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1914 State Journal Editorial

I found this short editorial on page 4 of the the August 7, 1914, State Journal. This was four days prior to the “Bum Walks” city council meeting report that has given me so much joy. Evidently, the subject of sidewalk construction contracts was an ongoing controversy. I will reproduce the article here, as I believe it is out of copyright.

The State Journal‘s recommendation that the city do all of its own sidewalk construction work was clearly not adopted, at least not for long, since otherwise this blog would be 100% Department of Public Works/Department of Public Service/O&M stamps. On the other hand, this has caused me to look over my records and notice that there are certain spans of time in which I do not have any non-DPW stamps recorded. All the stamps I have from 1910 and 1911 are Minnis and Ewer, then I have no stamps collected from 1912 through 1918. The 1918 and 1919 stamps are all DPW, then from 1921 until 1924 there are quite a lot of DPW stamps mixed with a small number of Wm. Meister. Another notable period is 1941 through 1945, during which time all the stamps I collected were DPW.

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“Condemn Walk to School” clipping, 1917

Between the heat and other interruptions, I still haven’t had a chance to collect any more sidewalk stamps lately, so here’s another old State Journal clipping. The front page (!) of the September 25, 1917, State Journal contains this report from City Council, quoted in its entirety:

Condemn Walk to School. Ald. Bovee denounced the condition of sidewalks leading to Columbia Park school across Michigan Ave. as disgraceful, saying that the lives of school children who were obliged to cross at these places were endangered. Eighth ward citizens were called upon and they declared that the conditions should be remedied. Ald. McKinley then remarked that all that was necessary to do was to circulate petitions and said that If Ald. Bovee was not able to start the petitions that he would try to do it for the eighth ward alderman.

I was surprised to discover that Columbia Park School was a previous name for Foster Avenue School. It joined the Lansing school district in 1916 and received the new name (which is in keeping with the normal Lansing scheme for elementary school names) in 1917 when it was remodeled, according to Capital Area District Library’s local history collection. The new name must have happened rather late in 1917 since it is still known as Columbia Park in this article from September. I’m not sure what the original name refers to.

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Lansing Artificial Stone Co. “Removal Notice”, 1914

It was too hot to go collecting stamps today, so instead I have a news clipping for you. On May 8, 1914, in the State Journal, the Lansing Artificial Stone Co. ran a classified advertisement with a “removal notice.” I had missed this one when doing some research on Lansing Artificial Stone previously. I have to suppose that “removal notice” is a 1910s term for an announcement of moving. Here is the text of the advertisement, in its entirety:

REMOVAL NOTICE We have moved our office to 109 North Cedar first door north of Michigan Ave. Let us give you prices on your sidewalks. Lansing Artificial Stone Co., J. P. Sleight, Prop.

State Journal, May 8, 1914

There is also another removal notice elsewhere in the classifieds, with the same text except that instead of offering prices on sidewalks, it says “We have full line of building material, etc. See us for right prices. Special attention given to farmer trade. Full stock on hand at office warehouse.”

109 North Cedar Street no longer exists; the site is currently a permit parking lot beside the Lansing Center. The latest reference I can find to an establishment at 109 North Cedar (though it may well not have been the same building) is from February 1967, at which time it was… any guesses? I’ll give you a moment. Time’s up, it was a car dealership, specifically England-Cook Chevrolet (subject of the famous book, Unsafe With Any Spice). The Artificial Stone Co. was certainly gone from there by March 1921, replaced by “Cooper-Ehinger Company, Builders of fine homes.” England-Cook was in residence there by 1937.

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“Sidewalk Need Cited” in Lansing Twp., 1970

Here’s a clipping I found that some helpful Newspapers.com subscriber has clipped from the May 6, 1970, State Journal. Titled “Children Endangered: Sidewalk Need Cited,” it reports on a discussion of the need for sidewalks on Brynford and Deerfield Avenues by the Lansing Township Trustees. “Trustees are concerned about a lack of sidewalks which forces children to walk in the two streets while going to and from classes at either Windermere Park Elementary or Waverly East Junior High,” according to the article. “A particular problem area, according to Frank Fitzgerald, township supervisor, is Brynford and W. Saginaw….”

I haven’t been to the blocks in question as far as I can remember, but a Google street view shows that there is no sidewalk anywhere on Deerfield Avenue. Brynford has no sidewalk on the Saginaw end, then a sidewalk suddenly picks up on the west side of the street for a while before disappearing again mid-block. Further south, a couple more disconnected bits of sidewalk briefly appear and disappear again. One of them traverses just a single lot, as though some past owner built it voluntarily and watched in disappointment as neighbors failed to follow suit.

This is all on brand for Lansing Township. While sidewalk coverage in the City of Lansing isn’t perfect, it is much more erratic in the Township. A fairly reliable way to tell that you have crossed into Lansing Township from Lansing is the disappearance of the sidewalk.