Postcard Find

Here we are looking directly east down Hamilton Avenue. As you can see in the distance there is a factory (Flint Motor Axle) where Hamilton now crosses the Flint River. At this time there was still just a suspension bridge for foot traffic. The first factory on the right is the W.F. Stewart body plant #4 on the south-east corner of Industrial and Hamilton Avenues. Farther east beyond Stewart is the new factory #08 which was coincidentally built in 1908. On the left side we first see the Weston-Mott factory and attached office. Beyond that to the east is Buick factory #01 and the Buick office which is also attached. Imperial Wheel company owned by the Durant Dort group of factories at that time and numbered #7 is barely visible in the distance. These cards which I acquired in a       large group of Flint postcards were all sent between 1909 and 1910 by one Elsie Nelley to Lula Craig in Millington,Michigan. Links: 

Industrial Avenue Revisited. 

The W.F. Stewart Factories In Flint.

Buick Factories 1911 

Suspension bridge at Hamilton Avenue

Here is a group of employees probably waiting for the streetcar. That is Division Street where the new Buick's are lined up maybe waiting to be test run or maybe it's a drive away for some dealer. It could even be they are just waiting to be loaded for shipment. That is the Imperial Wheel plant partially visible on the right, on the east side of the rail line. I believe this is 1908 judging by the truck dock not yet being enclosed. The dock area at the left with the awning was where workers could park their bikes (under the dock)  that they rode to work, this was a basement area.  Links: 

Division Street Revisited.

This is Hamilton Avenue before April 1909 with a horse and wagon traveling east towards the Pere Marquette main line coming in from the north. The first Buick office at the Oak Park site is shown on the left. Factory #01 was located directly behind and connected to the office. Trailing off in the distance is factory #06 which was built in 1907. Division Street which was solely a Buick street is shown running parallel with the rail line. This is before April 29, 1909 when the wooden water tank (behind powerhouse smokestack) at the left fell in a storm. The steel tank being erected (between the two stacks) was obviously built in an area needed for future expansion because you do not see this here for long.  Links:

Buick Factory #01.

    The Durant Dort factory on Water street. Factory #1 is in the foreground with #4 being  the farthest. This view is facing west and appears to have been taken from the Crystal  Hotel which was another card I received in this group.  Links:  

Carriage Town Factories. 

This is the Weston and Mott factory just after being built in 1906. The power plant which was numbered 26 is visible at the right with the water tower behind it. A small portion of  Buick's second factory built in Flint was numbered 1 and the original plant on west Kearsley was re-numbered 2. Visible between the power house and #01 can be seen #06 assembly plant under construction in  the spring of 1907. The reason that Buick skipped #3, #4 and #5 was because those were the factory numbers in use at the Jackson, Michigan assembly facility. The photographer was probably on the roof of the Stewart Body factory #4 across Hamilton Avenue. Industrial Avenue is at the left with some of the homes that would shortly be a whole community. The subdivision was known as the Oak Park. The actual park is visible in the distance and is still there to this day. All the open pasture of the old Hamilton farm in the distance will shortly be filled with factories. We now know it is once again an open pasture only it is now covered with concrete and black top. It is slowly growing trees and shrubs now.  Links:  

The Weston-Mott Factories At Buick