Thursday, September 29, 2011

Buick Aerial View 1936

A nice aerial view of the Buick complex from a less seen perspective facing south. I like the wires stabilizing the wings of the plane.

Judging by the factories in this photo I would date it as early 1936. Photo from the Buick Research Gallery in Flint, Michigan.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Buick Motor Division.

This is a post card of the Armory where the photo below was taken. You are facing (north-west) the same direction as the photos below.

This map shows the line of site from the Armory to the Buick property.

This photo labeled as Buick City in the Buick Research Gallery archives is actually from the 60's when it was just Buick Motor Division. When you enlarge this photo taken from the roof of the Flint National Guard Armory roof on Lewis Street (at the time of this photo) which before the change to Lewis street, was originally Richfield road, and is now Chavez Drive. This view (facing north-west) shows the Buick plant in the distance. Many people call "any part" of Buick by the name final assembly adopted in 1984, which was "Buick City", which in turn was borrowed from the Japanese factory "Toyota City". The only part of the north Flint plant known as Buick City was south of Leith Street bordered by North Street, Hamilton Avenue and James P. Cole blvd. Everything north of Leith Street was Buick Powertrain Flint North.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Factory #40 A Trip Through Time.

The exact same view as below only it is now 1997.

This is 1924 looking south down Division Street. That is factory #40 running along Division with the heat treat building #41 at the left.

Here is the same view as shown below only 73 years later. That is factory #40 with the flag flying.

This is 1924 looking directly north up Division Street with factory #01 on the left and #40 in the center. The black and white photos are from The Buick Research Gallery. The color ones I took myself just before I left Buick forever.

Transformer House #42.

This south-west view of the transformer building #42 has the Pere Marquette (now CSX) main line running right next to it. That is factory #40's east wall and the covered rail dock on the west side of the main line tracks.
 Links:

Factory #40 1920

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Buick Kitchen #43

This is a view of the central Kitchen #43 facing  north. That is the east end of factory #11 in the background. I cropped off the bad part of this picture because It has been torn in half as some are in the archives.
The central kitchen prepared and delivered meals to the workers in the factories. the tip of the arrow shows where the photographer would have been standing. Both photos would have been taken before the remodeling of #11. The overhead bridge bringing engines to final assembly has not yet been built. The steel yard will occupy this location very shortly. This is 1920. Top photo from the Buick Research Gallery.
Link:

Factory #11 about 1924


Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Weston-Mott Factories At Buick



Inside a Weston-Mott office area.
Updates on the construction of the Weston-Mott factory from 1906.
Inside the Industrial and Hamilton plant.
Inside factory #5 making front axles in 1912.
Inside the Industrial and Hamilton plant making truck axles in 1912.


This map should help you with the locations of the seven buildings which made up the Weston-Mott factories located at the Buick site.
This just about has to be the first photo (colorized postcard) of the Weston-Mott factory #1. What they called "First Steam" back then was supplied to this factory on August 8, 1906. At that time all the axles (front & rear) came from this one factory. The size of this building was 60,000 square feet of floor space. Only twenty men were working on that first day. It was demolished in 1946. This photo was taken from the corner of Industrial Avenue and Hamilton Avenue facing north-east.  The 1909 expansion.
This photo of Weston-Mott #1 (Buick #31) was taken from the W.F. Stewart body factory #4 across Hamilton Avenue. Notice the pristine pasture beyond the factory. It was said that back in 1900 this was one great place to hunt rabbits.                                                                                                                                                 
          
       

This scene is the same as shown below, only a couple of years earlier. Notice the water tower and (single) smoke stack. Also note that the office in the photo below has had an addition built on the west and east end. 

Weston-Mott factory #1, #2 and #3. (Buick #31, #32, #33). That is the office in front. This shows good detail of the east and west wing additions which are shown four photos below.
I like this view ( Identical to the one below) which shows the gentleman selling lunches on the corner of Industrial & Hamilton. Most views I see show paper boys (as shown below). Some traditions always remain and they were still selling lunches outside the gates when they closed the factory. 
By the time of this photo Weston-Mott was part of Buick. 

Hamilton & Industrial Avenue 1915.

1910.


Weston-Mott office with red & white awning.

Weston-Mott office at left.

Weston-Mott office at left. Buick factory #01 & office beyond.


This is the same view as shown below only from the south end of the factory. This north-east view has Weston-Mott #1 (Buick #31) in the foreground.
This south-east view shows the complete Weston-Mott factory #1, #2 and #3 (Buick #31, #32, #33). The #3 (Buick #33) addition is in the foreground.
This north facing view of Weston-Mott factory #1, #2 and #3 (Buick #31, #32, #33) shows great detail of Industrial Avenue. Notice that the main factory floor remained as a single floor, whereas the wings on the east and west walls were two floors.
Same view of Weston-Mott #4 (Buick #34) as shown three photos below from the south-west. 
Weston-Mott #4 when new.

A different perspective showing the positions of the Weston-Mott factories #6 (Buick #36) and #4 (Buick #34). That is factory #40 on Division Street in the distance.
A south-west view showing the factories grouped together near factory #4 (Buick #34). These factories are east of the Pere Marquette (now CSX) main line which was the C&O rail line in my time.
A north-east view of Weston-Mott factory #4 (Buick #34). This factory was built in 1909 and ( partially) demolished in 1939. "First steam" in this plant was December 16, 1909. This plant made hubs and rims. The original cost of this factory was $20,000.
A north facing view of Weston-Mott #5 (Buick #35). This is the axle plant that Harry Bassett (Weston-Mott General Manager) Linkrequested to be built next to factory #4 in his letter dated July 31, 1909 to William "Bill" Little (Buick Manager). It just ended up a bit farther north. These factories back then could be up and running in as little as 3 months from the time you contacted the builder. "Not as much red tape as today". At the time of this photo I believe it was still an axle plant but when this was published in "The Factory Behind The Car" Buick labeled it as to it's then current use. 
This is the west end of Weston-Mott #5.

This west facing view shows Weston-Mott factory #5 (Buick #35). This photo was taken from St Johns Street (now James P. Cole blvd.). This factory was built in 1909 and demolished in 1936.
This is a photo of Weston-Mott #6 (Buick #36) in a south-west view of the power plant used by the Weston-Mott factories. 
Weston-Mott #6 facing south with Weston -Mott #4 on right.
This is the Weston-Mott axle heat treat plant #7 (Buick #37) This factory was built in 1909 and demolished in 1936. This view is facing north-east. This factory was for front axles only as far as I know at this time. 

Inside factory #7 (Buick #37). For the complete story on these factories just read the article below. It is from "THE HORSELESS AGE" dated April 8, 1914. Just double click to enlarge any portion. Most of these photos are from the Buick Research Gallery in Flint, Michigan. The rest are from my collection. I could supply much more background information about these factories, but this site mostly deals with the workers and the buildings. I only supply the information that I feel is important to the researcher looking for "additional" or missing information on these buildings.


Inside Weston-Mott


April 1917.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Aluminum And Brass Foundry Fire And Explosion 1913.

This is the original photograph from the Buick Research Gallery. This view is facing east with the Pere Marquette main line in the distance.
This view (that I crudely) colorized was for detail purposes during my research.
July 23, 1913.
A view inside the old aluminum and brass foundry at Buick that was known as #15. This building was attached at the north end of the #03 forge plant. This view is facing south. The angled building (below) with box cars on either side was part of the area destroyed in the 1913 fire. The photo after the fire (At top) shows the area just beyond this angled section. The angled area farthest north does look to be made entirely of wood as Chrysler stated. This view is facing south-west. That is factory #12 at the right. These two photos are from around 1909.
April 16, 1910.
These are articles published in various trade journals of the time following the fire and explosion at the Buick factory on January 17, 1913. In the book "The Life And Times Of An Automotive Genius" by Vincent Curcio (published in 2000), that tells the life story of Walter Chrysler and includes much about the early years at Buick, he places the date of the fire as January of 1917. He states that the article (showing 1917) was from "The Horseless Age" trade journal. I have read that particular article and it is 1913, so it must have been a typo in Vincents book. This information had me more than a bit confused for some time. I'm just glad that this mystery has finally been solved. They did not rebuild at this same location as was stated in one of the articles. The posting before this one (the pickling room) shows this area as a steel storage lot. I'm thinking that this was when the brass & aluminum work was moved (temporarily) into factory #12 until the new foundry could be built.                                                          
This is from “The Life And Times Of An Automotive Genius” by Vincent Curcio, published in 2000. This book chronicling Walter Chrysler’s life and also early career at Buick is showing an explosion and fire in 1917. The New York Times article says this happened in 1913.

This angled building with the box cars on either side was the area destroyed in the 1913 fire. This angled area which is the north-end of the forge building does look to be made entirely of wood as Chrysler stated. This view is facing south-west. That is factory #12 at the right.
This 1917 advertisement is supposedly Buick. After much study I think the area to the left in the photo  above this one (between #03 & #12) That could be factory #11 in the background. That would make this a north facing view.