Flint

Flint is an industrial city an hour northwest of Detroit in Michigan. It was the home of many General Motors factories, including the Buick World Headquarters, Flint has fallen on hard times over the past 30 years due to the decline of the American automotive industry. Despite these misfortunes, the city has an outsized history, including decisive roles in the growth of the American labor movement and community schooling and evident in a host of extensive and well-endowed cultural institutions. Flint has seen a dramatic reduction in crime while simultaneously enjoying a revitalizing Downtown and growing colleges and universities are found within the city's limits.

Understand

Sometimes considered a suburb of Detroit, Flint is more accurately described as a "satellite" city. Like Saginaw, Pontiac, and other factory towns in Michigan, Flint's identity is often influenced and predicted by the Motor City and the peaks and valleys of the American auto industry. Because these cities and Flint have become symbols of urban blight and economic ruin, it is tempting to write them off at the worst as ghost-towns, or at the best as smaller clones of Detroit. In fact, each city is regionally distinct, both in terms of the local institutions they have raised in times of prosperity and crisis, and in the emphasis of civic response.

In Flint's case, for example, the imprint of Charles Stewart Mott, General Motor's most famous philanthropist, often overshadows that of Billy Durant, who actually founded the corporation. Streets, parks, estates, neighborhoods, colleges, and lakes have been named after Mott and his family, and the Mott Foundation funds and supports many cultural events here. But this reverence toward a more glorious past is just as often tempered by frustration with its side-effects and outcome. The bulk of Sloan Museum (see below), for example, is a measured analysis of the opportunities and hazards of rapid industrialization. Much of the literature to come out of Flint, such as Rhonda Sanders' Bronze Pillars (1995), focuses on the vitality of the African-American community, and its struggle against housing compacts and discrimination in the factories. It is true that many other communities have struggled with these very issues, but the height from which Flint has fallen -- from Michigan's "second city" and acknowledged birthplace of the world's largest corporation to an international symbol of crime and poverty -- has left deep scars on Flintites (or Flintstones; another heady debate in these parts).

Understanding Flint requires understanding that its situation is more complex than that presented by the media, whether this is the General Motors filmstrips of the 1950s, or the Michael Moore film. This means that there is more to the place than vacant lots and shuttered factories: The Flint Institute of Arts and annual jazz festival are comparable with cities many times this size, and a lively regional music scene is rooted in such venues as the Machine Shop and the Local 432. One should be aware, however, that any visit is likely to become a referendum on the successes and failures of the American Dream. There is a lot to see and do in Flint, but much of this may be of a sobering and thoughtful effect; certainly a far cry from the dunes of Lake Michigan or Ann Arbor's boutiques. Flintstones (or Flintites) will be open and generous in pointing you to the best bars, restaurants, museums, and parks; they will also give you their own candid thoughts on the plight of their city.

43.0031-83.67781 Flint & Genesee Convention and Visitors Bureau, 519 S. Saginaw Street Suite 200 (downtown Flint in the Commerce Center next to the CS Mott Foundation Building on the corner of Saginaw and First Streets), ☏ +1 810-600-1404, fax: +1 810-600-6815, dstableford@flintandgenesee.org. A division of the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce, the CVB is funded by the Genesee County accommodations tax. Free.

Get in

Map of Flint

Flint is a major transportation hub, and in fact this is one of the ways in which its automotive history continues to serve the city well. Flint can be accessed by plane, train, car, and bus.

By plane

42.965556-83.7436111 Bishop International Airport (FNT ^IATA), G-3425 W Bristol Rd, ☏ +1 810 235-6560. Located within city limits, Bishop is the second busiest airport in the state. Carriers include American Airlines (service from Chicago-O'Hare), United (service from Chicago-O'Hare), Delta (service from Minneapolis/St. Paul and Atlanta), and Southwest (service from Baltimore, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Tampa). Upon arrival, access to Flint and surrounding areas is best obtained by renting or using a car. Rental car providers include Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz, National, and Alamo. See renting a car for more suggestions. If using a car is not an option, however, Flint's Mass Transportation Authority (MTA) (see below) provides access to their Downtown depot along Route 11 for $1.25. As a primary route, service is consistent once-per-hour throughout the day. In addition, Uber operates in Flint and provides service to Bishop.
Detroit Metro Airport (DTW^IATA), Romulus, MI, ☏ +1 734 AIRPORT (2477678). Travelers basing their trip in Detroit may also fly into Detroit Metro, Michigan's busiest airport, approximately one hour from Flint via I-96 West and US-23 North.

By train

See also: Rail travel in the United States

43.013667-83.6548612 Flint station, 1407 S Dort Hwy. The main train depot is in Flint's East Side. The depot itself is well-maintained and comfortable, but since Flint is best navigated by car, transportation can be inconvenient from the station. One can take Flint MTA Route #9 to the Downtown depot, and transfer to the #11 to Bishop Airport where numerous car rental options are available. MTA buses run approximately twice-per-hour throughout the day, and fare is $1.25 (a transfer is a dime). Alternately, one could hire a cab for around $10 for transport to the airport. (updated Oct 2023)
- Amtrak, ☏ +1 215-856-7924, toll-free: +1-800-872-7245. Operates train service around the United States of America. (updated Mar 2022) Route stopping at Flint:
  - Blue Water operates daily between Port Huron and Chicago including stops in Flint, East Lansing, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Niles, and New Buffalo.

By car

Flint is most directly served by I-69, which runs from the Port Huron, MI crossing to Sarnia, Canada, through Flint and southwest through Lansing, MI, Fort Wayne, IN, and Indianapolis, IN, and I-75, which runs from the Sault Ste. Marie, MI crossing to Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, south through the Straits of Mackinac, Saginaw, MI, Flint, Detroit, MI, Toledo, OH, Dayton, OH, Cincinnati, OH, Lexington, KY, Knoxville, TN, Chattanooga, TN, Atlanta, GA, Tampa, FL, and Miami, FL. Just south of Flint, US-23 routes south through Ann Arbor, MI, Toledo, OH, to Columbus, OH.

By bus

Greyhound, 1407 S Dort Hwy, toll-free: +1-800-231-2222. Flint is accessible by Greyhound from numerous locations. Visitors are deposited at the main train depot on Flint's East Side. The depot itself is well-maintained and comfortable, but since Flint is best navigated by car, transportation can be inconvenient from this point. One can take Flint MTA Route #9 to the Downtown depot, and transfer to the #11 to Bishop Airport where numerous car rental options are available. MTA, buses run approximately once-per-hour throughout the day, and fare is $1.25 (a transfer is a dime). Alternately, one could hire a cab for transport to the airport.
You can get to Flint from Detroit's suburbs via the Mass Transportation Authority (MTA) Regional Services. See below.

Get around

By public transportation

As the last section might suggest, Flint is easy to get to, but can be difficult to get around without a car. MTA, the public transit agency, is a reasonably priced (if time-consuming) way to reach your destination, and if you expect to stay within the Downtown area, walking is certainly an option.

Mass Transportation Authority, ☏ +1 810 767-0100. Flint's MTA serves the city and inner suburbs through 14 routes that collectively cover most of Flint's 31 square miles. Buses once run twice per hour and all routes are local. Additional lines run at peak hours, and limited service to the suburbs is also available through Your Ride, a van service, for $2.50. MTA's Regional Services provide daily or weekly access to Genesee, Livingston, and Oakland Counties, including many of the Detroit suburbs. $1.50 per ride, $0.25 per transfer.

By car

While it might be possible in theory to explore Flint without a car, very few people would want to do so. Even after one considers the time and effort saved here, there is something singularly appropriate about traveling the boulevards and parkways, the industrial zones and factory strips, in the vehicle this city helped popularize. Of course, it also helps that Flint is a delight to drive, with a coherent network of roads and expressways linking the city to the suburbs, and abundant parking and a lack of congestion (ironically due to Flint's decline in population from the 1970s to the 2010s). Among the city's much-touted $400-million redevelopment efforts are miles of infrastructural repaving and repair, and it is generally possible to get between any two points of the city in ten or fifteen minutes, or to access the remotest suburbs in well under an hour.

The streetscape of Flint is based on two grids, one which conforms to the river for several square miles in proximity to Downtown, and another which is cardinally oriented. While Flint by-and-large conforms to its grids, there is enough topographical variation to cause many roads to split and angle. Some major roads the follow this pattern are Welch Blvd., Flushing Rd., Chevrolet Ave., Miller Rd., Saginaw St., and Dort Hwy. Within some neighborhoods, the broader streets become curving boulevards with grassy medians, and sometimes this is the only relic of a formerly affluent area.

Few roads Downtown now are one way with the four of them are north-south streets: Beach, Church, Harrison and Wallenberg. Saginaw Street bisects this area from north to south, and dividing east and west addresses, while the bridge at Saginaw street divides the city into north and south.

In the larger grid, neighborhoods are divided by major "mile" roads: to the north (running east-west) one passes Hamilton or Davison, Pasadena, Pierson, and Carpenter, to the south (running east-west) Court, Lippincott, Atherton, and Hemphill (on the half-mile), to the east (running north-south), Lewis, Dort, and Center, and to the west (running north-south) Fenton or Saginaw, Dupont, and Ballenger or Clio. It will be important to have a map: while these roads are generally straight, they don't always connect up as one would expect, and it should be easy to navigate as long as you can maintain a basic orientation.

For getting around the city quickly, though, and for reaching most of the suburbs, nothing is faster than Flint's four expressways: I-69, I-75, I-475, and US-23. A trained Flintite can use this network of 70mph roads to go from a coney at Angelo's (see below) to a shake at the Atlas (see below) in about five minutes. I-75 runs to the west of Flint, with access (from south to north) to I-475, US-23 (only driving south) Bristol, I-69, Miller, Corunna, Pierson, Mt. Morris, and 475 again. I-475 runs through east Flint proper (meeting up with 75 outside the city) with access (from south to north) to Hill, Bristol, Hemphill, Atherton, I-69, Court (only driving south), Robert T. Longway, Davison/Hamilton, Stewart, Pierson, Carpenter, Saginaw St. (in Mt. Morris), Clio Rd., and I-75. I-69 runs through south Flint proper with access (from east to west) to Center, Dort, I-475, Saginaw, Hammerberg, and I-75. US-23 splits from I-75 just south of Flint, serving the south suburbs.

With a map in your hand, this network is not only sane; it is comprehensible and convenient.

By bicycle

Flint has little in the way of bicycling trails, although development is planned to extend these further throughout the city and suburbs, particularly throughout the West Side. The most extensive bike route is the Flint River Trail which extends north from downtown Flint to the city of Genesee on the Halloway Reservoir. Other routes link the Riverfront trail to Downtown, the Cultural Center, and Kearsley Park.

Due to Flint's relatively compact size, many attractions are within a short distance of each other by bike. Cyclists are urged to use caution, however, especially on major thoroughfares such as Robert T. Longway or Chavez Drive, as traffic can be fast and heavy, and hills and curves tend to obstruct vision for both cyclists and motorists.

Friends of the Flint River Trail, 432 North Saginaw St., Suite 238, ☏ +1 810 767-6490, fax: +1 810-424-5484, whatsupdowntown@comcast.net. Affiliated with the Flint River Watershed Coalition, the Friends of the Flint River Trail sponsor bike rides along the train every Sunday from May through October. Bicyclists meet at the Flint Farmers Market (see below) at 2PM, and ride north to Bluebell Beach (see above).

See

Downtown Flint

Downtown Flint covers approximately one square mile near the center of the city, bounded roughly by Fifth Avenue to the north, I-69 to the south, I-475 to the east, and Thread Creek to the west, with most commercial activity focused along Saginaw Street and the University of Michigan-Flint Campus.

The Walking Tour of Downtown Flint is an effort sponsored by the Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (see above) is intended to tout the local economy and encourage investment. This simple self-guided walking tour includes a map of the downtown district with an emphasis on local architecture. Flint's skyline features a surprisingly diverse and well-preserved collection of significant Art Deco construction, as well as their (generally less well-loved) successors.

Flint Farmers' Market, 300 E. First St., ☏ +1 810 232-1399, flintmarket@sbcglobal.net. Tu Th Sa 8AM - 5PM. Based in a renovated former newspaper printing facility, the Flint Farmer's Market reopened in its current location in June 2014 in Downtown Flint. Benefiting from much of the redevelopment taking place in Downtown in addition to its central location next door to the main MTA terminal and across the street from the University of Michigan-Flint, the Farmers' Market has spent over a hundred years building a loyal customer base and taking advantage of the diversity of agricultural activity in Southeast Michigan. Typical midwestern crops, such as corn and beans are common south of Flint, while the Flint area boasts a number of small orchards, and sugar beets are cultivated further north. As a result, the produce offered here is varied and fresh. The Farmers' Market offers classes and events such as the Rustic Twig Class and the BBQ Battle. Also, the market has become host to several small shops, such as the Art at the Market Gallery, and a diner, which provides a nice break from Flint's ubiquitous coney islands. The market is open year-round, with indoor vendors operating all year and outdoor vendors operating in warmer months.

Flint Cultural Center

The Cultural Center is a campus constructed in the 1950s and 60s alongside Mott Community College (see below) with local support and funds from the General Motors. Arranged in a park like setting along both sides of Kearsley Street just east of 475, this area hosts nine separate entities managed under the organizational umbrella of the Flint Cultural Center Corporation, and is often touted as Flint's crown jewel. The Cultural Center includes the Mott Applewood Estates, Bower Theatre (home of the award winning Flint Youth Theatre), Longway Planetarium (Michigan's largest), the Flint Institute of Arts (Michigan's best endowed after the Detroit Institute of Arts), the Flint Public Library, the Flint Institute of Music (home to the Flint Symphony Orchestra), Sloan Museum and its adjuct Buick Gallery & Research Center, The Sarvis Center, and The Whiting Auditorium (which often hosts touring Broadway productions).

43.0232-83.67891 Alfred P. Sloan Museum, 1221 E. Kearsley St, ☏ +1 810 237-3450, sloan@sloanlongway.org. M-F 10AM-5PM, Sa Su noon-5 PM. Sloan Museum and the Buick Gallery & Research Center are an under-used treasure, devoted to the documentation and interpretation of local history. Like many local museums, the emphasis is on smart, funny, and pertinent artifacts and testimonials; you won't find the sort of technologically-driven and eye-arresting exhibits common to museums in larger cities. Sloan makes up for this quite ably with discretion and creativity in the way it exploits its collections.

The first half of the museum is given to featured exhibits, such as the current "Strange Matter" and "It's a Nano World." The second half is given over to the compelling and narratively driven Flint and the American Dream, a thoughtful exposition and discussion of Flint's long and tumultuous relationship with the automotive industry. Encompassing figures ranging from the anti-union philanthropist C.S. Mott to the muckraking documentarian Michael Moore, and events including the sit-down strike and the 1960s sit-in for the dissolution of racist housing compacts, this exhibit offers a dizzying amount of material for political, social, and cultural discussion.

Included in the admissions price, visitors should not neglect the Buick Gallery and Research Center, located one block away at 303 Walnut Street. This display permanently features several dozen classic GM cars, including several concept designs.

Sloan also periodically offers workshops and lecture series and a collection of 125,000 including the Perry Archives of historical documents and photographs. Many of the local car shows are supported and promoted by the museum. The Halfway Cafe is located at the midpoint of the main museum, but is only stocked with vending machine fare, so you may want to pack a lunch. $6 adults, $5 seniors, $4 children (3-11), free for children (2 and under) and teachers.
43.0224-83.67782 Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 E. Kearsley St, ☏ +1 810 234-1695, info@flintarts.org. Gallery: M-F noon-5PM, Sa 10AM-5PM, Su 1PM-5PM. Office: M-F 9AM-5PM. Considered to be one of Michigan's most impressive collections outside of Detroit, the Flint Institute of Arts was regarded as outstanding even before the $7.15-million expansion of its Charles Stuart Mott Gallery in 2006. While the permanent collection of some 7,000 works might be considered modest by some standards, this is belied by the near-encyclopedic scope of the galleries. Works representing six hundred years of art on five continents are on permanent display, with highlights being a colorful and exquisite collection of 18th- and 19th-century paperweights and 17th-century French tapestries on display in a cavernous room at the back of the museum. Paintings by Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt, and other artists of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist period are prominently displayed. The Bishop Gallery features the work of local artists, students, and Institute faculty.

The institute also offers a series of exhibitions, often with a heavy emphasis on contemporary work. Upcoming exhibitions include "Beyond the Frame: African American Comic Book Artists" and "Magic Moments: Works on Paper by Ed Fraga."

The Institute offers classes through its Art School (see below) as well as other programs and special events. Check the website for details. $7 adults, $5 seniors and students, free for children (12 and under) and Members.

Neighborhoods

History

The Motor Cities National Heritage Area -- Flint is an undertaking of the National Park Service to present and teach the public about the growth of America's automotive industry. Pick up literature at Sloan Museum (see above), and go on a walking or driving tour of such sites as the former Buick-City automotive plant, used in the manufacturing of Sherman tanks during World War II, and the Fisher Body Plants, where a sit-down strike during the bitter winter of 1937-38 led to the official recognition of the United Auto Workers (UAW). Such tours are largely unguided and will have to be self-motived, but they can also be among the most poignant of what the city has to offer. They take the extremes of Flint from the square miles of brownfield left by the demolition of Flint's largest factories to the still-beautiful bungalows built for autoworkers in the struggling Civic Park neighborhood, or the stately neoclassical manors of the still-affluent Woodcroft neighborhood. Many of the areas included in these tours are far off-the-beaten-path. Travelers would be well-advised to travel in groups and during the daytime.
43.0375-83.7197223 Civic Park Historic District. (updated Jun 2019)

Museums

43.014-83.71174 Flint Children's Museum, 1602 W. University Ave, ☏ +1 810 767-5437. $6. (updated Jan 2020)
43.02-83.6845 Whaley Historic House Museum, 624 E. Kearsley St, ☏ +1 810-471-4714, director@whaleyhouse.com. (updated Jan 2020)

Sites in the suburbs

Crossroads Village is a family-friendly attraction reminiscent of a late 19th-century town. It features a cider mill, the Huckleberry Railroad, and the Genesee Belle steam boat.
43.080067-83.6505116 Stepping Stone Falls, 5161 Branch Rd, ☏ +1 810-736-7100. Terraced waterfall thru a dam on the Flint River that looks like something out of the movie Inception.

Do

43.0224-83.67781 Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 East Kearsley St, ☏ +1 810 234-1695. has a large collection. (updated Jun 2019)
43.022888-83.6805822 Flint Institute of Music. (updated Jun 2019)
Venues for taking in a show include the "New" McCree Theater, the Flint Community Players, and the University of Michigan-Flint theatre and dance program.

Festivals and events

During the summertime Flint hosts a series of lively festivals and events, usually centered downtown or at the Cultural Center. For a real dose of the city, any and all of these festivals are a great time to visit, because this is when the locals come out to play.

Marti Austin Kids Classic (May) youth (age 0-12) races at Flint Cultural Center
Tour de Crim (May) - bike ride/obstacle challenge along the 10 mile Crim race path
Parade of Festivals (Greater Flint Arts Council), ☏ +1 810-238-2787. Series of 20 festivals held in Downtown Flint promoted by the Flint Arts Council. Also many are run by tee Council. Primary funding is provided by the C.S. Mott Foundation.
- Juneteenth Celebration, Riverbank Park and Max Brandon Park. A celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation and African American Independence by Flint Juneteenth Committee. A youth dinner is held on June 16 with the main event on June 19, noon–9:30PM.
- Tunes at Noon, Farmer’s Market, 1st Street, Downtown. 11:45AM–1:15PM. Live music Tuesdays & Thursdays July thru September from by GFAC free.
- Flint Art Fair, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint Cultural Center. late June by Friends of Modern Art (FOMA). More than 150 artists and craftspeople feature original art, pottery, jewelry, clothing and more. Live music, food and face painting.
- Sloan Museum Summer Auto Fair, Sloan Museum. Final weekend in June on Saturday and Sunday, by the Friends of Sloan Museum. See hundreds of beautiful cars, trucks and motorcycles.Family fun includes children’s activities, swap meet, food vendors and more vehicles than ever before.
- Flint July 4 Festival. Fireworks on July 4.
- Buckham Alley Fest. mid-July 6PM–midnight on Buckham Alley in Downtown Flint by Red Ink-Flint, A free festival with ten bands on two stages.
- Drop Fest: early Aug
- Flint Jazz Festival: early Aug
- Back To The Bricks: mid-Aug
- Crim Festival of Races: late Aug
- Flint Festival of Quilts: mid-Sep
- Bikes on the Bricks: mid-Sep

Buy

42.9808-83.76891 Genesee Valley Mall (Genesee Valley Center), 3341 S. Linden Rd. M-Sa 10AM-9PM, Su noon-6PM.

Eat

Sagano Japanese Bistro, 2065 S Linden Rd, ☏ +1 810 230-7300.
La Azteca Taco House, 1902 W Court St, ☏ +1 810 233-3104.
Italia Gardens, G3273 Miller Rd., ☏ +1 810-720-4112.

Drink

Downtown

501 Bar & Grill
Cork on Saginaw
Blackstone’s Pub & Grill
Torch Bar & Grill
Churchill’s Food & Spirits
The Loft

Sleep

Holiday Inn Express Flint-Campus Area, 1150 Robert T. Longway Blvd. If you want to be a minute or less away from the Cultural Center, downtown, and the University of Michigan-Flint.
Comfort Inn & Suites, 1359 Grand Pointe Court, Grand Blanc, ☏ +1 810-498-3429. Nice indoor pool and hot tub.

Connect

43.021667-83.6791672 Flint Public Library. (updated Jun 2019)

Stay safe

Flint has long been one of the most dangerous cities in the United States, and as in most American cities, crime in Flint is heavily connected to the illegal drug trade and associated gang activity. The areas of Flint with the highest crime rates will be of little interest to visitors, but there is still enough of an overall threat that some additional precautions are warranted. Be sure to travel in groups, thoroughly plan out your travel route ahead of time, stay out of deserted or poorly-lit areas, and don't flash cash or other valuables. Additionally, walking after dark in most areas of Flint is not advisable. The Flint area has a surprising amount to offer visitors, but it is not a place that rewards exploration over planned activities, so it's really best to play it safe.

Stay healthy

A crisis began in 2014 due to high lead concentrations in the city's drinking water. While the city was forced to use the contaminated drinking water supplies for an extended period, by late 2016 the water supplies were changed to the same Lake Huron waters that supply the city of Detroit.

Go next

Routes through Flint

Battle Creek ← East Lansing ←	W E	→ Port Huron → END
Lansing ← Swartz Creek ←	W E	→ Port Huron → becomes → Sarnia
Saginaw ← Jct N ←	N S	→ Clarkston → Detroit
Saginaw ← Jct N ←	N S	→ Fenton → Ann Arbor

This city travel guide to Flint is a usable article. It has information on how to get there and on restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.