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Another city council sidewalk scandal

Here’s something I ran across in the May 6, 1920, State Journal city council reports. A report by the Chief of Police and City Attorney was presented to the Council, giving the results of an investigation into – with apologies to Dave Barry, I am not making this up – the theft of a large amount of gravel from the surface of Ormond Street, resulting in a giant hole in the street. The report very fairly notes that “The removing of this gravel and making this large hole in the street constitutes a nuisance, and the city is under obligation to remove the same.”

Based on the police report and the depositions also printed with the article, the basic facts seem to be this: Louis Neller hired a teamster named William Riley to haul gravel from a spot near Ormond Street to be used in the construction of sidewalk in the Franklin Park Subdivision. (I am not sure where that subdivision is.) It turned out the gravel was unsuitable for sidewalk construction. According to Riley, Neller then directed him to take the gravel from Ormond Street, which Riley believed Neller was authorized to do. Riley’s brother Warren, who worked with him, backed up Riley’s version of the story in his own deposition. Ed Schneeberger (who has made previous appearances in this blog, including the one that led me to uncover the Saga of the Bum Walks) was involved with the sidewalk construction and stated that Neller visited the construction site frequently, and told Schneeberger that Riley was in his employ and hauling the gravel at his direction.

And now for the spicy part. This scandal involves more than just making a giant hole in a public street, because Louis Neller was in fact Alderman Neller at the time all this took place. The city charter forbids a council member from being interested in a contract with the city. Neller claimed that he did not have a contract with the city, but instead sold gravel to Riley who sold gravel to the city. Schneeberger’s and Riley’s depositions both contradict this. Riley states that he was merely paid hourly to acquire and haul gravel, and Neller had him turn over the city’s payment for the gravel. Neller, then, was ripping off gravel from the city and then selling it back to the city, according to this account. The investigation report indicates that this would make Neller criminally liable for violating the city charter.

Neller told the Chief of Police that “he had better proceed with some care” because the investigation might find that “a member of the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners” was also involved with inappropriate gravel procurement. By this he meant Frank L. Young of Young Brothers & Daley (who had previously been an alderman, and as such made an appearance in the Saga of the Bum Walks). The investigation found this accusation to be without merit.

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Drury Ln., E. Schneeberger, 1925

Here’s another one from Drury Lane between Ballard Street and High Street, this time from the south side of the street. It’s very worn and the mud doesn’t help either, but I am pretty sure it is an E. Schneeberger stamp. There is also a paired stamp a few steps away, but that one was even harder to see due to slush.

Here’s an even closer view of the stamp.

Another interesting thing about this stamp is that the house it is in front of is the only house that currently has an address on Drury Lane. Drury is a small, one-block street to begin with, and it has several vacant lots. The only other house that appears to face the street rather curiously has a Ballard address, as previously reported. So the occupants of this house have the unique pride of a Drury Lane address. Personally, I think it would be neat to be the only house with an address on a specific street.

The stamp is on the closest (full) sidewalk block.

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The Saga of the “Bum Walks”

I discovered this article a week or so ago, after my husband showed me the Schneeberger & Koort stamp he found, and I immediately bubbled over with absurd delight. Most likely, I will never again find an article about sidewalks that will cause me to giggle and wring my hands excitedly every time I re-read it, as this one has done. I knew this one was too good to leave to the OCR version I turned up at Newspapers.com, but the university where I work has the State Journal on microfilm, so I took the unusual step of frivolously using my library privileges to get a PDF of it delivered to my account. It only adds to my delight that some student worker at my university library had to crank through microfilm finding this for me.

The article is an August 11, 1914, State Journal account of a Lansing city council dust-up. One reason it is such a gem is that it references names that have previously appeared here in the blog: not just the newly-discovered Schneeberger & Koort, but my familiar old favorite V.D. Minnis. The drama also involves John Sovey, described as “a former cement contractor.” I find John Sovey’s name suspiciously similar to that of J.F. (John Fred) Sowa. I know that Sowa’s family later changed its surname to Sova, probably because it was already pronoucned that way and they wanted it to be phonetic in English. The Sowa stamp I know of is dated 1908 which would make the dates plausible for Sowa to be a “former cement contractor” by 1914. I wonder if John Sovey is the same person as John Sowa/Sova.

I could have sworn that I had referenced brick sellers Young Brothers and Daley in the blog before, but a search shows me to be mistaken. I know I did some research on them, perhaps with the intention of photographing a stamp in front of their business at some point. They are still around and in the same location near the railroad tracks in downtown Lansing.

The city council dispute described in the report involves, in the Journal reporter’s words, “a wordy tilt between Aldermen Young and McKinley over the sidewalk construction contract.” The sparring apparently started with Alderman McKinley bringing out photographs of broken sidewalks, following up on a charge he laid the previous week that “both Young Brothers and Daley and Alderman McKale had laid a lot of ‘bum’ walk in the city” (emphasis and delight all mine). Alderman Young is described as having an interest in Young Brothers Realty, which I assume is somehow connected to Young Brothers and Daley. McKale accuses Young Brothers Realty of being the cause of 87 broken sections of sidewalk in just two blocks of a subdivision they developed. These bum sidewalks were built by Schneeberger and Koort, so Alderman Young tries to shift the blame to the contractors.

Young then tries for a turnabout. The story gets a little confusing here, but if I am understanding Young correctly, McKinley has previously stated that sidewalk-fan-favorite V.D. Minnis is the only capable sidewalk contractor, yet the city has allowed Minnis to subcontract his city-contracted sidewalk work to less reputable contractors at a profit of two cents per foot. Say it ain’t so, Verner!

The entire article is a delight from beginning to end, including some wonderful verbatim banter between the aldermen. I can’t do justice to all of it in summary, so I am just going to reproduce it below under the sincere belief that it is no longer under copyright protection. I’ll end by giving a well-deserved spotlight to one more quotation, then please, go read the rest of the article.

“You violated the ordinance, undoubtedly, and failed to put your name upon the walks,” replied Alderman McKinley. “Your name is not upon the walk in the photograph.”

Alderman McKale did not deny the charge.

For shame!

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E. Malcolm X St., Schneeberger & Koort, undated

My husband found this stamp first, and showed me a photo of it. It’s on the south side of East Malcolm X Street just west of Parker Street, on a little spur of Malcolm X. Much of Malcolm X (née Main Street) has become various I-496 service roads, and in places splits away from itself (while somehow still technically being “the same road”). It’s really a mess, in map terms. This stub is at the end of a block-plus of what must be the original neighborhood street. West of this point one can continue on the sidewalk, but it is a dead end for vehicles. I haven’t walked these blocks before, despite them being within my usual walking-from-home radius, mainly because the area around 496 gets very pedestrian-unfriendly (deserving of its own Hall of Shame entry).

I was really excited when my showed me the photo of this stamp because of the name Schneeberger. I had previously found several E. Schneeberger stamps from the 1920s, but had been unable to read the name on them until finally having an epiphany while walking past one in favorable light. My husband jokingly referred to the second name as “Oort,” knowing there was a preceding letter but finding it illegible. I decided it looked like a very faint K and did a search for “Schneeberger & Koort.” That got one exactly one hit, but oh what a hit. It’s easily the greatest article about Lansing sidewalks I have seen. It deserves, and shall have, its own entry.

Facing the western semi-dead-end of Malcolm X Street. Past the barricade is… also Malcolm X Street.

Unfortunately, beyond the above State Journal article from 1914 which references them, I was unable to find anything about Schneeberger & Koort. I assume it’s the same Schneeberger who went into business on his own later, or a relative. It’s also unfortunate that this stamp is undated, but I would guess it pre-dates the Schneeberger solo stamps and might be from around the time of the State Journal article.

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Update: E. Schneeberger

I had a breakthrough on my walk yesterday. I passed a stamp on Vine – one I have featured before – from a contractor who has previously plagued me because all of their stamps have been too worn for me to quite read the name. I tagged them “Schullberger” even though that didn’t seem like a name I could turn up in records, just to keep them together. But as I walked in bright, late afternoon light yesterday, the angle of the sun really drew this one out and I suddenly realized it was most likely “Schneeberger.”

I can’t find anything definite, but I have a couple of leads. All of the Schneeberger stamps I have found are from the 1920s. On March 24, 1922, the Lansing State Journal reported that Edward Schneeberger of New York Avenue had a tire stolen from his car. This was probably the Edward Charles Schneeberger (1872-1942) who is now buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.

I also find references to the Schneeberger Builders bowling team in the league bowling results pages (often a friend to this blog) between 1950 and 1970. I don’t know if this is a descendent of E. Schneeberger’s business, but it’s certainly possible.

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Prospect St., E. Schullberger (?) [Schneeberger], illegible date

These stamps are on the north side of Prospect Street between Bingham and Jones. They are not on the sidewalk but rather the driveway and driveway apron. There are an almost comical number of them, with at least three on the driveway and two on the apron.

The center of the driveway.

I recognize the stamp as one I’ve seen and been frustrated by before. It’s frustrating because I can never quite read it with full confidence. My best guess has been “E. Schullberger,” but searching old newspapers does not turn up that name anywhere, which makes me think I am misreading. The other ones I have found are from the 1920s, but the date of these is illegible. Update 5/9/21: I now believe this is E. Schneeberger.

The right corner of the driveway.
The left corner of the driveway.
The driveway apron.
The other side of the driveway apron.
Looking east on Prospect Street.

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Vine St., E. Schullberger (?) [Schneeberger], 1926

This one caught my eye between its 1926 date, its nice design, and its jaunty diagonal placement, so I had to capture it even though it is actually on the edge of someone’s driveway. That’s a first for the blog, I think, though I’ve done driveway aprons before. It’s placed in the lower right corner of a driveway on the north side of Vine just east of the corner of Clemens. It belongs to the house on that corner. I took a couple of photos, one with and one without flash, figuring I would be able to work out the contractor’s name when I got home. It was dark, and it’s often easier to look at what the camera saw than use my own eyes in that kind of light.

When I got home I was mildly dismayed to discover that it’s the same mysterious contractor I previously wrote about, and the name is no more legible this time. If anything, it’s worse. I had taken it to read “E. Schullberger” before, but could not find anyone by that name when searching old Lansing State Journals, which makes it suspect. Update 5/9/21: I now believe this to be E. Schneeberger.

Looking east on Fairview. The stamp is just left of bottom center, in the bottom right corner of the presumed original driveway. The car is parked on an additional (asphalt) paved area that appears to be a later addition.
The flash didn’t prove illuminating, but here it is with.
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Vine St., E. Schullberger (?) [Schneeberger], 1926

As sometimes happens, I had already photographed something else (something on my “to do list”) when I stumbled across this one later on my walk. I decided to bump the other one to another time. This one is on the south side of Vine Street between Fairview and Clemens.

I am quite sure this one is from the 1920s and fairly confident the date is 1926. I thought at first that the contractor’s name was totally illegible, but upon studying the photograph I think I see “E Schullberger.” Searching the Lansing State Journal for that name gets me nothing, so I could very well be wrong. I would welcome alternate suggestions to research. Update 5/9/21: I now believe this to be E. Schneeberger.

Looking west on Vine Street. That’s Clemens in the distance.