Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office
Encyclopedia
The Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office is a historic office building located at 316 West Water Street in Flint, Michigan
. This office building was the focal point of William C. Durant
's efforts in building first carriages and then automobiles, and is the only extant building closely associated with Durant. It was here that pivotal decisions were made in the development and financing of the Buick Motor Company, the beginning of Chevrolet
, and Durant's founding of General Motors
. The Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office was declared a National Historic Landmark
in 1978.
. His parents separated in 1871, and William moved with his mother to Flint, where they lived quite comfortably thanks to William's grandfather. After dropping out of high school just before graduation, Durant worked for a time for the family lumber business as a millhand, then moved into sales. He was a director of one of Flint's leading banks, and began selling cigars, real estate, and patent medicine, before finally deciding on insurance. By the mid-1880s, he ran one of the largest insurance agencies in mid-Michigan.
in 1861. His father was a well-to-do country squire and merchant, well connected politically, who died in 1871 when Josiah was ten. Dort left school at age 15, to help his mother in business and to work at a crockery firm. In 1881, he began working at a Flint hardware store, and within a few years opened his own hardware store.
In 1895, Flint Road Car changed its name to the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. By 1900, Durant-Dort was the largest producer of horse-drawn vehicles in the United States. In 1906, the company's peak year, it produced 56,000 vehicles. Durant-Dort owned not just the Flint manufacturing works, but also other vehicle assembly plants in Michigan, Georgia, and Canada, as well as timberland, lumber mills, a wheel company, the Flint Axle Works, and the Flint Varnish Works.
The company continued making horse-drawn carriages until 1917, and the factory and office buildings were converted to the manufacture of automobiles by the Dort Motor Company
.
, Cadillac
, and Oldsmobile
. With Buick as a base, Durant envisioned creating a large automobile company that would manufacture several makes and control subsidiary component-making companies, much as Durant-Dort had done in the carriage-making world. In 1908, he founded General Motors
to do just that. GM soon owned not only Buick, but Cadillac
, Oakland Motor Car, and Oldsmobile
.
However, Durant had overextended himself making other imprudent acquisitions, and in 1910 General Motors faced a cash shortage. In the aftermath, Durant was forced out of the company by a consortium of bankers. Not to be defeated, Durant backed Louis Chevrolet
's eponymous company in 1911; J. Dallas Dort was vice-president and director of the company. In 1913, Dort stepped down as vice-president of Chevrolet, and in 1914 Durant disposed of his ownership in the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. By 1916, Durant had leveraged Chevrolet's sales to regain control of General Motors, and he went on to lead GM until 1920.
Alexander Brownell Cullen Hardy began working at Durant-Dort in 1889. By 1895, he was supervising production of the Diamond, a low-cost road cart. In 1898, J. Dallas Dort took a two-year leave of absence from his position as president of Durant-Dort, and Hardy stepped into his place. After Dort's return in 1900, Hardy took his own leave of absence, and while touring Europe discovered the automobile. On his return, he supposedly told Durant to "get out of the carriage business before the automobile ruins you." Although Durant didn't act at the time, Hardy struck out on his own and established the Flint Automobile Company, Flint's first automotive manufacturer, in 1901. However, the company's Roadster failed to distinguish itself from the popular, lower-priced Oldsmobile
, and in 1903 the Flint Automobile Company folded. Hardy returned to Durant-Dort and wound up as vice-president of General Motors until his retirement in 1925.
Charles Warren Nash began working at Durant-Dort in 1891 working in the cushion department, but soon worked his way up to foreman, and, by 1898, factory superintendent. Nash was named a director and vice-president of the firm in 1900, a position he held until 1913. In 1910, Nash was hired as general manager of General Motors, and in 1917 founded Nash Motors
.
David Dunbar Buick
founded Buick Motor Company, with financial help from Benjamin Briscoe
. However, by 1904 the firm was in financial trouble, and Durant stepped in, using his own capital and that of Durant-Dort to buy out the company. Buick, already a minority partner in his eponymous company, was left with a single share of the enterprise. However, Durant agreed to keep Buick on as an employee, and Buick remained with the firm until 1906, when Durant bought out his single share for $100,000.
weeks later. The firm met with mixed success, but remained viable until 1933. Durant, meanwhile, began speculating in the stock market, and made and lost millions of dollars. In 1936, he declared bankruptcy. Durant opened a supermarket in New Jersey, then a bowling alley in Flint, but suffered a debilitating stroke in 1942, and died five years later.
J. Dallas Dort began his own automotive firm, the Dort Motor Company
, in 1915. The company was headquartered in the Durant-Dort Carriage Company office, but expanded its manufacturing beyond the Durant-Dort factories. The company shipped 9000 cars in its first year. However, Dort died unexpectedly in 1923, and the sudden leadership vacuum coupled with intense competition caused the firm to shut its doors in 1924.
appearance. In 1906, a fire damaged the roof, and rather than repairing it, the company added an extra story and capped the building with a flat roof; the portico was also removed at the time. The building remained in this configuration until the 1980s.
Durant left the Durant-Dort Carriage Company in 1913, and J. Dallas Dort used the office building and nearby factory for the production of automobiles by his Dort Motor Company
. The building was used by Dort until 1924, after which it provided office space for various service organizations such as the Red Cross and the local Chamber of Commerce. In 1947, the Arrowhead Veteran's Club obtained the building for use as its headquarters. The club owned the building until 1977, when the city of Flint purchased the building with the help of an anonymous $55,000 donation. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. Using the designation and the deteriorating condition of the building as an impetus, the Genesee County Historical Society undertook the task of restoring the building. Funds were raised, and the building was restored to its early 1900s condition, replacing the hipped roof and portico that had been in place at that time. The restoration was completed by 1986.
When built, the structure was considered one of the finest office buildings in the country, primarily because of the ornate interior. A number of the original interior original features remain, including first floor wainscoting, much of the woodwork, and some marble flooring.
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
. This office building was the focal point of William C. Durant
William C. Durant
William Crapo "Billy" Durant was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, the founder of General Motors and Chevrolet who created the system of multi-brand holding companies with different lines of cars....
's efforts in building first carriages and then automobiles, and is the only extant building closely associated with Durant. It was here that pivotal decisions were made in the development and financing of the Buick Motor Company, the beginning of Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
, and Durant's founding of General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
. The Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1978.
William C. Durant
William Durant was born in 1861 in Boston, Massachusetts, the grandson of lumber millionaire and Michigan governor Henry H. CrapoHenry H. Crapo
Henry Howland Crapo was the 14th Governor of Michigan during the end of the American Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction.-Early life in Massachusetts:...
. His parents separated in 1871, and William moved with his mother to Flint, where they lived quite comfortably thanks to William's grandfather. After dropping out of high school just before graduation, Durant worked for a time for the family lumber business as a millhand, then moved into sales. He was a director of one of Flint's leading banks, and began selling cigars, real estate, and patent medicine, before finally deciding on insurance. By the mid-1880s, he ran one of the largest insurance agencies in mid-Michigan.
J. Dallas Dort
Josiah Dallas Dort was born in Inkster, MichiganInkster, Michigan
Inkster is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2010 census, the city population was 25,369. It is one of several suburbs in Metro Detroit whose population is majority or plurality African American.- History :...
in 1861. His father was a well-to-do country squire and merchant, well connected politically, who died in 1871 when Josiah was ten. Dort left school at age 15, to help his mother in business and to work at a crockery firm. In 1881, he began working at a Flint hardware store, and within a few years opened his own hardware store.
Company
The origin of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company came in 1886, when William C. Durant rode in a friend's spring-suspension road cart. Impressed with the smoothness of the ride, Durant obtained the patent and manufacturing rights to the cart for $2000, and with J. Dallas Dort, founded the Flint Road Car Company that same year. Dort, as president, handled manufacturing and administrative details for the firm, while Durant handled sales and promotion. The firm first had their offices located in Durant's insurance agency in downtown Flint. They leased a factory on Water Street, originally used by the Flint Woolen Mills, to produce road carts. The company sold 4000 carts its first year, and quickly grew from there. Under Durant's leadership, the company expanded by acquiring subsidiary companies that produced not only vehicles, but the components for vehicles as well.In 1895, Flint Road Car changed its name to the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. By 1900, Durant-Dort was the largest producer of horse-drawn vehicles in the United States. In 1906, the company's peak year, it produced 56,000 vehicles. Durant-Dort owned not just the Flint manufacturing works, but also other vehicle assembly plants in Michigan, Georgia, and Canada, as well as timberland, lumber mills, a wheel company, the Flint Axle Works, and the Flint Varnish Works.
The company continued making horse-drawn carriages until 1917, and the factory and office buildings were converted to the manufacture of automobiles by the Dort Motor Company
Dort (automobile)
The Dort was an automobile built by the Dort Motor Car Company of Flint, Michigan from 1915 - 1924. Dort used Lycoming built engines to power their vehicles....
.
Automobiles and General Motors
By 1900, William Durant was a millionaire from his holdings in the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. In 1904, Durant used his money to assume control of the troubled Buick Motor Company and mobilized the financial and manufacturing resources of Durant-Dort to correct Buick's course. Despite having no manufacturing line and only a handful of extant cars, Durant tallied over 1100 orders at the 1905 New York Automobile Show. Durant pushed the brand, and in four years Buick was the best-selling automobile in America, outstripping earlier leaders Ford Motor CompanyFord Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
, and Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
. With Buick as a base, Durant envisioned creating a large automobile company that would manufacture several makes and control subsidiary component-making companies, much as Durant-Dort had done in the carriage-making world. In 1908, he founded General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
to do just that. GM soon owned not only Buick, but Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
, Oakland Motor Car, and Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
.
However, Durant had overextended himself making other imprudent acquisitions, and in 1910 General Motors faced a cash shortage. In the aftermath, Durant was forced out of the company by a consortium of bankers. Not to be defeated, Durant backed Louis Chevrolet
Louis Chevrolet
Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was a Swiss-born American race car driver of French descent, co-founder of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911 and later, the Frontenac Motor Corporation in 1916 which made racing parts for Ford's Model T.-Early life:Born in 1878 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a center of...
's eponymous company in 1911; J. Dallas Dort was vice-president and director of the company. In 1913, Dort stepped down as vice-president of Chevrolet, and in 1914 Durant disposed of his ownership in the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. By 1916, Durant had leveraged Chevrolet's sales to regain control of General Motors, and he went on to lead GM until 1920.
Automobile pioneers
In addition to Durant and Dort, other automobile pioneers were associated with the Durant-Dort Carriage Company.Alexander Brownell Cullen Hardy began working at Durant-Dort in 1889. By 1895, he was supervising production of the Diamond, a low-cost road cart. In 1898, J. Dallas Dort took a two-year leave of absence from his position as president of Durant-Dort, and Hardy stepped into his place. After Dort's return in 1900, Hardy took his own leave of absence, and while touring Europe discovered the automobile. On his return, he supposedly told Durant to "get out of the carriage business before the automobile ruins you." Although Durant didn't act at the time, Hardy struck out on his own and established the Flint Automobile Company, Flint's first automotive manufacturer, in 1901. However, the company's Roadster failed to distinguish itself from the popular, lower-priced Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...
, and in 1903 the Flint Automobile Company folded. Hardy returned to Durant-Dort and wound up as vice-president of General Motors until his retirement in 1925.
Charles Warren Nash began working at Durant-Dort in 1891 working in the cushion department, but soon worked his way up to foreman, and, by 1898, factory superintendent. Nash was named a director and vice-president of the firm in 1900, a position he held until 1913. In 1910, Nash was hired as general manager of General Motors, and in 1917 founded Nash Motors
Nash Motors
Also see: Kelvinator and American Motors CorporationNash Motors was an automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the United States from 1916 to 1938. From 1938 to 1954, Nash was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation...
.
David Dunbar Buick
David Dunbar Buick
David Dunbar Buick was a Scottish-born Detroit inventor, best known for founding the Buick Motor Company...
founded Buick Motor Company, with financial help from Benjamin Briscoe
Benjamin Briscoe
Benjamin Briscoe was born in Detroit, Michigan and was an automobile pioneer and industrialist.Briscoe entered business for himself at age of 18 with capital of $472, organizing the firm of Benjamin Briscoe & Co. to manufacture sheet-metal stampings. This later became part of the American Can...
. However, by 1904 the firm was in financial trouble, and Durant stepped in, using his own capital and that of Durant-Dort to buy out the company. Buick, already a minority partner in his eponymous company, was left with a single share of the enterprise. However, Durant agreed to keep Buick on as an employee, and Buick remained with the firm until 1906, when Durant bought out his single share for $100,000.
Aftermath
William Durant led General Motors during a period of rapid expansion in the late 1910s. However, his unprofitable acquisitions and sloppy administration led to a second ouster from the company in late 1920. Durant founded Durant MotorsDurant Motors
Durant Motors Inc. was established in 1921 by former General Motors CEO William "Billy" Durant following his termination by the GM board of directors and the New York bankers that financed GM.-Corporate relationships:...
weeks later. The firm met with mixed success, but remained viable until 1933. Durant, meanwhile, began speculating in the stock market, and made and lost millions of dollars. In 1936, he declared bankruptcy. Durant opened a supermarket in New Jersey, then a bowling alley in Flint, but suffered a debilitating stroke in 1942, and died five years later.
J. Dallas Dort began his own automotive firm, the Dort Motor Company
Dort (automobile)
The Dort was an automobile built by the Dort Motor Car Company of Flint, Michigan from 1915 - 1924. Dort used Lycoming built engines to power their vehicles....
, in 1915. The company was headquartered in the Durant-Dort Carriage Company office, but expanded its manufacturing beyond the Durant-Dort factories. The company shipped 9000 cars in its first year. However, Dort died unexpectedly in 1923, and the sudden leadership vacuum coupled with intense competition caused the firm to shut its doors in 1924.
History
In 1895–96, the company built this building near their factories to house offices and, on the second floor, a carriage showroom. A contemporaneous account describes it as "an elegant office in connection with [the] main factory, where a small army of clerks, stenographers and typewriters are engaged in the clerical part of the company's business. The office building was originally built as a two-story Italianate structure with a flat roof. Around 1900, the flat roof was replaced with a hipped roof, and an entrance portico was added, giving the structure a GeorgianGeorgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
appearance. In 1906, a fire damaged the roof, and rather than repairing it, the company added an extra story and capped the building with a flat roof; the portico was also removed at the time. The building remained in this configuration until the 1980s.
Durant left the Durant-Dort Carriage Company in 1913, and J. Dallas Dort used the office building and nearby factory for the production of automobiles by his Dort Motor Company
Dort (automobile)
The Dort was an automobile built by the Dort Motor Car Company of Flint, Michigan from 1915 - 1924. Dort used Lycoming built engines to power their vehicles....
. The building was used by Dort until 1924, after which it provided office space for various service organizations such as the Red Cross and the local Chamber of Commerce. In 1947, the Arrowhead Veteran's Club obtained the building for use as its headquarters. The club owned the building until 1977, when the city of Flint purchased the building with the help of an anonymous $55,000 donation. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. Using the designation and the deteriorating condition of the building as an impetus, the Genesee County Historical Society undertook the task of restoring the building. Funds were raised, and the building was restored to its early 1900s condition, replacing the hipped roof and portico that had been in place at that time. The restoration was completed by 1986.
Description
The Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office is a three-story red-brick rectangular structure, measuring 40 feet by 60 feet, on a brick foundation with a full basement. The windows are sixteen-over-one wood-sash windows in a flat-arched surround.When built, the structure was considered one of the finest office buildings in the country, primarily because of the ornate interior. A number of the original interior original features remain, including first floor wainscoting, much of the woodwork, and some marble flooring.