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Auditorium Rd. (East Lansing), Lansing Poured Wall, 2004

I made another expedition to my alma mater, MSU, to pick something up from the library. I parked in my favorite lot, the metered spaces arranged in a horseshoe by the Hannah Administration Building, and walked across the expansive pavement there. It brought back a distinct memory of marching in front of the building sometime around 2003, chanting union slogans, in the early days of the Graduate Employees Union. I had the honor of being one of the founding members.

Today – May 5 – is the 20th anniversary of the day I defended my dissertation at MSU. I don’t recall seeing this sidewalk being laid, and don’t know whether it was before or after my graduation. It is right out in front of the admin building, and I surely walked over it or its predecessor during that demonstration.

My back is to Hannah the building here, but Hannah the bronze statue is visible in the upper right distance.

This is only the second place I’ve found a Lansing Poured Wall stamp. The other ones were on Jolly Road in front of Capital Honda, also dated 2004.

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W. Circle Dr. (East Lansing), Granger, 2000

Continuing (belatedly, it’s been a hard couple of months) my walk around MSU’s campus, I also collected this Granger stamp in the Beal Botanical Garden, near the Library.

Also, here’s a bonus squirrel who was hanging out nearby. I wish I’d had a good camera on me, instead of just my tiny phone’s toy camera.

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E. Kalamazoo St., F & M, 2009

I walked downtown along East Kalamazoo Street to check out the going out of business sale at venerable jeweler Linn & Owen. I didn’t buy anything, but I did see this F & M stamp and, in the distance beyond, the ghost sign advertising three locations of Beaner’s. Today Beaner’s is known as Biggby and only one of these three locations is extant, the one on Allegan.

There isn’t much else to say about this stamp, besides that it’s on the north side of East Kalamazoo Street, east of South Grand Avenue, in front of the Michigan DHHS’s South Grand building.

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W. Washtenaw St., Christman, 2001

I have previously written about Lansing-based construction company Christman. This stamp is found on the north side of West Washtenaw Street between Walnut and Pine – outside Constitution Hall – and what makes it interesting is two things. First, both of the sets of Christman stamps I’d found before were in the greater Frandor metropolitan area and had dates in the 1950s or 60s.

Second, “constructors”? I guess they wanted to set themselves apart from all the boring contractors who go with the tried and true “construction” in their name.

The stamps appear on both sides of the double-width sidewalk. The employee entrance to Constitution Hall is on the right.
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S. Clemens Ave., T L Contracting, 2009

This stamp is from the east side of North Clemens Avenue between Michigan and Jerome. T L Contracting isn’t one of the more common stamps in the neighborhood, although I have covered one in the blog before. This block must have been a singleton when it was laid, since it is stamped twice, one facing either way.

It also happens to be in front of a wonderfully decorated house, so I really chose it to showcase some neighborhood holiday lights. Happy holidays to both of my readers!

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E. Michigan Ave., Dykstra, 2009

Somehow I walked by at least three contractor names I had never seen before on my way back to my car from the Silver Bells 5K. I was parked in front of the Lansing Center and the race was downtown, so that wasn’t a very long walk. I like the lettering style on this one. It’s on the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Washington and Grand, in front of the former Troppo (now apparently something called “The Gov”?).

So go on. Guess what part of the state Dykstra Cement Contractors hails from. Write your guess down. I’ll wait. If you at least guess the area code I’ll give you partial credit. The answer is after the picture.

Dykstra Cement is headquartered in Hudsonville, metro Grand Rapids. They’re still in business, but their Web site doesn’t give a company history, more’s the pity.

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Taft St., Cantu, 2002

I made this discovery while walking in and around Bancroft Park recently. It’s on the north side of Taft Street between Ohio and Indiana (Avenues, not States).

I know, you’re thinking, “Another Cantu stamp, big deal.” But look closer! It’s not a dime-a-dozen Cantu & Sons or even a Cantu & (singular) Son, but it’s Cantu simpliciter. While I know that Cantu Builders is the current name of the still-extant company, I had never turned up a stamp without Sons or Son. This is also the most recent Cantu stamp I’ve found, with the previous record-holder being one from 1993. I was beginning to think they didn’t do any sidewalk work after that.

I need to make some more trips into the north side and see what else I can find.

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S. Clippert St., M & M Concrete, 2007

Back in metro Lansing (the Township, to be precise): I found this one in front of the Riverwalk Apartments on the west side of South Clippert Street between Prospect and Michigan. I don’t recall ever walking this block before.

For some reason, I like the contrast between the neat typeface of the name and the handwritten quality of the date.

There have been several M & M Concretes in Michigan, including one in St. Clair and another on the opposite side of the state in Fruitport, but I would guess this one was the one that used to be in Charlotte but appears to be defunct.

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S. Huron St., Ypsilanti, illegible, 2006

I found this one outside a hotel where I went to a convention last weekend, the Marriott at Eagle Crest in Ypsilanti, off South Huron Street and James L. Hart Parkway. Unfortunately, the contractor name is illegible. It is [something] Concrete, and the style is extremely similar to the Audia Concrete stamps from the same year that I have found in Lansing. Audia is located in Milford, not too far from Ypsilanti, but I am pretty sure this is not them, because I thought I could make out an F in the otherwise illegible name. It is probably another contractor who bought their stamp from the same supplier.

Unfortunately I could not find another stamp in the expanse of concrete in front of the hotel so this one will have to remain a mystery.

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E. Michigan Ave., Granger Construction, 2005

I almost always stick to the south side of the road when walking past Sparrow on East Michigan Avenue, but continuing my recent effort to record stamps in front of Sparrow, I decided to cross. The stamp from last time was in front of the Professional Building, but this one is in front of Sparrow proper, or at least its parking deck.

Yesterday’s was dated 2004 and this one 2005, but no doubt they were both part of a big Sparrow expansion project that started in 2003.

The stamp is in the vicinity of this parking ramp sign.
Christmas decorations, seen from the other side of the building this time.