Hidden History of Flint by Gary Flinn

Author:Gary Flinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2017-11-02T16:00:00+00:00

Vintage map showing East Kearsley Street. Note that J. Dallas Dort owned the land that Charles Stewart Mott’s Applewood estate would later be built on. Courtesy of the Flint Public Library.

Charles T. Bridgman lived at 814 East Kearsley. He was the Bridgman half of the Smith-Bridgman department store downtown, which became Flint’s largest department store in its peak years. Bridgman was the first president of the Union Trust & Savings Bank, which was located downtown where the Mott Foundation Building now stands. The Kearsley Manor apartment building now stands where the Bridgman house once stood.

Mathew Davison was also an executive of Union Trust & Savings Bank. He served as the bank’s cashier for many years and ultimately served as chairman of the board. He also served as Flint’s mayor in 1885. He lived at 817 East Kearsley, where Walker Place now stands.

John G. Windiate lived at 902 East Kearsley. He was a real estate developer and a partner in the Windiate-Pierce-Davison real estate firm with John L. Pierce and Arthur M. Davison. The firm developed several subdivisions in Flint. Townhouses were built where Windiate lived.

At 1025 East Kearsley stood a large, stately house where carriage and auto maker J. Dallas Dort lived. After he died, his widow, Marcia, continued to live in that home until she donated it in 1958 for use as a music school, which developed into the Flint Institute of Music. Originally called the Dort Music Building, expansion began in 1970 in the old Dort home. During construction, the former home was destroyed by fire. Today, the expanded facility housing the Flint Institute of Music is called the J. Dallas Dort Music Center and houses the Flint School of Performing Arts and the Flint Symphony Orchestra.

Finally, where Kearsley Street now ends at Robert T. Longway Boulevard is Mott’s Applewood Estate. After Charles Stewart Mott’s widow, Ruth Mott, died in 2012, the Ruth Mott Foundation took over Applewood, which began offering regularly scheduled tours in 2016 to mark Applewood’s centennial. Applewood also offers scheduled events and exhibits.

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