractor’s name.

Posted on August 14, 2021 by bunnyhugger

E. Michigan Ave., Eastlund Concrete, 1970

This is my new earliest Eastlund Concrete stamp. It’s on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Ferguson and Holmes.

This building was constructed in 1972, according to the city parcel records. It was a Goodyear service center which had its grand opening in March 1973, and closed sometime in the 2010s. It has stood there looking sad ever since. In 2019 the building was sold to the expanding chicken heart known as Sparrow. I don’t know what they are doing with it. It appears to have some miscellaneous junk stored in the service bays, and the windows on the retail side are covered up.

The view east on Michigan Avenue. The stamp isn’t really visible here but is at the lower right corner of the photo.

This is the eastern end of the building.

Posted on August 3, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Lasalle Blvd., Eastlund Concrete, 1971

This is the earliest dated Eastlund stamp I have found, though in style it closely resembles an undated stamp I collected in front of Papa John’s. It’s on the north side of Lasalle Boulevard. Lasalle Boulevard is a strange street that has two entirely disconnected parts, one north of Lasalle Gardens and the other south of Lasalle Gardens; this is on the southern leg, in front of the last house before the street takes a dramatic curve to the south.

Posted on April 26, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Bingham St., DPW, 1977

This is the first 1970s DPW stamp I have found, and it’s on the east side of Bingham just south of Eureka, in a lovely patch of dappled shade. It’s in the style of the 1980s stamps I have previously collected.

The corner of Eureka and Bingham, looking northeast toward the back end of Sparrow. The stamp is at the lower right.

Posted on April 14, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Clifford St., McNeilly Const., illegible date

This McNeilly stamp, on the east side of Clifford Street between Eureka and Prospect, is clearer than others I’ve seen, but only the name. The date, unfortunately, is illegible, at least until I get it in a more favorable light. It’s probably 1970s.

Looking north on Clifford on a beautiful spring day.

Posted on April 9, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Eureka St., Carlson Const., 1977

This stamp is on the west side of Bingham Street between Michigan and Prospect, in front of the parking lot for the Pilgrim Congregational church. That’s where I vote now that Bingham (Street) School is gone.

This one is interesting because of its date. 1970s stamps are the least common decade I find (that is, from the 1920s on). There are a lot of 80s stamps, a fair few 60s stamps, but only a smattering of 70s stamps around the east side.

Looking at the church, with the stamp above located to the lower right of the graffiti.

Unfortunately, this is one of those cases in which the contractor’s name is too common for me to narrow down who it is. I can’t find a history of a Carlson Construction company in metro Lansing, though there have been Carlsons in Benton Harbor, Byron Center, Otsego, and Saranac, the last being the closest.