5,000 Buick Employees

A close up of the photo.

A close up of the photo.

A close up of the photo.

A close up of the photo.

A close up of the photo.

This arranged by Chrysler photo shows all the Buick employees on November 7th, 1913. The backdrop was factory #06 with #01 at the left and #03 at the right. You can super enlarge just about any photo on this blog for viewing small details. The way this is done is a little different depending on which browser is used.

Factory #01 Roof Trusses

These are the original trusses still in place in 1910. This view is facing northwest across Hamilton and Division.

This photo shows the roof trusses from the first Buick factory #01 on Hamilton Avenue. Their still in existence on this wing of the old crankshaft factory #66 located at Industrial ave. and Gillespie st. I spent a week once in this part of the factory, at that time known simply as the north end of #31. This was the location for a truck driver training school. This factory built in 1926 used the roof trusses from factory #12 for the north south wing and the trusses from #01 were used for the east west wing. Factories #01 and #12 both had their height increased in 1926. So an original part of the first Buick factory in the Oak Park factories is still in existence today. I looked at this area in January 2008.

Buick Hospital and Personal Welfare Department

This photo of the Personal Welfare Dept. is shown from the north west across Industrial ave. In 1946 this would become the Oak Park entrance to factory #04 (the huge new sheet metal plant), which eventually would become an assembly plant. Factory #04 would occupy the footprint of everything shown in this photo. The saw-tooth roofed area, plus the two story structure in the distance is the axle machine shop. The old Weston -Mott factory is in the far distance. Just click on the photo at the top to read the whole description on this building.

Michigan Motor Castings Company

Inside the original plant as shown farther below. This photo is from the Buick Research Gallery.










Michigan Motor Casting seen it's last year during 1916. The original MMC. foundry operated as it's own division since being purchased in 1909 by the newly formed General Motors and Buick. G.M. owning 1/3 while Buick owned 2/3. The new foundry #20 was built during 1916 on Leith Street. This old foundry was taken over by the Weston-Mott axle operations.










This is inside Michigan Motor Casting which was located on Industrial Avenue, just north of the Weston-Mott axle factory.















1911.






The same area as shown below only viewed from Industrial Avenue facing south-east.







June 1909.










This is a view of the factory from the north-east. This is where factory #04 would be built in 1947. The addition in the foreground was built in 1909. Another addition was erected at the same time on the south-end of the factory and was used as the axle machine shop. The center section shown here (with saw tooth roof) which was the location of the original Michigan Motor Casting plant was demolished and rebuilt in 1917 and was then called factory #38. This would be the Oak Park entrance in my time at the right. This entrance was open to vehicle traffic well into the 70's even after factory #04 was built here. Factory #04's second and third floor spanned this open area until more floor space for a new motor line was needed.







Model 17 cylinder casting 1910.










Top photo is from a book of Flint factories, this view is from across Industrial Ave facing north east. The two bottom photos are showing the casting of parts in Michigan Motor Casting Co. This factory was built in 1908 and sold to Buick and General Motors in 1909 and continued working as a separate division of General Motors until July 1, 1916 according to a history of Genesee county, from 1916.

Links:

Factory #38 Axle Machine Shop + Hamady Store

Factory #20 The Buick Foundry                                                                                                              1917.

Industrial and Hamilton.

Opened December 1909. This bank was started in W.F. Stewart factory #4 on the south-east corner of Hamilton & Industrial Avenue. It then moved here on the north-west corner of the same intersection.

Just a postcard view of Weston-Mott. This is in 1906. Notice in the background the remnants of the old Hamilton farm hay field.

Another view of Weston-Mott showing the addition to their main office. This would be 1909-1910.

Here's a view from the south west at the Weston-Mott factory #31/#32 yet to get it's last addition #33 to the north (Michigan Motors Plant is still visible) and the power plant still has one stack. The Industrial bank has not been built yet.

In this view the Industrial Bank has now been built on the north west corner of Industrial and Hamilton. It opened in December 1909 and this looks like they have not put in grass yet, so I figure this is 1909.

This view from 1910 shows the Weston-Mott office with it's addition's to the east and west. You can now see factory #01 has the addition to it's west wing north to the power plant. The final addition north #33 on the Weston-Mott plant is complete blocking the view of Michigan Motor Casting. The infamous "Duffys" hotel has now been built across Industrial at the left center. This hotel was still there up until Buick City was built. When I worked first shift in the 70's (in the future factory #04) you could look down into the windows and see the prostitutes plying their trade. The power plant has doubled in size and now has two stacks.

Factory #38 Axle Machine Shop + Hamady Store

This is the first Hamady store (Hamady Brothers' Cash Grocery)at 2315 Industrial. They also had a store at 2319 and this was the meat market. The tin ceiling evident in this photo was common to all the old stores on Industrial, including Marys saloon.  Michael Hamady and his cousin Kamol Hamady opened their first supermarket at East Dayton Street and Industrial Avenue in 1911. Hamady Bros., at its peak, would have 37 grocery stores and 1,300 employees.    Link for more photos.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              October 1916.

This was the site of Buick's first foundry (Michigan Motor Castings). Buick's new foundry, factory #20 was built in 1916. There is no resemblance to the old M.M.C.'s plant at all. This view is facing across the intersection of Dayton st. and Industrial ave looking north east. Flint residents will remember the Hamady Bros. and their chain of food stores, the first was located at Dayton and Industrial in 1911. In the 1960's they were just about in every neighborhood in Flint. Back then you either worked for Hamady or G.M., if you wanted security in a job. My brother larry Godin retired from Hamady after 30 years. My father really did not want his children working for G.M. so he prodded my brother toward Hamady. My sister and I both worked for G.M. in Flint. 

1911. 

1939 Y-JOB Experimental

The interior has not been taken care of very well. At least it did not have the same fate as most ending in the scrap yard.

March 19th,2008 shows the Y-Job in New York.

Here is the famous Y-JOB experimental test car. This vehicle was used as a rolling test bed by Buick for ten years. The top photo shows the clay model, bottom left on the roof of the G.M. building in Detroit and at bottom right in it's original configuration in 1939. This was designer Harley Earl's personal car during world war II. You can still see this car sometimes at the Buick research center at the Sloan museum in Flint, Michigan. It is owned by the G.M. Tech center in Warren Michigan.

Building #84 Demolition

These are photo's I took in December of 2000. I used to explore in here. The trick was to just act like you belonged. I  liked seeing what was going to be coming down the assembly line in the future.

Building #84 Engineering

This north view of #84 is from the Flint Expatriates blog.

Inside the cold room in 1938.

November 1916.

Inside engineering in 1954.

This is engineering decorated for the 50 millionth G.M. celebration.   More on the celebration.

Here's a view of building #84 after the change to engineering in 1947.