My City May 2022

MYHISTORY

The Mayors of Flint PART 5: THE START OF A NEW CENTURY

BY PETER HINTERMAN

As the century ended, Flint was poised to explode in both vehicle production and population. Carriages were going strong and utility companies were beginning to spring up around the city o ering power to businesses and individual households. e mayors of this time period acted as stewards to the city’s upcoming growth and economic strength. At the turn of the century, an automobile hit Saginaw Street for the rst time and forever change the city’s future, while one mayor would add something that would become iconic and central to Flint’s character. is series chronicles Flint’s mayors throughout history, providing short accounts of their professions, lives and decisions in oce (if known). Some were men/women of great deeds or of great controversy; some were simply placeholders in time. Each of them, however, chaired a city important to its country and its citizens on its path through triumph and troubles, and toward future revitalization. For Part 1, see the 2022 January issue of MCM!

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