e. schneeberger – Capital City Sidewalks

Posted on February 14, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Drury Ln., E. Schneeberger, 1925

Here’s another one from Drury Lane between Ballard Street and High Street, this time from the south side of the street. It’s very worn and the mud doesn’t help either, but I am pretty sure it is an E. Schneeberger stamp. There is also a paired stamp a few steps away, but that one was even harder to see due to slush.

Here’s an even closer view of the stamp.

Another interesting thing about this stamp is that the house it is in front of is the only house that currently has an address on Drury Lane. Drury is a small, one-block street to begin with, and it has several vacant lots. The only other house that appears to face the street rather curiously has a Ballard address, as previously reported. So the occupants of this house have the unique pride of a Drury Lane address. Personally, I think it would be neat to be the only house with an address on a specific street.

The stamp is on the closest (full) sidewalk block.

Posted on June 2, 2021June 2, 2021 by bunnyhugger

The Saga of the “Bum Walks”

I discovered this article a week or so ago, after my husband showed me the Schneeberger & Koort stamp he found, and I immediately bubbled over with absurd delight. Most likely, I will never again find an article about sidewalks that will cause me to giggle and wring my hands excitedly every time I re-read it, as this one has done. I knew this one was too good to leave to the OCR version I turned up at Newspapers.com, but the university where I work has the State Journal on microfilm, so I took the unusual step of frivolously using my library privileges to get a PDF of it delivered to my account. It only adds to my delight that some student worker at my university library had to crank through microfilm finding this for me.

The article is an August 11, 1914, State Journal account of a Lansing city council dust-up. One reason it is such a gem is that it references names that have previously appeared here in the blog: not just the newly-discovered Schneeberger & Koort, but my familiar old favorite V.D. Minnis. The drama also involves John Sovey, described as “a former cement contractor.” I find John Sovey’s name suspiciously similar to that of J.F. (John Fred) Sowa. I know that Sowa’s family later changed its surname to Sova, probably because it was already pronoucned that way and they wanted it to be phonetic in English. The Sowa stamp I know of is dated 1908 which would make the dates plausible for Sowa to be a “former cement contractor” by 1914. I wonder if John Sovey is the same person as John Sowa/Sova.

I could have sworn that I had referenced brick sellers Young Brothers and Daley in the blog before, but a search shows me to be mistaken. I know I did some research on them, perhaps with the intention of photographing a stamp in front of their business at some point. They are still around and in the same location near the railroad tracks in downtown Lansing.

The city council dispute described in the report involves, in the Journal reporter’s words, “a wordy tilt between Aldermen Young and McKinley over the sidewalk construction contract.” The sparring apparently started with Alderman McKinley bringing out photographs of broken sidewalks, following up on a charge he laid the previous week that “both Young Brothers and Daley and Alderman McKale had laid a lot of ‘bum’ walk in the city” (emphasis and delight all mine). Alderman Young is described as having an interest in Young Brothers Realty, which I assume is somehow connected to Young Brothers and Daley. McKale accuses Young Brothers Realty of being the cause of 87 broken sections of sidewalk in just two blocks of a subdivision they developed. These bum sidewalks were built by Schneeberger and Koort, so Alderman Young tries to shift the blame to the contractors.

Young then tries for a turnabout. The story gets a little confusing here, but if I am understanding Young correctly, McKinley has previously stated that sidewalk-fan-favorite V.D. Minnis is the only capable sidewalk contractor, yet the city has allowed Minnis to subcontract his city-contracted sidewalk work to less reputable contractors at a profit of two cents per foot. Say it ain’t so, Verner!

The entire article is a delight from beginning to end, including some wonderful verbatim banter between the aldermen. I can’t do justice to all of it in summary, so I am just going to reproduce it below under the sincere belief that it is no longer under copyright protection. I’ll end by giving a well-deserved spotlight to one more quotation, then please, go read the rest of the article.

“You violated the ordinance, undoubtedly, and failed to put your name upon the walks,” replied Alderman McKinley. “Your name is not upon the walk in the photograph.”
Alderman McKale did not deny the charge.

For shame!

Posted on May 10, 2021May 10, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Update: E. Schneeberger

I had a breakthrough on my walk yesterday. I passed a stamp on Vine – one I have featured before – from a contractor who has previously plagued me because all of their stamps have been too worn for me to quite read the name. I tagged them “Schullberger” even though that didn’t seem like a name I could turn up in records, just to keep them together. But as I walked in bright, late afternoon light yesterday, the angle of the sun really drew this one out and I suddenly realized it was most likely “Schneeberger.”

I can’t find anything definite, but I have a couple of leads. All of the Schneeberger stamps I have found are from the 1920s. On March 24, 1922, the Lansing State Journal reported that Edward Schneeberger of New York Avenue had a tire stolen from his car. This was probably the Edward Charles Schneeberger (1872-1942) who is now buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.

I also find references to the Schneeberger Builders bowling team in the league bowling results pages (often a friend to this blog) between 1950 and 1970. I don’t know if this is a descendent of E. Schneeberger’s business, but it’s certainly possible.

Posted on April 27, 2021May 10, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Prospect St., E. Schullberger (?) [Schneeberger], illegible date

These stamps are on the north side of Prospect Street between Bingham and Jones. They are not on the sidewalk but rather the driveway and driveway apron. There are an almost comical number of them, with at least three on the driveway and two on the apron.

I recognize the stamp as one I’ve seen and been frustrated by before. It’s frustrating because I can never quite read it with full confidence. My best guess has been “E. Schullberger,” but searching old newspapers does not turn up that name anywhere, which makes me think I am misreading. The other ones I have found are from the 1920s, but the date of these is illegible. Update 5/9/21: I now believe this is E. Schneeberger.

Posted on January 13, 2021May 10, 2021 by bunnyhugger

S. Fairview Ave., E. Schullberger (?) [Schneeberger], 1925

I took a walk through the Urbandale neighborhood this evening. The subdivision was developed in the teens on the site of a former race track. It’s a careworn district, harmed over the years by redlining and frequent flooding. Many derelict properties ended up being demolished, resulting in it being repopulated with a lot of urban farms, but at dusk and under snow it just looked desolate. I didn’t find many leftover Christmas lights.

I did find this very worn 1925 stamp on the west side of South Fairview Avenue between Elizabeth and Harton. (Harton, by the way, is a real oddity: a dirt road, in the city!) I was excited to make out the 1925 date, then a little dismayed to work out (with the help of some different flashlight angles while kneeling down and confusing any watching neighbors) that it is another one of those mysterious E. Schullberger stamps. At least, that’s been my best guess as to how to read the name in the past, and this one isn’t any easier to read than the ones I’ve found before, more’s the pity. Update 5/9/21: I now believe this to be E. Schneeberger.

Posted on January 3, 2021May 10, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Vine St., E. Schullberger (?) [Schneeberger], 1926

This one caught my eye between its 1926 date, its nice design, and its jaunty diagonal placement, so I had to capture it even though it is actually on the edge of someone’s driveway. That’s a first for the blog, I think, though I’ve done driveway aprons before. It’s placed in the lower right corner of a driveway on the north side of Vine just east of the corner of Clemens. It belongs to the house on that corner. I took a couple of photos, one with and one without flash, figuring I would be able to work out the contractor’s name when I got home. It was dark, and it’s often easier to look at what the camera saw than use my own eyes in that kind of light.

When I got home I was mildly dismayed to discover that it’s the same mysterious contractor I previously wrote about, and the name is no more legible this time. If anything, it’s worse. I had taken it to read “E. Schullberger” before, but could not find anyone by that name when searching old Lansing State Journals, which makes it suspect. Update 5/9/21: I now believe this to be E. Schneeberger.

Looking east on Fairview. The stamp is just left of bottom center, in the bottom right corner of the presumed original driveway. The car is parked on an additional (asphalt) paved area that appears to be a later addition.

The flash didn’t prove illuminating, but here it is with.

Posted on December 2, 2020May 10, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Vine St., E. Schullberger (?) [Schneeberger], 1926

As sometimes happens, I had already photographed something else (something on my “to do list”) when I stumbled across this one later on my walk. I decided to bump the other one to another time. This one is on the south side of Vine Street between Fairview and Clemens.

I am quite sure this one is from the 1920s and fairly confident the date is 1926. I thought at first that the contractor’s name was totally illegible, but upon studying the photograph I think I see “E Schullberger.” Searching the Lansing State Journal for that name gets me nothing, so I could very well be wrong. I would welcome alternate suggestions to research. Update 5/9/21: I now believe this to be E. Schneeberger.