Posted on by bunnyhugger

McNamara Construction Update

I have discovered that my employer has access to online records of The Lansing State Journal for the frustratingly limited years of 1980-2011. I thought I would see if I could find anything about the closure of McNamara Construction. Instead I found, in a roundabout way, the answer to my previous question of whether their baseball team pulled off a perfect season in 1971.

In the sports section of August 7, 1986 (page 5C), there is an article announcing the return of Tim May to coaching (women’s basketball and men’s baseball) at Battle Creek High School. The article notes that Tim May had been on two championship McNamara Construction teams, including McNamara’s 1971 20-0 season.

I am surprised to find that on page 6 of the August 27, 2000, Homes section, an advertisement from Forsberg Real Estate Company offers a plot, “Build to suit. Come over and see the quality of McNamara Construction. Ranch and 2-story plans available…” I’m puzzled by this as McNamara dissolved as a corporation in 1986 and sold their property on Waverly to Valvoline in 1988. I do find in the June 17, 1988 paper (page 3B) that the city had been engaged in a legal battle with McNamara Construction since 1985 over the use of a property on West Holmes Road as “a sewer contractor’s storage yard” which residents nearby called a junk yard. In the early 1980s they had lost a suit against McNamara to force cleanup of the property as a jury said it was not a junk yard. So apparently McNamara Construction was around for a while after the corporation ended, but I can’t say how long.

Posted on by bunnyhugger

E. Kalamazoo St., McNamara Const., 1971

For those keeping track, this is the first 1970s stamp I’ve posted, and completes my ambition of having one from every decade of the 20th century. For some reason 1970s stamps seem uncommon. 50s and 60s are very common, 80s and 90s even more so, but not 1970s. I wonder why?

There are three of these, all the same year, clustered on the north side of East Kalamazoo Street between Regent and Clemens. They aren’t all pointed in the same direction; I guess this way they can advertise to pedestrians no matter which way they’re walking.

Searching to find out more about McNamara Construction, I had a lot of hits on newspapers.com’s archive of the Lansing State Journal. I assumed it would be advertisements, as I found with Joe White yesterday. Instead these were recaps of baseball games. It turns out that the McNamara Construction team was a big deal in the Lansing City Baseball League. On August 10, 1971 – the same year this pavement was laid – the Lansing State Journal reported that McNamara needed just one more victory for a “nearly unprecedented” perfect season. I can’t say whether they succeeded, though the fact that I didn’t find an article about it suggests not. Then on August 10, 1976, the LSJ reported that “McNamara Construction crushed Petroff Realty, 13-3. in the [championship] opener, which was ended by the ‘mercy rule’ in the fifth inning.” (Meanwhile, “Regular season champion Art’s Bar” – my late, lamented hangout – “whipped Woolco Sporting Goods of Okemos, 7-2, in the nightcap.”)

According to incorporation records, McNamara was incorporated on November 13, 1956, and dissolved November 13, 1986, on their 30th anniversary. They were located at 622 South Waverly Road, which today is a Valvoline Instant Oil Change. Delta Township records indicate that McNamara sold the property to Valvoline in early 1988. The current oil change building was constructed in 1992.

Here’s an update including news about their baseball team’s 1971 season.