I like a good, deep stamp like this one, as they’re more likely to stick around for some future sidewalk stamp cataloguer. They also just look nicer. The subdued illumination of the street light made some nice shadows on it.
This stamp is in front of the vacant former Wright & Filippis building on the south side of Michigan Avenue, between Clifford and Lathrop.
This pair of stamps is on the south side of East Michigan Avenue between Fairview and Magnolia. It’s hard to read the date in one of them, but the other is quite clear and I am going to assume they were done together.
The stamps are in front of the closed Hotwater Works building, until recently a neighborhood staple. It was, somehow, both a hot tub retailer and a jam space for local musicians. The side facing the now-vacant lot was painted with a couple of different murals over the years, the first one depicting a fairy with the command “RELAX” and the second one featuring a group of Japanese macaques bathing. I never had any reason to go in there, but in a way, I just liked it being there. It seemed like an offbeat place to anchor an offbeat neighborhood. Here is a short article about the history of the business from radio station WDBM.
Sadly, they closed up in early 2020. Surprisingly, this wasn’t a COVID loss: they were having their liquidation sale already in February. I suspect the beginning of the end actually came in 2017 when the original owner, James McFarland, died. I note from city records that the property was sold by McFarland’s estate in January 2020 to “McFarland Sisters Enter L L C.” I imagine that the hot tub business wasn’t what it once was, and the family decided the real estate was more valuable.
As for the history of the property, it was built in 1947 as Bagger Trailer Sales, and was sold to George H. Rowley in 1952 to become an auto agency. It spent a while as a B.F. Goodrich tire shop in the 1970s, and then in the 1980s and 90s was Delphi Stained Glass. Hotwater Works moved in around 1997.
This is a Barnhart & Son (just the singular Son this time, though other stamps from 1986 have plural Sons) stamp on the west side of North Fairview Avenue between Fernwood and Saginaw.
The variation in name is interesting, but what really catches my eye when I walk this block is some graffiti in the adjacent slab. It’s interesting to note that although this particular sidewalk must have been poured in the 1990s (I think that says 1996, though it’s pretty messy), Red Buddy’s birth year matches the date on several nearby Barnhart stamps.
Here is a BBRPCI (BBR Progressive Concrete, Inc.) stamp from 1986. It’s in front of Liberty Christian Church, which is on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Magnolia and Hayford. The stamp is nothing special but I was a little curious about the church.
The city’s property database claims the various buildings that make up the church were all built in 2011. This is plainly not true, and I’m not sure why it says that. Fortunately, I discovered that the church is up for sale and the real estate listing states that it was built in 1927 for the Olivet Baptist Church. It also contains some obnoxious hype about neighborhood gentrification along with suggestions about converting it into a nightclub or apartments or something. Gross. Anyway, 1927 certainly matches the central core of the church’s architecture but other elements look midcentury to me.
I don’t know when Olivet Baptist moved out. They were still there at least as late as 1983, as I can find them referenced in a Lansing State Journal church directory then. Liberty has been there as long as I can remember and based on Google street view, at least by 2007. I would like to do more research into this, but I lack the emotional energy for more research tonight, so I will leave that for another time.
There are quite a few Barnhart & Sons stamps in the neighborhoods north of Michigan. In fact, I could have sworn I had done one before and was surprised to discover otherwise. This one is on the east side of North Clemens Avenue just south of the corner of Vine.
There is currently a Barnhart and Son (singular) Construction based in Holt. I would guess that is the descendent of the 1980s Barnhart & Sons, but if so, they have changed their line of work a bit. They currently do excavation and sewer work.
I photographed this one mainly as an excuse to demonstrate how splendidly lit the neighborhood has been this season – even more than past years, I dare say. This is the house with the featured stamp (and one or two other Barnhart stamps too, but my hands were getting cold).
This nice, sharp BBRPCI (BBR Progressive Concrete Inc.) stamp is on the south side of East Michigan Avenue just east of Fairview.
This corner has been a vacant lot for so long (that For Lease sign has been there since at least 2011, per Google Street View) that I had to jog my memory about what used to be there. It was two buildings, one of them an old house and the other a low-slung, dismal commercial building which most recently was the home base of Shaggin’ Wagon Taxi. Recently it has been the temporary quarters of the Allen Farmers Market during construction on the Allen Neighborhood Center.
Searching the Lansing State Journal, I turned up perhaps the most unusual business to have occupied the address. In March 1993, a late-night music venue called The Ibex Sings opened. In May 1993 it closed with a farewell party.
This Able variation is on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue just south of Prospect. Their name at the time had a more generalist sound to it, versus the current moniker of “Able Concrete.”
I know now to look for a paired stamp and I found one a little way north, but both were facing in the same direction. Usually the paired stamp is facing the opposite way.
This got me wondering. Cantu & Sons has the greatest representation on the east side, hands down. But who covers the greatest span of time? I have found an Able stamp as recent as 2004 and now as early as 1986.
This DPW variation can be found on the west side of South Magnolia Avenue a short distance south of Michigan Avenue. It is alongside the Hot Water Works hot tub dealer.
No “Lansing” this time, just DPW. I like the design. I always think outlined stamps look smart. I still hope to narrow down when they quit using DPW (or DPS?) and switched to the undated O&M stamps.
Today’s is actually a cluster. I’ve noticed these before but usually when walking at night, when it would have been hard to get a good photo. I finally passed this way in the evening. This is on the south side of the 1400 block of East Michigan Avenue between Clifford and Holmes, in front of the Physicians Health Plan building. By sheer, until-now unrecognized, coincidence, this is actually due north of yesterday’s Beverly Place Apartments location, 1400 East Michigan versus yesterday’s 1401 East Kalamazoo.
The J. Carter Co. of Holt seems to be out of business, although only recently. OpenCorporates gives its incorporation date as 1984 and its dissolution date as 2014. That may not exactly reflect when the business ceased to exist, but the stray traces of it I can find on the Internet suggest it made it to relatively recent times. Its former address, on Keller Road in Holt, is now occupied by Moore Trosper. Whether they just took over the building or also bought out the business I don’t know.
The one thing I have found out about the J. Carter Co. is this brief news item from page 12 of the October 14, 1987, Lansing State Journal: “The J. Carter Co. of Holt has begun building a cement holder for the state’s Christmas tree on the lawn of the Capitol. Technically called a sleeve, the project will take the place of the temporary ones built each year. Work on the $22,000 project began Tuesday and is to be completed by Nov. 10.” Sadly, that sleeve is no longer in use. The state tree had to be relocated further forward due to the installation of bollards at the edge of the Capitol grounds in 2016 to stop terrorists from driving onto the lawn and doing terror-doughnuts. As a result the state tree has been smaller, a deficiency they have attempted to surmount with the addition of a gust-prone tree topper. What’s that you say? You’re wondering if I’m opinionated about this? Well, since you wrung it out of me, I will admit that I do not like the new tree placement. It looked much more dramatic in its old location. But I confess it is indeed a small price to pay to keep terrorists off the Capitol lawn.
There are several stamps out in front of PHP, including the neater one in the first photo, but I have to admit that I find the haphazard placement of the stamps in the second two photos – especially the way the date managed to end up in there twice – amusing and even somewhat endearing.
These mirrored stamps are on the west side of South Clemens Avenue between Kalamazoo and Prospect. There are several from this company on this stretch of Clemens.
I haven’t been able to find anything out about Al’s Utility (with or without apostrophe).