Much like the automotive industry itself, William Durant followed a successful progression to starting the General Motors corporation on Sept. 16, 1908. Durant co-founded the Flint Road Cart Co. in 1886, which he helped grow into one of the largest manufacturers of carriages in the world. Despite no experience with automobiles, he purchased the Buick Motor Co. in 1904, and soon grew it into the largest automaker by volume in the country. Durant parlayed that success into founding GM, a story your group can discover at several sites around Michigan.
The GM story begins in Flint, where the factory that initially held Durant’s carriage company still stands. Later converted to manufacture automobiles, it is considered the birthplace of General Motors. Known today as Factory One, the facility was originally built in 1880 and fully renovated in 2017, and is now open for events, conferences, and tours with a reservation.
If Flint is GM’s birthplace then Detroit is where the company grew and flourished, with its first headquarters established in the Motor City in 1911. Earlier this year, GM moved out of its iconic Renaissance Center complex and into Hudson’s Detroit on Woodward Avenue, the same thoroughfare GM set up on in 1911. The publically accessible Entrance One gives offers visitors a gallery of GM vehicles, interactive experiences, and a gift shop. Entrance One is open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In all, GM operates 38 facilities in Michigan, including five assembly plants. None of these are open for tours, however Michigan is home to prominent automotive museums for a look at GM’s work over the past century-plus. The Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners is the largest automotive museum in North America, with more than 400 vehicles displayed across nearly 210,000 square feet of exhibition space. The Cadillac-LaSalle Museum, also in Hickory Corners, is a partner of the Gilmore museum and displays examples of GM’s iconic luxury brand.
Main Image: GM’s Hudson’s Detroit headquarters, Detroit, Michigan; Credit: General Motors/John F. Martin
