Saturday, March 16, 2013

General Motors 50th Anniversary.

These workers are machining differentials. Link here for more.

After the trees were cut this became the Hamilton farm and it's chief crop was hay. The story goes that the rabbit hunting was good in this area during the early years. Rabbit vote link.

Hamilton Avenue got it's name in honor of William Hamilton in June of 1900. William Hamilton died January 21, 1899. Mrs. Hamilton died July 5, 1904. The platting of the Oak Park Subdivision was in 1900. Mrs. Minnie Loranger owned the Hamilton land that became the Flint Buick site. She was the Hamilton's daughter. Court case which deeded land to John Hamilton from Indian ownership. (SEE PAGE 30 or below).

1879. Showing the Indian land.

Hulse sold this engine to the Harold Warp Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska. This is considered the oldest known Flint built engine in existence. The all time oldest known to exist is in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. and was built in Detroit.

Showing Buick as the matriarch of General Motors.

Chevrolet assembly on Van Slyke Road in Flint, Michigan. This is where my 66 Chevy was built. It's still assembling Chevrolet's only now they are trucks. This view is facing south. The V8 engine plant is right next door. The sheet metal plant is in the distance.

You should note that this is the assembly line located in factory #04 and not the old #62 final line.

Probably Van Slyke assembly in Flint.

James Parkhill who became president of the Armstrong Spring factory in Flint is supposedly the person who hand made the first set of springs for the first flint built Buick in 1904. he also built the first gasoline station (shown farther below) in Flint where the old Durant hotel still stands today in downtown Flint. The Durant has now been completely remodeled as student housing for the downtown college.

Flint assembly on Van Slyke Road.

Chevrolet sheet metal and frame plant on Bristol Road. The assembly and engine plant are in the background. The engine plant has been torn down and replaced by another engine plant. I went to night school in the original one working in the dynamometer room back in 1970. This view is facing north.

These factory buildings were located on east Carpenter Road north of the Buick site.

This is the original site of many Durant & Dort warehouse buildings which would later become the east Flint plant of the Dort Motor Company. After Dort vacated this site it was taken over by A.C. Spark Plug. And after A.C. it became a Delphi factory. Now it is a brown field site like so many others in Genesee county. That is Dort Highway running north and south in the foreground.

Link for Hamady.

Link : Chevrolet In Flint Michigan.

I worked here for some time in the early 70's mostly on the 6 line. When I quit and went back to Buick I was hanging heads on the V8 line.

Saginaw Street is running north and south here in front of Fisher Body #1. Link here.

Link: Inside A.C.

My uncle Lawrence Royer worked here after World War II and retired from there in the 70's.

Chevrolet factory #2 at the Chevy hole site.

Link: Happy 100th Birthday Chevrolet.

Links: A.C. On Industrial Avenue and the Buick Bug. Charles Lindbergh over Flint 1927

This view is directly south. The rail marshaling yard in the far background borders east Reid Road. Link here for a 1942 view cutaway showing this factory producing the M-4 Sherman tank. After 1955 this factory produced parts for the Cadillac division. South Dort Highway is out of view to the far right. Saginaw Road is just out of sight at the left running parallel with the main office shown at left.

I spent 25 years here.

Close to calling it Buick City.

Link: Buick City In 1947.

That is I-75 freeway in the foreground running north and south. We are facing east towards Flint. The Chevrolet plant is out of sight at the right and Torrey Road is visible going east and west at the upper left.

I spend a lot of time down here doing research. Every kid in Flint visited here on school field trips.

This shows the location of Flint's first gasoline station shown below.

The future site of the Durant Hotel is shown at the left and below. This is from Lawrence Gustin's book "Picture History Of Flint.

This is McFarlan park in 1885 on the north side of the flint river. Saginaw Street (old Saginaw trail) is at the right. Detroit Street (future MLK. Avenue) have recently been connected with Saginaw. This now is a much smaller (tiny) park and has Flint's veterans names enshrined here This is from the trade journal:

Headlight flashes along the Grand Trunk railway. You can view this site with just your browser but is best viewed with PDF.

This shows the park at it's height. Detroit St. on left, Saginaw St. on right. McFarlan is spelled wrong on this postcard from at least 1906.

That looks like a community center in the left background. The gasoline station would be at the right where the large billboard is shown. You can see a small section of a large billboard in the gasoline station photo shown farther above. This is from Lawrence Gustin's book "Picture History Of Flint.

A park is not yet in existence in this photo showing the first bridge being rebuilt. Detroit Street has not been cut through yet. This is from Lawrence Gustin's book "Picture History Of Flint.

Looking west across Saginaw Street on Second Avenue. Originally the avenues north of the Flint river were called streets. This is from Lawrence Gustin's book "Picture History Of Flint.

The origin for the name of the park. This is from Lawrence Gustin's book "Picture History Of Flint.

Buick is just out of sight at the upper left in this east view of downtown Flint.

Van Slyke assembly in Flint, Michigan. My car came down this line in September of 1965.

Kind of resembles "Back To The Bricks", only the classic cars were brand new.

This view is facing south-east from the north end of the park. Notice the pavilion in the far right background. The pool was also located there but is now gone. The pavilion is still there with an occasional band concert.

Hamilton Avenue in the Oak Park Industrial Complex. Link here.

Fisher body number 2 moved from the old Chevy in the hole site in 1947 when G.M. built the new assembly plant on Van Slyke. The Fisher plant was built attached to the assembly plant.