Here’s a very worn one on the west side of Regent Street midway between Kalamazoo and Elizabeth. The date is definitely 1963, in a big, stylish typeface. It’s always a bit strange when the date is bigger than the name.
As for the name, I believe I can make out “J Wilson.” The name is too common for me to learn much by trying to search the Lansing State Journal, so the contractor will have to remain a mystery for the foreseeable future.
Today I took my walk at one of the magic times of day that draw out hard-to-read stamps. This stamp, on the east side of the 400 block of Regent Street (between Elizabeth and Kalamazoo), was previously so worn as to be totally illegible and almost invisible to me. But this evening the low angle of the sun made it give up its date quite clearly: 1954.
No such luck with the name, I’m afraid. It plainly starts with a J and after a space I think the next letter is an H. Past that I’m lost. I like the layout, with the smaller letters of the name forming a curve over the large, relatively ornate year.
Update 4/2/21: Now that I’ve seen another one (elsewhere on Regent), I am pretty sure this is J. Wilson.