LOHRKE BROTHERS - Historical Albion Michigan

Albion has a variety of old sidewalks throughout town that have the name of the contractor with the date stamped in the cement. The earliest cement sidewalks were laid at the turn of the century, and few remain today. One contractor was George E. Dean, who laid sidewalks on Mechanic and S. Eaton Streets in 1901. He later of course became the president of Union Steel Products.

Another early sidewalk contractor was the Lohrke Brothers, August “Gus” C. (1874-1950), and William (1865-1928). Both were German natives, the sons of Gottlieb and Wilhelmina (Radtka) Lohrke. The Lohrke Brothers laid sidewalks in the 1900s and 1910s in Albion, and impressed their names in the sidewalks they laid. They were also involved in other cement contracting work, including the cement Albion College Athletic Field wall.

Gus Lohrke was an original employee of the Albion Malleable Iron Company when it opened on the corner of Cass and Superior Street in 1888. With several children to feed, Gus worked as a molder at the Malleable, and also had his own cement contracting business with his brother William.

Mrs. Marion Sanford is a daughter of Gus Lohrke, and lives in Albion today. She has the original Lohrke Brothers 1912 “stamp” that was used to impress those letters in the wet cement. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photograph of Marion holding this stamp, and an ink impression of the stamp. [INTERNET UPDATE: Marion passed away on October 25, 1994.]

Are there any Lohrke Brothers sidewalks left in Albion today? We found one in front of 410 E. Cass St. recently. Perhaps there are others. When walking up and down Albion’s sidewalks, I encourage our readers to look at the names impressed in the cement, and the dates. Most of these are located at the beginning of property lines on each street. See how many different names of contractors and dates you can come up with.

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
	Michigan Prints by Maggie LaNoue Michigan Prints offers limited-edition archival Giclée prints, miniprints, notecards and boxed sets featuring Michigan landmarks, nature, resorts and nostalgia. Each print and card includes a legend on the back with stories about Michigan history. Albion scenes include the Kalamazoo River waterfall and the Blizzard of 1978. Find Michigan Prints online and at local shops. Michigan Prints \| Albion Scenes \| Custom Cards \| Zazzle Gifts
	AlbionMich.net — General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net is a hub for community life in the greater Albion area, featuring current news, city council updates, river restoration stories, parks and trails. See Albion's beautiful Kalamazoo River waterfall as it looks today — and follow the story of its future restoration. Includes news from The Recorder and stories about Albion's 17 parks. AlbionMich.net \| Albion Blog \| Frank Passic on AlbionMich.net
	General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net offers two General Guides to the Albion area — one covering community life including city council, veterans, history, youth and wellness resources, and one covering the outdoors including roads, rivers, parks, trails and downtown. Both guides feature stories by local writers including contributors to The Recorder, sorted by topic for easy reference. General Guide — Community \| General Guide — Outdoors
	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
AlbionDesign.com — Communications Specialists Since 1981 \| Advertise on AlbionMich.com