That Was Our Work

Laurel Machine & Foundry Co has been in business since 1904. You can buy their cast iron skillets online if a drain clean out isn’t your style.

A 2008 newspaper article describes Albion as the automotive filter capital of the Midwest, but it once boasted a number of brick companies, including Bassett & Sons, Albion Shale Brick, and Albion Vitrified Brick Company.

City of Milwaukee sidewalk, laid by A. J. Heinen Inc. in 1987

City of Milwaukee sidewalk, laid 1996

Arlington County Transportation manhole cover, East Jordan Iron Works

Capitol Foundry VDHT signal box

Indiana Paving Brick and Block Company brick

MCI manhole cover

Henry Fischer sidewalk, laid 1922

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission was formed in 1977, meaning this grate is much more modern than I'd imagined from the photo and the design. It's interesting how all three textures - old brick, new brick and grate - meet at a common point. It lends the image a perspective we don't often get to see. 

If I was a sidewalk blogger rather than an infrastructure blogger, all the photos would be oriented differently. Here, as so often elswhere, the sidewalk line traverses at some odd angle. But it's the cap that's odd, not the sidewalks, which as a rule comport themselves in parallel and perpendicular ways with the buildings and street around them. 

Water Service New York

This gorgeous Con Edison manhole cover features a unique circular pattern. I love the way it contrasts with the surrounding pavement. Sadly, there's no specific foundry credited here; just a general "Made in India" on the upper right. 

The Economy Cement stamp pictured here is typical of most modern construction. My hope is to someday find where the cut-end oval style originated. One thing that stands out: the WIS abbreviation for Wisconsin. Does the stamp predate the move to 2-letter state abbreviations in 1963, or was the decision made for aesthetic reasons?

A dear friend took this wonderful photo in Boston last weekend. The piece is anonymous - no maker's mark, no date of manufacture - but the patina is wonderful. We get all the shades of rust, from the almost-orange to the deep brown of the oxidizing metal. I love the outline of the original cap, largely worn away in the corners, and how the traces of it remain on the newer concrete. 

All in all, though, it's a delightful stamp. Simple, even approacing elegant and in solid shape for being over four decades old. I suspect most modern sidewalks don't fare nearly as well with age. 

No date, but these manhole covers all appeared to be no more than a decade or two old. Good call, City of Madison Engineering.