My City September 2022

MYHISTORY

Vincze / stock.adobe.com

1811 Jacob Smith built the trading post that gave rise to the City of Flint.

1833 Road from Flint to Detroit was paved with wooden blocks.

1852 Saginaw Street turned into a “Plank Road”

The Flint to Saginaw section was finished in the same manner. 1841

First road from Flint to Detroit was built. 1822

William Hamilton laid train tracks across Saginaw St. 1870

traveling to the city of Saginaw until the installation of the Pere Marquette Railroad. e new plank road was installed on Saginaw Street north of the down town stretch. e parcel downtown continued to be paved with wooden blocks. Saginaw St. then remained unchanged until 1870 when future mayor William Hamilton got cheeky. It was his plan to lay tracks across Saginaw St. for the Grand Trunk Railroad, but he knew the city council would most likely turn down his proposal. So, Hamilton had his men put down tracks across the street on the weekend before Monday’s council meeting and before they could object to his plan. e Grand Trunk Railroad began traveling from Huron to Flint in 1871. In 1897, Mayor Milton C. Pettibone took a major interest in Saginaw St. as a main thoroughfare and began

the process of paving the street with bricks.While in of- ce, he signed ordinances clearing the streets and making them more accessible to pedestrians by building sidewalks. He also allowed for street railways to be built for trol leys operated by George E.Taylor, Joseph E. Sawyer and Samuel W. Smith. e street was bricked in sections and the entire project was nished in 1898 during George R. Gold’s administration. e street was made an iconic part of the city by Gold’s successor, Hugh A. Crawford, when he erected the famed Saginaw St. arches in 1899. e or igin of the rst bricks laid on Saginaw Street is a mystery. Flint had its own number of brick manufacturers during the time period, including Alexander Ward’s company and M. C. Barney’s Brick Co. However, it’s more than likely that the original bricks were supplied by the Nelsonville Brick Company out of Ohio which opened in 1877 and

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