Lamour has been in the printing business since 1919

Tom Adamich
Updated ·3 min read

A few years ago, I wrote about the Pageant of Historic Monroe, which took place over a period of days during the summer of 1926. As I wrote back then, on June 22 and 24 of that year, the Pageant of Historic Monroe was performed by a cadre of actors. The event was organized by numerous community members, representing all walks of Monroe society at the time. The results of the production were chronicled by the event’s book committee: Mr. William P. Cooke, Miss Carrie Boyd, Mr. Burton S. Knapp and Mr. H.D. Shubert.

Previous Coverage: Monroe County history: The Pageant of Historic Monroe was big production in 1926

What I didn’t highlight at the time was the fact that the Pageant of Historic Monroe book was printed by Monroe’s Lamour Printing Co. Thankfully, the Lamour Printing Co. is still successfully serving our area. They did a great job printing our EV-101 book, and Michelle Lamour kindly shared with me details about the company’s history to share with you.

"The Pageant of Historic Monroe" was an important book highlighting Monroe’s history. It was printed by Lamour Printing in 1926.
"The Pageant of Historic Monroe" was an important book highlighting Monroe’s history. It was printed by Lamour Printing in 1926.

In 1919, brothers Julien and Justin Lamour opened the Lamour Printing Company on West First Street in Monroe. In its early days, Lamour Printing moved to several locations in Monroe, including a site on Macomb Street, the entire third floor above Mind and Body Balance (located just west of Altrusa Park) and 123 E. Front St., which was leased until the mid-1940s, when the brothers purchased the entire building.

Born around 1900 in France, Justin Lamour, who had married Elizabeth Asam in 1942 and had a son, Thomas C., in 1944, left Lamour Printing to pursue other employment. Julien, also born in France, in 1895, went on to operate Lamour Printing with the help of his wife, Beatrice (Flory). until Julien’s passing in the early 1950s. Beatrice Lamour would later pass the baton to sons John and Robert to operate Lamour Printing.

This is a recent photo of Lamour Printing at 123 E. Front Street in Monroe. The company leased the building until the mid-1940s, when the brothers purchased the entire building.
This is a recent photo of Lamour Printing at 123 E. Front Street in Monroe. The company leased the building until the mid-1940s, when the brothers purchased the entire building.

John Lamour was born on Oct. 1, 1935, and operated Lamour Printing for over 50 years, until his passing on Oct. 13, 2002, at age 67. John Lamour was an active historian of the River Raisin and the Great Lakes. In the early 1970s, John Lamour published two volumes of the "Great Lakes Log," which chronicled Great Lakes shipping history. Robert Lamour, born March 19, 1932, was an active member of St. Mary Catholic Church, where he served as a Eucharistic minister, men’s choir member and member of the Knights of Columbus Council #1266 prior to his passing on June 4, 2020.

This is the cover of volume one of the "Great Lakes Log" written by John Lamour. John Lamour ran Lamour Printing for over 50 years with his brother Robert. John Lamour passed away on Oct. 13, 2002; Robert Lamour died on June 4, 2020.
This is the cover of volume one of the "Great Lakes Log" written by John Lamour. John Lamour ran Lamour Printing for over 50 years with his brother Robert. John Lamour passed away on Oct. 13, 2002; Robert Lamour died on June 4, 2020.

Lamour Printing was part of the evolution in printing processes during the 20th-century. According to Michelle Lamour, “First, the Lamour brothers started with a 10" x 15" hand-fed letterpress, which was very labor intensive with each individual letter, space and punctuation being aligned by hand. The next innovation came with the Klugey letterpress, which featured an auto-feed to insert each piece to be printed instead of hand inserting one at a time.”

Michelle Lamour continues, “Later, the Kelly press came along and was great for running newspapers as multiple copies could be run at once. The linotype machine revolutionized typeset, as it created stamps of the type instead of having to set individual letters. Then came the offset presses which allowed for multiple graphics along with typeset. This type of offset printing worked like a photograph negative that picks up the ink and presses it onto the paper rather than using metal stamps.”

Lamour Printing has been serving Monroe’s printing needs since 1919. Generations have distributed high-quality wedding invitations, advertising and other media printed by Lamour locally, nationally and worldwide.
Lamour Printing has been serving Monroe’s printing needs since 1919. Generations have distributed high-quality wedding invitations, advertising and other media printed by Lamour locally, nationally and worldwide.

Today, Lamour Printing is owned and operated by two of Robert's sons, Joe and Brian. Lamour Printing still offers traditional letterpress, offset and digital printing. It also prints letterhead, business cards, envelopes, newsletters (schools, townships, clubs), booklets, programs, invitations, flyers, posters, raffle tickets, calendars, multiple-part forms, rack cards and more.

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— Tom Adamich is president of Visiting Librarian Service, a firm he has operated since 1993. He also is project archivist for the Greening Nursery Co. and Family Archives and the electric vehicle awareness coordinator at Monroe County Community College.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Lamour has been in the printing business since 1919