Today’s entry is a direct sequel to yesterday’s, as I decided to walk to the 200 block of Regent and check whether there were any Spink stamps in front of the former house of Douglas Spink, Jacob’s son. There were not, so I continued on across Michigan to Horton Avenue and revisited the stamp that originally spurred my research into Spink. The stamp is on the front walk of a house on the east side of the street between Jerome and Vine.
The stamp is above a shallow step.
J.K. Spink died in 1952, and while it’s possible that the company carried his name for a while after that, I don’t see any ads like that in the 1950s Lansing State Journal. Instead I see ads from either Douglas Spink or just Spink Builders appearing by the time of this stamp. I wonder if Douglas just didn’t bother getting a new stamp for a while after taking over the business.
Looking southeast on Horton. It was raining, but I had to get my walk in anyway.
I had a stamp on Horton Street sitting on my back burner list for a while and decided to go out and get it today. It rained when I was first going to set out, so I decided to switch things around and do the research first, then get the photo later. I had written down “J.M. Spink” as the contractor’s name, but it turns out that I likely misread the worn stamp. Instead, I had probably seen the work of J.K. Spink, who was advertising in 1940s Lansing State Journal classifieds as a contractor and remodeling specialist.
As usual when I have a distinctive name to work with, Find A Grave was my friend. I found a Jacob Kent Spink buried in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Mason. (There is a photo of him as a young man at the memorial page there, if you want to get better acquainted.) From there I was able to search for his name in the LSJ and find his obituary, published July 21, 1952. According to that, Spink was a building contractor and World War I veteran. He was born in Toledo but grew up in Michigan, attending Mason High School and then the University of Michigan. Sadly, he was only 56 when he died. Of interest to me was noticing that he lived on the west side of the 300 block of Regent Street at the time of his death, and it was the same address that appeared in his business ads.
I did walk up to Horton Street where the stamp that originally spurred this research was located, but on a hunch I decided to pass his old house on the walk back. And this is what I found in the driveway, bumping my original planned stamp for today.
I can just make out the “K,” I think, though the J is pretty well gone. I am sure it is him, though.
Spink’s son Douglas carried on in the contracting business, as I see advertisements in the 1950s for a contractor using either his name or “Spink Builders.” I discovered that Douglas also lived on Regent Street, on the 200 block. As I didn’t find this out until after my walk I didn’t know to go check for work there too, but I will put it on my ever-sprawling list of places to visit.
