My City June 2022

Clark B. Dibble 1901-02

Austin D. Alvord 1902-04

Born in Fenton in 1860, Clark B. Dibble was the grand son of one of the county’s rst pioneer settlers, Clark Dib ble, who dubbed Fenton “Dibbleville” before the arrival of Colonel William M. Fenton and Robert Leroy. His father, omas Je‡erson Dibble, moved the family to the Oxford area when Clark B. was very young. In 1888, Dibble came back north and settled in Flint. He took a job working in the meat market of Wicks & Pierce. Two years later, he followed in the footsteps of his uncle Joel who founded a hotel in Fenton and, after the retirement of his father, began operating Dibble House – a hotel located one block from Stone’s Opera House. e hotel charged $1 a night and catered to traveling farmers. Dibble used its proximity to the Opera House as a way to entice out-of-towners. He operated the Dibble House successfully for another 17 years. In 1905, after his mayoral term, Dibble served on the reception committee for Flint’s Golden Jubilee Celebration. He died in 1932 and was buried in Avondale Cemetery. During his time as mayor, the automobile industry began when A.B.C. Hardy established the Flint Auto Company.

Austin D. Alvord was born in 1843 in the State of New Jersey. He came to Flint as an older gentleman and set up his grocery business along Saginaw St. just north of downtown near today’s Rally’s restaurant. (During Alvord’s day, the more bustling business district in Flint was located north of the river.) It was during the second of Alvord’s two mayoral terms that David Dunbar Buick moved his business to Flint and began operation. After his second term, Alvord took a large role in the planning of Flint’s Golden Jubi lee Celebration serving on multiple committees including the general (planning) and reception committees. In 1910, he vied for a third term of mayorship but lost to incumbent mayor Guy W. Selby. Alvord died in 1924 and was buried in Gracelawn Cemetery.

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