St. Johns Industrial Park Urban Renewal near Buick

Flint’s Fairview Elementary School closed in June 1971 after 56 years of service to the children and families of the city’s St. John Street neighborhood. Principal Elizabeth Welch (not pictured), who guided the school for 25 years, brought a variety of services into the building and made sure to involve parents in all school affairs. Odell Broadway (not pictured), a home economics teacher at Fairview, served as the first home-school liaison. Mrs. Broadway started a school breakfast program with local mothers and opened a homemaking room offering a variety of skill-building classes for adults. Considered Flint’s first “full-service school,” Fairview served as a prototype for what was to become the Flint model of community education. #TBT [Flint's Fairview Elementary School. Kindergarten class, 1925.]

Closeup of factory #10, #05 and #36.










Closeup of freeway construction.


Environmental statement I-475







An aerial view from the east towards Buick looking over the old Buick Heights. The I-475 freeway business loop through Flint is just being constructed.














A typical neighborhood before Urban Renewal. This is the old intersection of St John Street and Oakland Street (now Leith St.) looking east towards the Flint river. James P. Cole blvd. was rerouted as shown below. That is the Fairview school shown at the upper left. The future Buick #07 powerhouse would be built at the north-west intersection shown here.























See Easy Street on the map below.








July 26, 1917.












The address for Fairview school shows 1300 Leith Street but in 1915 this street was still known as Oakland.


1922.

Flint’s Fairview Elementary School closed in June 1971 after 56 years of service to the children and families of the city’s St. John Street neighborhood. Principal Elizabeth Welch (below) who guided the school for 25 years, brought a variety of services into the building and made sure to involve parents in all school affairs.  [Flint's Fairview Elementary School. Kindergarten class, 1925.]

Read about the auction of lots in 1909. Go here