North Foster Ave., BBRPCI, 1985

This BBRPCI stamp is on the west side of North Foster Avenue between Michigan and Vine. There are lots and lots of these around the East Michigan Avenue corridor, many from the 1980s.

Yeah, yeah, I know. They can’t all be exciting. I was working late today and didn’t have time to seek out something novel (and well-lit after sunset) on my walk.

Looking south on Foster. The stamp is at the very bottom of this picture.

James St., Moore Trosper, 1988

This is my first report from outside the east side. I had a virtual 5k to do which went from the Turner-Dodge House (in Old Town, on North Street) to the RE Olds Museum and back.

The Turner-Dodge House from the rear (the side facing the River Trail)

I took a few minutes after my race to do a quick look around the Turner-Dodge House for interesting sidewalk stamps. I was hoping to find something old or at least a company I haven’t seen yet in my walks around the east side. I didn’t find much on the sidewalk in front of the house (just two stamps from our friends from yesterday, BBRPCI, both dated 1993), but the sidewalk there all looked suspiciously newer. The sidewalk along James Street (to the east of the house) looked promisingly worn, but I didn’t find anything especially old there either. I did find one from 1988 with a name I hadn’t seen yet: Moore Trosper.

Moore Trosper are still in business. They’re a general contractor based in Holt, an unincorporated community south of Lansing. According to their Web site, they were founded in 1982 (making them a young company when this stamp was made) by Harold Moore and James Trosper, and are currently run by Moore’s sons.

E. Michigan Ave., BBRPCI, 1986

Michigan Avenue on the east side of Lansing bears a lot of 1980s stamps from B.B.R.P.C.I. I find them invitingly cryptic. This example is on the north side of Michigan between Magnolia and Hayford.

The letters didn’t mean anything to me, so I tried Googling “BBRPCI” and had no luck. I figured “I” probably meant “Inc.” so I tried “BBRPC”; still no luck. For some reason I had a hunch that the core company name might be BBR so I tried “BBR” and “concrete.” That paid off, as I discovered the existence of BBR Progressive Concrete Inc. They have that sort of remnant Internet presence of a company that survived long enough to have been incorporated into various online databases but not long enough to have any Yelp reviews. The only thing I can tell you about them is that they were located at 10463 Nixon Road in Grand Ledge, which today looks to be just another 1960s-ish home in a rural neighborhood. (It’s across the street from a private drive – a rudimentary two-track – called Penny Lane, which seems like it would just be inviting the hassle of having one’s street sign stolen.)