FACTORY ONE

GM bathes in the history of a restored Durant-Dort building, even though no cars were built there

General Motors has restored and revived a former manufacturing facility that’s one of the most significant sites in the history of the North American auto industry. The Durant-Dort Factory One in Flint, Mich., dates back to the 1880s, when it began life as a cotton textile plant for Flint Woolen Mills. In 1886, William Crapo “Billy” Durant and business partner Josiah Dallas Dort leased the space to run the Flint Road Cart Co. to build horse-drawn carriages. Later, the company would become Durant-Dort Carriage Co. and enjoy considerable success as one of the world’s largest carriage makers, building more than 100,000 carriages a year at factories in the United Stares and Canada, at least until the rise of the automobile industry put them out of business in 1917. Durant took over Buick Motor Co. and formed General Motors in 1908. He lost control of the company in 1910 and then launched Chevrolet in 1911. Durant regained control of GM in 1916, only to lose it a second time four years later. Before his death in 1947, Durant operated a bowling alley in Flint. His former partner formed the Dort Motor Co., but that closed in 1924. In subsequent decades after the carriage industry collapsed, Durant-Dort Factory One was used to house a variety of businesses, although automobiles were never actually manufactured there. It was restored in the 1980s and then fell into disrepair until GM decided to give it an extreme makeover, referring to it as “the company’s birthplace and epicenter of the global auto industry.” GM purchased the 30,000-squarefoot Factory One in 2013 and began a comprehensive rehabilitation of the facility, which had suffered years of neglect. The building got a new roof, new period-accurate windows and doors, and 17,000 new bricks that were color matched to the originals. Workers repaired and waterproofed the foundation and replaced about 20 percent of the mortar on the building. Once the work to stabilize Factory One was complete, contractors put in new heating and air-conditioning systems, electrical wiring, plumbing, fire-suppression equipment and other improvements. The goal was to make the building modern, safe and efficient in functionality, while preserving and/or restoring as many vintage architectural elements as possible. Now, the really cool part: Factory One has an archive of about “100,000 historical documents, photo sa nd other artifacts related to carriage-buildin ga nd early automo manufacturing in the Flint area, as well as GM histor , the automaker said. And it’s free to the public to browse. According to GM, the archives hold “thousands of Durant documents and items donated by his widow, including a 1908 letter from a New York law firm suggesting he name his new automotive company General Motors.” Factory One also contains event space that can be rented for various corporate or community gatherings, with room for up to 300 people. The plan is to also use the space to display vintage carriages and automobiles that have historical ties to Flint, and use it for classic auto clubs and shows. “When I came up here four years ago in the winter and started looking around, the map of the original factories up here, I was fascinated with it, ”Mark Reuss, GM’ sh ead of global product development, told The Detroit New sn ewspaper. “Ther ew as a for sale sign on this. I said, ‘What is this?’ And he goes,

‘That’ sr eally Factory One.’ I said,

‘You’ve got to be kiddin gme, ’sowe went to work prett quick.

(PHOTO: GENERAL MOTORS) Perhaps it was fate that General Motors inquired about Factory One in Flint, Mich, at the same time it happened to be sale.

(PHOTO: GENERAL MOTORS) Factory One is a jackpot of historical documents and photos of General Motors history as well as carriage making in the Flint, Mich., area.