My Mother and General Motors Birthplace.

The Durant & Dort factory office on west Water Street during  restoration. My mothers house when she was a child was located where the backhoe is off to the right. This view is facing north-east. 'I was inside here during the restoration and was looking through the books and blueprints down in the basement as I recall'.

This is how my mother remembered the Durant-Dort office when she was a child. This is also the way I remember it in the '60s when we passed it on the way to Kresges.  

This would be 1975. I was in here looking through the workers photos during the reconstruction shortly after this.

After the restoration.

This is young Lorraine Royer at the corner of Water & Lyon she is facing west. You can just see the top of the Industrial Bank building on Saginaw St., above the Conoco gas sign. She would be facing the Durant-Dort office with the main factory across the street. Color photo below is the exact same shot in 2003.

Red dot shows my mothers house.

Link: Original.

I took this photo in 2003 during Buick's 100th celebration. I'm almost in the same location as the original photographer when the picture of my mom (above) on her trike was taken.

The state historic marker in front of the Durant-Dort office. Constructed in 1896 at 315 West Water Street in Flint, the building was the original headquarters of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company and eventually the birthplace of General Motors. After the carriage firm ceased operations in 1917, this building was headquarters of the now defunct Dort Motor Car Company until 1925.

The arrow points to my mothers house. This is the picture she showed me and pointed out the house she grew up in.

This view is looking east up water street from Mason st.

This postcard shows the Durant-Dort office with a flat roof which is what my mother told me it had. This is the way it was for most of the 20th century after a fire destroyed the original roof structure.

This is where my mother Lorraine (Royer) Godin grew up in the late '20s and early thirties. This area is now known as the Historic Carriage Town. In this view we are facing west. The Royer home is now a parking lot. I have a photo of the 1947 flood showing the house converted into a gas station.

This and the following photos from: Kevin Kirbitz

From left: J. Dallas Dort, William C. Durant, Charles H. Bonbright, Bess Rosenswig, Fred A. Aldrich. Probably taken in early 1890s. — in Flint, MI.