S. Clippert St., M & M Concrete, 2007

Back in metro Lansing (the Township, to be precise): I found this one in front of the Riverwalk Apartments on the west side of South Clippert Street between Prospect and Michigan. I don’t recall ever walking this block before.

For some reason, I like the contrast between the neat typeface of the name and the handwritten quality of the date.

There have been several M & M Concretes in Michigan, including one in St. Clair and another on the opposite side of the state in Fruitport, but I would guess this one was the one that used to be in Charlotte but appears to be defunct.

Jones St., M & M Const., 1985

This pair of stamps is on the west side of Jones Street between Kalamazoo and Hickory. Jones has one of those puzzlingly inconsistent sidewalks. The north half of this block has sidewalk only on the east side, but the south half has sidewalk on both sides. Then the sidewalk disappears again and never reappears; no other part of Jones has a sidewalk on this side. (The east side also loses its sidewalk south of Bement Street.)

This is the northern, more legible stamp of the pair.

The date of this stamp provides a possible clue as to how this happened. The sidewalk lines up exactly with the backyard of a duplex facing Hickory Street. That house was built in 1985, much later than most of the surrounding properties. I wonder if the city’s policy at the time was to require contractors to install sidewalks facing new residences.

The southern stamp is a lot more worn, probably illegible.

Whatever its origin, it is a nearly pointless stretch of sidewalk. Anyone walking Jones Street is going to use the other side, where there is more consistent sidewalk. One of the side doors to the duplex connects to it, though in an awkwardly roundabout way: the side door walk connects to the driveway and the driveway to the sidewalk, but anyone coming out of the side of the house is probably just going to take the direct route across the lawn.

Looking south on Jones. I’m standing on the approach to an alley that connects Jones with Pennsylvania.

As for M & M Construction of Charlotte, I have been unable to find out anything about them, except that they don’t seem to be in business now.