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E. Kalamazoo St., McClain, illegible date

At first I thought this one was just plain illegible, but after studying my photo at home, I realized it is probably McClain. I have done them before, and their other stamps have also tended to be blurry. The date is hopeless.

It’s in front of Edge Partnerships, a PR firm, on the north side of East Kalamazoo Street between Grand and Washington. This building was formerly home to longtime business Wolverine Typewriter. I am not sure when they first opened and finally closed, but as they were in this location from at least 1949-2001, their employees probably saw this sidewalk laid.

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E. Michigan Ave., […]oleum, 1927?

Wet pavement and streetlights combined to give me an especially good look at this half-lost stamp. It’s from the north side of East Michigan Avenue between Fairview and Magnolia, in front of the MetroPCS store. When I first photographed it back in 2020, I had to peel away a sod layer to see to the edge of the hacked-off slab, but thanks to my efforts at that time it is still all as visible as it can get. The reason for the update – besides that it’s an especially good look at it – is that I am now quite confident in the date being 1927. The curve of the penultimate numeral does not make sense for anything other than a 2.

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N. Foster Ave., Illegible

I returned to an old-looking but illegible stamp I had previously done in 2021, hoping that the time of day or the wet pavement might have made it visible. Unfortunately, I still can’t make it out (except for “Lansing, Mich”), although fussing with the contrast a bit made it tantalizingly close.

The paired stamp a bit north is equally illegible, if not more so. These are on the west side of North Foster Avenue between Michigan and Vine.

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Rolling Brook Ln., East Lansing, LPW, illegible date

I continued further south after finding the C.E. Schneider stamp from my last entry and finally hit something entirely new to me, again on the west side of the street, north of Red Leaf Lane. This is on a driveway apron and the date is unfortunately mostly illegible.

If it were in Lansing I might suspect LPW was another variation on Lansing DPW/DPS (Department of Public Works/Public Service) but as this is in East Lansing that can’t be it. I really don’t know who or what LPW is. After noticing this one, I went a bit further and found several more houses with the same stamps on their driveways, arranged on either side of the seam between the two blocks making up the large driveway apron.

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Prospect St., J. DeHoney, illegible date

This is a rare stamp that I had overlooked in the past, probably because it’s on the side of Prospect Street that has no sidewalk. It’s on the apron of a driveway on the south side of Prospect, right across from where the T-intersection with Virginia is.

I can recognize the contractor’s name, J. DeHoney, based on the couple other DeHoney stamps I have found in the past, which were also on Prospect. The date is a lost cause, but based on my previous research on DeHoney, he was active in the 1950s and 60s. As noted in my previous entry, there is a classified ad in the December 14, 1951, Lansing State Journal for “CEMENT Basement floors, garage, slabs, footings and general concrete construction. Free estimates. Satisfaction assured. DeHoney and Forsberg.” At the time I wrote that entry, I did not yet recognize the name Forsberg, but now I do. DeHoney was most likely partnered with T.A. Forsberg, a big name in Lansing construction and real estate development.

The stamp is on the driveway of this 1920s house.
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Horton Ave., Illegible (Cantu & Sons?)

Are you tired of extremely faint stamps from Horton Avenue yet? Well, life is hard. This is a very nearly invisible stamp that I noticed only because I have started actively looking at “curb walks” for stamps. (I don’t know what I am supposed to call them, but “curb walk” is my name for little bits of sidewalk that run across someone’s extension to the curb, and “extension” is my name for what Lansing’s municipal code calls a “parkway”). This one is on the east side of Horton Avenue (yes Avenue, I keep forgetting that it’s an Avenue and not a Street, Google Maps notwithstanding) between Michigan and Jerome.

Yeah, you might have to take my word for it that there’s a stamp here.

I believe it may be a Cantu & Sons stamp, specifically the “Cantu & Sons Cement Cont” variety, because I can make out part of the word “cement” in the lower row of the stamp, and an N above it in the upper row. The date is a lost cause.

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Horton St., T.A. Forsberg, 1960s

This stamp is near the north end of Horton, on the east side of the street. I intended to present it as illegible, but when I got home and looked at the photograph I suddenly realized I could recognize it after all. Sometimes the camera sees something that I can’t see with my eyes. It’s definitely a T.A. Forsberg stamp. I’m not sure of the last digit of the date, which otherwise appears to be 1960s.

This is about as worn as a stamp can get and still be readable at all. It’s almost gone, lost to history.

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S. Francis Ave., Terry, illegible date

This stamp is on an orphaned driveway apron in front of one of the many vacant lots (now a community garden) near the south end of South Francis Avenue. It’s on the east side of the street, just south of where Harton Street would have passed through if it had not vanished from this block at some point. There is another driveway apron (also no longer attached to a driveway) one lot south of here that has the same stamp, but in worse shape.

I tried to uncover the date from under the layer of caked dirt, but it doesn’t look like it would be legible even if it were clean. It seems to end with a 1 but that’s the most that can be made from it with any confidence. I wasn’t able to find any plausible “Terry” that this could be, either.

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Hickory St., Illegible

This is somewhere around the fourth time I’ve gone to try to read this stamp, located on the south side of Hickory Street between Euclid and Pennsylvania. I really wonder what the resident here thinks about the person who keeps pulling up, getting out of the car, kicking at the sidewalk a bit, and then leaving again. Unfortunately, I think this one is uncrackable. It’s just too worn. I’ve tried different times a day and different sidewalk conditions, and I think all that’s left would be to use one of the tricks of gravestone readers and push aluminum foil into it. I’m not sure I quite have the nerve to do that because of the likelihood of having to explain to someone what I’m up to. I’m tempted, though.

It’s clearly old, not just because it’s worn but because of the style. The date looked (and felt; I traced my finger in it) like “10” on this visit. I’m almost positive the first digit is 1 but the second could be anything relatively round.

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N. Clemens Ave., BdWL, illegible date

I found this stamp on the west side of North Clemens Avenue between Vine and Fernwood. It’s extremely worn, but I can tell it is probably one of those mysterious BdWL stamps. I never have been able to figure out who that is. The date is illegible.

I like this one because of how rugged the sidewalk is here, with all the individual stones showing through in different colors. It probably indicates how worn the sidewalk is, that it’s lost its smooth finish, but I like how it looks anyway. I like how non-uniform in appearance the sidewalks are, from different concrete mixes, different contractors’ styles, and different amounts of wear.