Vine St., Bilt-Rite, 1955

I encountered this stamp walking west on the south side of Vine Street between Custer and Ferguson. It was an unfamiliar one to me, so I stopped to check it out. I could make out that the second word of the name was Rite, but couldn’t figure the first word out. (It’s actually possible in the photo, I think, so maybe you can.)

Luckily, stamps usually come in pairs, presumably on either end of a run of new sidewalk, so often the second one fills in the obscurities in the first. This was one of those cases. I walked a short distance further and found this one.

Either the date or the name is upside down, and I’m going to say the name, based on the placement within the slab and the orientation relative to the eastern stamp. (Paired stamps usually face opposite to each other.)

Looking east on Vine Street. Closest to the camera is the upside-down stamp. Further east is a copy of the Lansing Community News (motto: “All the News That’s Fit to Fling”).1

I was quite surprised to discover that Bilt-Rite is still in business, on East Street in Lansing. According to their About Us page (and I do love a business Web site with an About page) they were founded in 1952 by Hugh Zweering and are currently run by his son and grandson. They seem to specialize in home construction and renovation now, which might be why I haven’t seen any more recent sidewalk stamps from them.

1Maybe I should have gone with “Democracy Dies in Plastic.”