groesbeck – Capital City Sidewalks

Posted on July 23, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Will Groesbeck Join the Land of Milk, Honey, and Sidewalks?

I have to apologize for the lack of sidewalk content today. It’s been very hot, so I’ve been taking my walks at night, which isn’t good for finding sidewalk markings to share. So instead I’ll offer a link to an article that has nothing at all to do with sidewalks. The City Pulse has reported today that residents of the part of the Groesbeck neighborhood that lies within Lansing Township have requested to be annexed by Lansing. My immediate reaction was, “Of course they have. We have much better sidewalks.”

According to the article, “a leader of the effort… declined to discuss why the residents were seeking annexation.” Surely, though, it’s because they have noticed how only the Lansing side of Mifflin Avenue has a sidewalk and how the border between Lansing and Lansing Township on Michigan Avenue is marked by the sidewalk mostly disappearing.

Admittedly, I think that the Groesbeck neighborhood itself has adequate sidewalk coverage (though they’re probably not stamped, since I don’t think Lansing Township has a marking ordinance). But the overall better effort with respect to sidewalks in Lansing is surely still a point in the city’s favor.

Posted on April 21, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Downer St., Able Concrete, 2002

This is the last of the stamps I collected in my sweep of Downer between Woodruff and Hopkins. This one is on the east side of the street.

The block turned out to be a disappointment. Most of the sidewalk looked to be the same age and composition, but was unstamped, suggesting that none of it was properly marked when the subdivision was developed. Almost all of the newer-looking blocks are Able 2002 stamps like this one, except for the 2019 Eastlund stamps on the corner of Able and Hopkins and one extremely worn Moore and Trosper stamp from (if I read it right) the 1990s.

Posted on April 19, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Downer St., Mueller gas utility cover

On my recent sweep of Downer Street between Woodruff and Hopkins, I found this gas utility cover on the west side of the street.

I’m disappointed that Mueller doesn’t have a company history on their Web site, just this brief description: “Since 1857, the Mueller name has become known for innovative water distribution products of superior quality, many of which have become industry standards. This leadership position has resulted in our valves or hydrants being specified in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. We also provide distribution products for the natural gas industry.”

Fortunately, they do have a Wikipedia page, and from there I learn that the company was started by Hieronymous Mueller in Decatur, Illinois, as “H. Mueller, Gun Shop.” He then expanded into sewing machine and clock repairs. Eventually, he shifted focus to plumbing supplies and sold off the gun and sporting goods side of the business. The business sadly left Decatur in 2010 and moved their headquarters to Chattanooga, Tennessee (the location of one of the other companies they had acquired back in the 1930s).

Posted on April 16, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Downer St., Eastlund Concrete, 2019

As noted yesterday, I picked a block more or less randomly to stop at on my way home from work, and I ended up on Downer Street between Woodruff and Hopkins. There was disappointingly little of interest; yesterday’s mysterious driveway stamp is the best of it. The newest stamps on the block, from Eastlund Concrete, are from a section of sidewalk wrapping around the southwest corner of Downer and Hopkins.

Posted on April 14, 2022 by bunnyhugger

Downer St., unsigned, 1975

Sometimes I pick an unfamiliar block semi-randomly and divert to it on my way home from work to look for sidewalk stamps. This time I picked Downer Street between Woodruff and Hopkins. There wasn’t much of interest there, but I did find this driveway on the west side of the street. It has a year, 1975, stamped in each corner, but no contractor name. There is a matching driveway stamped with the same date in the corners on Elizabeth Street, undoubtedly the work of the same anonymous contractor.

Posted on October 30, 2021 by bunnyhugger

Somercroft Dr., Audia Concrete, 2005

I had to stop the car and take a look at this tiny little stub of a street in the Groesbeck neighborhood because I was amazed to see that it not only had a name, it had a sidewalk, on the west side of the block. I found the only stamp on it. The name is mostly illegible, but from experience I can recognize it as an Audia Concrete stamp.

I found myself wondering why the grandiosely-named Somercroft Drive existed. It seems to exist just to serve one of the entrance drives to the adjacent Post Oak elementary school, but it seems like it could have just been a driveway, rather than a named street. That got me wondering whether it used to be longer and perhaps connected to Lake Lansing Road to the north, so when I got home I checked HistoricAerials.com. No, the street has always been this long. It was created when the neighborhood was developed in the 1960s. When it was built, there was nothing north of here but farm fields. Today there is an office park. Perhaps they were leaving open the possibility of expanding the neighborhood to the north.

Looking north at the entirety of Somercroft Drive.

The sidewalk looks like its only possible use would be for children walking to and from Post Oak school, although it is on the wrong side of the road for that and does not connect with any path that leads to the school. In fact, given that it seems like a relatively low-use sidewalk, I am impressed that it got work done as recently as 2006.

I wonder what the shortest named street in Lansing is. This one has to be in the running.

Posted on October 12, 2021 by bunnyhugger

N. Fairview Ave., “TK+SD” graffiti, undated

This graffiti on the east side of North Fairview Avenue between Saginaw and Grand River got my attention because of the lettering style. Most sidewalk graffiti is just plain lines. This one’s hollow block lettering is unique and ostentatious. The grass clippings from a recently mown lawn were giving it a little extra definition.

I didn’t notice the + at first and thought it was just four letters, TKSD, but when I looked at my photo later I realized it was a declaration of love: “TK + SD.”

Posted on October 8, 2021 by bunnyhugger

N. Fairview Ave., DPW, 1920s?

My eyes are always drawn to an old Department of Public Works stamp, no matter what kind of shape it’s in. This one is on the east side of North Fairview Avenue between Saginaw and Grand River. I’m fairly sure it is 1920s, but can’t read the last digit. My gut says 1925, but I’m by no means confident about that.

The stamp may be nothing too special, but it does represent a breakthrough: I finally made myself walk across the pedestrian bridge over Saginaw. Many years ago when I was in grad school I ended up in this neighborhood for reasons I can’t recall or guess at. What I do remember is that I tried to cross on the pedestrian overpass and though I was able to walk to the top, my legs went weak and locked up and would not let me cross. I’m afraid of heights, and it feels flimsy, but mostly it’s the traffic roaring underneath that terrifies me. It doesn’t help that when I was buying my house, the real estate agent drove us underneath one of them and commented about how there was an accident when a truck hit one and knocked it down while some children were on it. (I thought I remembered him saying someone was killed, but either I misremembered or he did. Six children were injured, however.) I ended up descending the steps again in defeat and walking to a traffic light to cross. This time, though, I walked across it at last, and did it again on the way back. I was given some practice by having to walk across a larger one over a busier road in Mexico City a few years ago.

Looking south on Fairview. The stamp is on the block in front of the street tree, but facing the other way.

Posted on September 14, 2021 by bunnyhugger

E. Grand River Ave., illegible name, 2019

I found this stamp at the end of a run of newish-looking sidewalk in front of the building that includes M43 Fitness, A Cut Above hair salon, and the Urban Cup. It’s on the north side of East Grand River Avenue, essentially at the spot where Hayford would be if Hayford didn’t disappear for a couple of blocks north of Grand River before resuming.

I may have to return to this one with some foil or else materials to make a rubbing. I can almost make it out, but it’s just too shallow. I believe that it’s formatted with the date flanking the contractor’s logo on either side of vertical lines, like so: “[ 20 | illegible | 19 ]”. The illegible part looks quite brief, as though it might be initials.

The edge of the former pharmacy is just visible on the right. The stamp is at the very far end of this stretch of sidewalk.

I regret now that I didn’t get a picture that includes the M43 Fitness building (2225 E. Grand River Ave.). I didn’t think it was anything very special, but then I got home and did my research and found that its history was more interesting than I expected. In the City Pulse‘s New in Town column on February 15, 2018, it states that the building “has a history of being a watering hole: [owner Scott] Abramouski said the 1959 building had a soda fountain.” A search of the Lansing State Journal turns up the name of the business. It was called Glass Pharmacy. The last time I see its name connected with this address is in 1979. The last time I see it advertised at all, though without an address given, is in 1982. Starting in 1987, advertisements for “East Side Pharmacy (formerly Glass Pharmacy)” begin appearing. The last advertisement I can find for East Side Pharmacy is in 1995.

Posted on July 21, 2021 by bunnyhugger

E. Grand River Ave., BBRPCI, 2003

Here is a run-of-the-mill BBRPCI (BBR Progressive Concrete Inc.) stamp from the south side of East Grand River Avenue between Wood Street and Fairview Avenue. It is in front of Pattengill Biotechnical Academy, which should not be confused with Pattengill Middle School. Let me see if I can keep this shell game of east side schools straight: Pattengill Middle School was in the new(ish) building by the Armory, having moved there from its original location on Jerome Street (where it was known for much of its history as Pattengill Junior High). Pattengill Middle School closed in 2013 (and now that building houses Eastern High School). In 2018, the old Fairview School, which had been an elementary school, was transformed into Pattengill Biotechnical Academy. I don’t know why they reused the Pattengill name since the current Pattengill is evidently an elementary school, spanning pre-K to grade 6. I also would really like to know what the hell a specialized “biotechnical” pre-K education looks like.

It’s a good thing I don’t have kids because I find the array of schools in the district completely incomprehensible. There are high schools that start at grade 7, “academies” that go to grade 6, schools that somehow aren’t officially listed as “academies” but still have academy-like thematic names, and a very small number of I guess regular middle schools except they are grades 4-6 which is younger than what I think of as middle school. Also even the non-magnet schools have “STEAM” randomly peppered into their names.