This rather small stamp is on the east side of Shepard Street just south of Kalamazoo, next to the sad hulk of the former halal market. The W and Scott look strangely far apart, making me wonder if there is a missing letter and it should be Wm. Scott. Either way, I wasn’t able to find anything out about the contractor. The date isn’t visible much in the photo, but with my flashlight I determined that it is 1950-something. The last digit is completely unreadable.

Since I couldn’t find anything about W. Scott, I switched to trying to find out what business was in this building in the 1950s. I had better luck there. The building was built in 1935, but G.A. Strickland’s grocery store was at this address (401 Shepard) by 1928, according to advertising in the Lansing State Journal. Strickland’s was there at least until 1941. By 1949 it was C & S Food Market and then by 1959 it was Parr’s Market. I find the announcement of a quitting-business auction for Parr’s in November 1962.

The more recent history remains obscure. By 1989 until at least 1995 it was a Volunteers of America Thrift Store. I remember it being a halal market (apparently the Alharamain Halal Market based on city records) for as far back as I remember the neighborhood, while it was still anything at all.