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.
I love running across really old, really worn stamps like this, even if there is an element of frustration to it when they are illegible. I almost didn’t see this one because it is so worn that only someone really looking for it (like me) would probably notice it at all. I can just make out “Stone Co.” as probably the second line. If there had been a date, I don’t see any sign of it now. The first line is totally illegible. My first thought is is of the Lansing Artificial Stone Co., but it has a very different style from the one I have found from that company, and the illegible part also doesn’t look long enough.
Alas, it will not be giving up its secrets to me. This is a block of houses that date from the late 1890s to early 1900s, so I would guess that this is one of the original pieces of sidewalk here.
I was planning to do something easy today, but I stumbled across this on the west side of Custer Avenue between Jerome and Vine, and was so excited I had to get it immediately. I recognized the name of the Lansing Artificial Stone Company as among the earliest sidewalk contractors in Lansing. It has come up a few times in my research on other stamps.
I knew right away to stop and gawk at this one; the typeface and arched design screamed “old.” I just wish I knew how old.
I have found a few interesting, if disconnected, tidbits about the Lansing Artificial Stone Company. By 1912 they were located at 323 East Michigan Avenue. Today the Lansing Center covers that block. The 1902 Lansing Journal “Twentieth Century Edition” has a history of the early builders of Lansing which writes in very glowing tones of the company:
Within the last decade the making of artificial stone has progressed to a degree of excellence that has far surpassed previous expectations. The inventions and improvements in that line of work by the Lansing Artificial Stone Co. have been the main cause of this change, and their product is regarded everywhere as being of a superior quality as regards both beauty and durability.
The Lansing Journal Twentieth Century Edition
It goes on to say that “ninety percent of all brick buildings in Lansing are trimmed with this company’s artificial stone.”
According to the Annual Report of the Board of State Auditors for the State of Michigan for the Year Ending June 30, 1904, in 1903 Lansing Artificial Stone submitted the winning bid for installing sidewalk over a boiler room on the north side of the Capitol. They also submitted an unsuccessful bid for installing sidewalk on several downtown streets (which the City of Lansing had declared to be “a public necessity”).
Looking north on Custer Avenue. Sorry for having to take this one in the dark, but at least you can see some Christmas lights.
Lansing Artificial Stone seems to have had a wide influence. A Michigan Agricultural College student-published newspaper (I would go so far as to call it a zine), the Eagle, stated (in the first issue, dated February 10, 1892) that “The Lansing artificial stone company [sic] have established works at Rogers Park North Chicago and contracts are coming in too fast for the capacity of the works.” The Philadelphia Buildings and Architects site’s entry on R.C. Ballinger & Co. reports, “In the Philadelphia Real Estate Record and Builders Guide for 3 October 1894 R. C. Ballinger & Co. announces that it has organized to manufacture Lansing Artificial Stone in Philadelphia, apparently a reference to an early form of permastone.” Lansing Artificial Stone seems to have become a trade name; was it licensed or franchised somehow?
I wish very much that this stamp had a date. It could potentially be the oldest one I’ve found. Then again, it seems that the company was still in business at least as late as 1915.
