My City March 2023

Charles W. Nash House 307 Mason St., Flint Built: 1890

Another Victorian Queen Anne-style house, it also has thick ties to Flint’s robust automotive history. Built by auto pioneer Charles W. Nash, the house sits just seconds away from Flint’s fabled Factory One building. Initially hired by Billy Durant as a cushion-stuffer at the Durant-Dort Carriage Company in 1890, Nash began a journey that would lead him to the pinnacle of the General Motors automotive empire. Born in 1864 in Cortland, IL he was soon thereafter abandoned by his parents in Michigan to work as an indentured servant. Later, while working at Du rant-Dort, Nash introduced the straight-line conveyor system to the company, vastly increasing production. When Durant pur chased Buick in 1904, he tapped Nash to run the manufacturing plant. By 1910, Nash would be vice president of Buick. It was he who hired Walter P. Chrysler into the organization and gave him his start. In 1912, with GM on the verge of bankruptcy, bankers took the keys to the company from Durant and handed them to Nash who quadrupled profits in four years. When Durant regained control of GM in 1916, Nash set off on his own and founded Nash Motors. In 1937, he retired from the industry and moved out to the sunny climate of California. The home on Mason St. served Nash well until his retirement from General Motors in 1916. We will explore more castles of time next month! u

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