My City June 2022

MYHISTORY

Bruce J. McDonald 1904-05

David Demerest Aitken 1905-06 One of ten children, D. D. Aitken was born in Flint in 1853 and educated at Flint High School. (His boyhood home still stands.Ÿe Robert P. Aitken house sits at 1110 N. Linden Rd.) Aitken worked as a bookkeeper and salesman before studying law under Judge William Newton. He was admitted to the bar in 1883 and became a partner in the ƒrm of Lee, Aitken & Wisner.Ÿat same year, he was appointed city clerk and then city attorney from 1886-90. He was then elected to the House of State Representatives for two terms from 1893 97.Ÿere, he served as chairman of the House Committee on Mines and Mining. After his mayoral term, he served as chair man of the City Finance Advisory Board. Aitken was heavily engaged in social life as a member of the FreeMasons, Mystic Shrine, Knights Templar, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles, and the Maccabees where he also worked as their supreme counselor and attorney. For the Golden Jubilee Celebration, Aitken served on the Finance, New Flint and Federal Building Committees, and was single-handedly responsible for all elec trical displays. He led the parade with Vice President Charles Fairbanks and laid the cornerstone for the new federal build ing. Aitken was one of the ƒrst to declare Flint “Vehicle City.” He died in 1930 and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery.

Born in 1866 in Lakeport, MI McDonald moved to Flint at age 13 to attend Flint High School. After graduation, he began employment at the First Union Bank and was soon promoted to cashier. He held that position until 1917 when he resigned, then worked as treasurer of the Home Builders and the ƒrm of Stone, MacDonald and Kaufman. McDonald was invited to serve on the committee to form the State of Michigan’s ƒrst tax organization called by the Detroit Board of Commerce and Governor Chase S. Osborn. He and the committee voted to establish a state tax commission and to hold an annual tax con ference. McDonald and his fellow initial committee members were the ƒrst members of the State Tax Commission and each had a hand in setting state taxes and procedures. (A brief report on “General Taxation” was given to the commission before their decision by future Flint Mayor, D. D. Aitken.) Upon return ing to Flint from Detroit, McDonald served on the board of the First National Bank of Flint and Genesee County Savings Bank. He was struck ill in 1921 and succumbed in 1923. Bruce J. McDonald was buried in Glenwood Cemetery. While mayor, he appointed noted historian Edwin Orrin Wood a member of the police commissioners, and helped to rebuild after the Flint River escaped its banks and šooded half the city in 1904.

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