Durant-Dort Factories East of Saginaw Street.

This is Durant-Dort factory #5 which was the Flint Axle Works. This was the first factory built in the Oak Park Industries area at the location of the old Hamilton farms. Fred J. Weiss was the manager.










This east facing view of the Hamilton dam on the Flint river, clearly shows Durant-Dort factory #2 (at the left) next to the water tower.

1879. Click on this small paragraph for the whole story.








Here is a list of factories inspected by the state of Michigan, in Flint for the year 1905. Originally Copeman/Heany was the Durant-Dort No.3 makers of high grade buggies etc. Durant-Dort show five factories at that time.












Closeup of the south portion of the Hamilton Dam










Closeup of the postcard shown below which clearly shows Durant-Dort #2.










Hamilton Dam with Durant-Dort #2 in the distance at left.

1910 view.

Here is a north view across the Flint river during the 1904 flood. At this time it was no longer used for buggy manufacturing.










This is the Durant-Dort factory after it was taken over by The Heany Electric Co. This photo is from 1910. After this building was torn down the Industrial Bank was built here, which is currently called the Northbank Center. The history of the Heany company and the ramifications that led to the first downfall of Billy Durant can be found in Lawrence Gustin's book "Billy Durant" Creator Of General Motors.










This west view from across the Flint river is during the 1917 flood. Looks like it still had the Copeman name on the rear of the building. Westinghouse corporation bought Copeman in 1917.











This is the Durant-Dort factory when it was used as The Copeman Electric Stove Co. Lloyd Copeman with the help of J. Dallas Dort established the Copeman Electric Stove Company in 1912. Dort and twenty-two stockholders raised $500,000 to start the company. Charles Stewart Mott was one of those investors. More on Copeman.










This is an artist's rendering of the Saginaw st and Second ave factory. This view is facing south east.










This shows the location of the Durant-Dort factory located at the corner of Saginaw street and Second Avenue. This was Durant-Dort factory #3.










This factory (on Mill Street) was just to the north west of the Durant-Dort factory located on Richfield rd. (now Chavez Drive) on the south side of the Flint River. This is a parking lot now. A whip socket is a device for holding your horse whip when not in use. The whip socket would be attached to the dash board of your buggy. I figure the term "DASH" refers to the swift movement of the buggy. The dash would keep flying debris from the horses hoofs from entering the buggy. We still use this term today in our modern automobiles.

This is a full north west view.

I believe this is the Whip Socket factory in it's original configuration. Either that or this is the factory in Fenton, Michigan, before it moved to Flint.







May 1909.









Durant-Dort #2 which became the wheel plant when Imperial wheel moved into this building after they left the Hamilton Avenue location. November 20, 1915.









Durant-Dort #2. Click on story below for the original 1915 source.









This is where the wheel work was moved to after the Hamilton Avenue plant became the first Chevrolet assembly plant in Flint during August 1912. William Durant of the Durant Dort Carriage co.had control over many factories in Flint even after he lost control of General Motors in 1910. Putting together the Chevrolet Company would lead him back to the leadership of General Motors by 1915.









This map shows the location of Durant-Dort factory #2 on (OLD) Richfield road in 1907. In 1924 Richfield was changed to Lewis street. After the I-475 business loop came through Flint it became Chavez Drive, and was drastically altered. The factory was located where southbound I-475 (north of the Kearsley overpass) is today. Also of interest is the location of the old Cornwall Whip Socket factory, located on Mill Street, also know as Flint Specialty Company. In 1916 they employed only 8 workers. The factory next door to the Cornwall facility shows the Peerless Heater Valve Company, the president of the Peerless co. was Clarence G. Booth. This was the final location for the assembling of the "Hardy Flint Roadster", built by A.B.C. Hardy.







This would be the north-east end of old factory #2 on the old Richfield Rd. This later became the Imperial plant after the move from Hamilton Avenue. In this photo it is being changed to an auto wheel factory and having it's number changed to NO. 1.