At this time, from what I've been able to find, M-39 ran along Saginaw Highway, so were M-43 runs, today. Still having a hard time picturing exactly where this was, though it'd have to be where Oakland and Saginaw now split. This would be looking east along Saginaw, as Oakland did not exist (at least not in its current form) in 1936. Hard to imagine Saginaw was a boulevard, here, as the road doesn't look this wide, today.
It was very busy on this street. It must be in town, maybe the eastern border of Lansing near present-day Frandor/127? I remember a photo I saw of the interchange of Grand River and Saginaw which made kind of criss-cross that may have been the boulevard pictured here. It looks like one of those service stations like the one that still stands in Old Town on the left.
Reading the history of M-39 and its realignments on Michigan Highways, you're right. By 1936, M-39 was rerouted so that it came into Lansing from the west on Saginaw, turned south on Larch and then continued east on Michigan to Grand River in downtown East Lansing. So, you are right; this has to be at the eastern city limits, and this is Michigan Avenue right were the Red Cedar Renaissance is going up. Makes total since given that it was a boulevard even then.
Wow, I get an A! Some photos of the old days can draw me in and I can really picture old Lansing. Thanks for posting this one. I wonder if the pavement in this photo is the original concrete pavement of which there is a remnant on displayed in this median today. It's been a while since I have looked at this plaque but I believe it notes this was the first concrete paved street in Lansing, Michigan, or the USA? Something like that!
This looks like it was built to last. I wonder why they took this bridge out? It looks like there was space enough to pass under 496 there. The bridge was less than 50 years old when the removed it.
496 is probably exactly why they took it down. There really wasn't a need for it after they took out the main sorce of the traffic, the neighborhoods to the west. It always looked awkward on maps, anyway.
I was at MSU at the same time as Ervin, and I would often see him at the Kellogg Center, and also in downtown Lansing a couple of times where I saw him shopping at Kositcheks and Linn and Ownes Jewelry Store while I was also shopping there. I even saw him at the disco, you could not miss him, dancing head and shoulders above everyone else! I feel like I know him after all these years, he is a good guy!
Comments
At this time, from what I've been able to find, M-39 ran along Saginaw Highway, so were M-43 runs, today. Still having a hard time picturing exactly where this was, though it'd have to be where Oakland and Saginaw now split. This would be looking east along Saginaw, as Oakland did not exist (at least not in its current form) in 1936. Hard to imagine Saginaw was a boulevard, here, as the road doesn't look this wide, today.