He knew what worked.
Billy Durant had the experience of the carriage industry and his success with the Buick Motor Company. In 1908, he set out to form General Motors by acquiring Oldsmobile, based in Lansing, and on September 16, 1908 the . . . — — Map (db m182332) HM
William C. Durant William Crapo Durant (1861-1947), one of Flint’s most important historical figures, was a pioneer in the development of the American auto industry. Durant’s vehicle ventures began in 1886, when, with a borrowed $1,500, he . . . — — Map (db m182338) HM
Durant Park
William C. Durant was one of Michigan's most important industrialists and the founder of the General Motors Corporation. In 1919 Durant purchased this three-acre city block, once the estate of Mortimer Cowles, an Eaton Rapids . . . — — Map (db m182339) HM
William "Billy" Durant led Flint's incredible industrial development 18902 - 1920s. Durant co-founded the successful Durant-Dort Carriage Company, then in 1904 took control of David Buick's fledgling automobile firm. Durant built on Buick's success . . . — — Map (db m182340) HM
First occupied in 1912, by Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. and Oldsmobile Co. of St. Louis, then by dealerships for Buick, Nash and Lafayette, this building was a dealership for the Star and the Durant automobiles from 1924 to 1930.
In 1920, . . . — — Map (db m182341) HM
They were a remarkable partnership.
William Crapo Durant and Josiah Dallas Dort transformed
the small Flint Road Cart Company into the giant
Durant-Dort Carriage Company. The company's vast
production helped make Flint one of the world's . . . — — Map (db m182342) HM
Flint Road Cart Factory This one-story mill was built in the early 1880s as part of an unsuccessful effort to diversify the Flint Woolen Mills. In 1886 J. Dallas Dort and Billy Durant began leasing it to manufacture road carts. By the end of . . . — — Map (db m182343) HM
Flint's Carriage King and
the creator of General Motors
Dedicated December 8, 1988
Derek Wernher, Sculptor
Matthew S. Collier
Mayor, City of Flint — — Map (db m182344) HM
"Flint is in the center of the automobile industry, a progressive city, good people, with conditions for manufacturing, ideal," wrote William Crapo Durant in 1905, inviting Utica, New York axle-maker Charles Stewart Mott to move here. Durant . . . — — Map (db m182345) HM
