Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office

Address 316 West Water Street, Flint, MI 48503

A two-storey brick building from 1895 that served as the headquarters of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, briefly the largest carriage maker in the United States. The office is a National Historic Landmark because of what happened inside it — this is, more than any other single spot, where General Motors began.

Owned and maintained by GM as a museum, the building's two floors of restored Victorian offices include period furniture, ledgers, photographs and patents. Admission is free; check hours, which are limited.

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A story
Inside this small brick building in 1908, William C. Durant agreed to incorporate a new holding company called General Motors. The signature on the original GM articles of incorporation was set down on a desk that is still in the building. GM later bought back the office as a National Historic Landmark and preserved it almost exactly as it was a century ago.

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