All right, here’s the last of the sidewalk stamps I collected walking to and from the Fox Theatre from a parking lot on Montcalm. This one is from our evening walk back, after having seen Trevor Horn perform as a solitary Buggle in support of Seal. It’s right in front of the 127 W. Fischer lot’s entrance on the north side of Montcalm between Park and Clifford.
I’m disappointed that Nagle Paving Company does not have a company history on their Web site. Their About page says that they have “over 60 years of experience” and that they’re a union shop but that’s about all I can tell you about them. Their main line of business actually seems to be asphalt paving, though they do have a page advertising their concrete installation services.
Odd that so many of the stamps in this area are from 2017 yet are all from different contractors. I would have thought that if a bunch of work (either sidewalk work, or utility work necessitating sidewalk replacement) was being done by the city around the same time they would use the same contractor.
We’re getting very close to our destination at the Fox Theatre today. This stamp is at the northwest corner of West Montcalm Street and Woodward Avenue, on Montcalm. It’s in front of the City Theatre.
Colasanti’s Web site currently calls them Colasanti Construction Services, Inc., without reference to “Specialty Services,” but some cross-referencing confirms that they are the same company. They were founded in 1953. Their Management Team page lists Angelo Colasanti with the title “Founder,” but it says “Angelo joined the company when it was established by his father, Rocco, in 1953.” Doesn’t that make Rocco the founder? I suppose they could be co-founders, but if Rocco established the company I still think that gives him priority as being the founder. Well, it’s their business, so who am I to say? Just some rando who blogs obsessive about sidewalk markings, that’s who.
Here’s another stamp from the Foxtown district in Detroit, on West Montcalm Street at the northeast corner of Montcalm and Park Avenue. It’s next to the Colony Club building (which faces Park).
I can’t tell you anything about Rayco Utility Inc. There’s a Rayco Utility Services based in Troy, but they seem to be a trucking company, so I’m not sure if it’s the same business or not.
My husband and I went to the Fox Theatre in Detroit last night to see one of my very favorite bands, Buggles, open for Seal. That’s why this entry is the very first one for a stamp located in the city of Detroit proper. In fact, I quickly discovered that the Foxtown area hosts a splendid menagerie of contractor stamps, and I had to quit pausing to take a photo of every one I saw or else we would be late for the show.
This particular stamp is on the north side of West Montcalm Street between Park and Clifford, next to a parking lot. I am guessing CES might be Corby Energy Services, which “provides construction, engineering and support services to utilities and related businesses throughout southeastern Michigan, Indiana and Ohio,” especially because this sidewalk block surrounds a utility hole cover.
This is the newest stamp I saw on my recent brief (and very cold) walk on Oakland Drive in East Lansing. It’s on the west side of the street between Grand River and Roseland. The Able stamp is ordinary enough, but it’s a date style I don’t think I’ve seen them use, or at least, not so often.
This stamp is on the east side of Bingham Street between Michigan and Eureka. No doubt it dates from the construction of the parking garage that it’s in front of. This was once the site of Bingham Street School (or just “Bingham School” as it seems to have been called in later years). Lansing apparently named all its early elementary schools after the residential streets they bordered, hence Foster Avenue School and Allen Street School. Bingham Street School holds a small but memorable place in my own personal history, as it was my polling location from when I moved to town through 2012. Thus, although I had no other connection with it, I was sad when it got knocked down. It looked so much like my own elementary school that going inside always triggered nostalgia.
The southernmost stamp. I have seen this same stamp template used by several other contractors, as well as the most recent city Operations and Maintenance stamps.
Bingham (Street) School closed in 2012 and was sold to Sparrow Hospital, who wanted the land to expand their cancer center. The school was demolished in July 2013 and if you want to see sad photos of the vacant rooms shortly before demolition – and the rubble afterward – you can find them on the still-extant Facebook page for the school. The local neighborhood was dismayed over the loss of green space, and that leads to another story for another entry, eventually. As for my polling place, it moved across the street to the Pilgrim Congregational Church, and though they seem like nice folks, voting in a church has never felt quite right to me.
Looking north toward Michigan Avenue with the Sparrow garage on the right.
Fessler & Bowman is a bigger company than usually gets featured here. They were founded in 1963 by Don Fessler and George Bowman and originally did residential flatwork and basement walls, but have subsequently become a large commercial contractor. Their corporate headquarters are in Flushing, Michigan, but they also have regional offices in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
The next-to-southernmost stamp. There are a few more spread out along the block but as they all look the same I didn’t bother photographing them all.
