Josiah Dallas Dort is a Co-Founder of current day General Motors. In the spring of 1886, he and William C. Durant, a successful insurance man, formed a partnership which was to have a profound effect on Flint and the American auto industry. That summer, both Dort and Durant founded the Flint Road Cart Co., but later changed the name to Durant-Dort Carriage Co. which was the largest builder of passenger vehicles in the world.(1) In 1914 he began the liquidation of the carriage company and in 1915 founded the Dort Motor Co.which was dissolved in 1923. He was also the founder of the Imperial Wheel Co., the Flint Varnish Works, The Flint Axle Works and many other companies. Dort founded Flint Vehicles Factories Mutual Benefit Association which was the forerunner of the Industrial Mutual Association. He was a director of the Genesee County Savings Bank and president of the Carriage Builders' National Association. He helped draft the law creating the Michigan Railroad Commission and served on the city planning and park boards. He was an active member in the planning of the Flint YMCA and the first city hospital, which is now Hurley Medical Center. During WWI, he devoted most of his two years to Liberty Bonds and other patriotic activities.(2) Dort achieved national recognition on Feb. 6, 1918, when the New York Times published an account of Flint's achievement, under Dort's leadership, in exceeding its war bond campaign by 30 percent. In 1925 Dort's death left the entire city in mourning.(2) The Dort home on Kearsley St. was the first home of the Flint Institute of Music and is the site of the current building. Photo Credit: Flint Public Library Collection


Back to 1886 Content List / Back to Automotive History Directory (1) Gapper, S. Gordon. "Dort History Paced Automobile Industry's," Flint Journal, June 23, 1968, 2, p.15
(2) Schafer, Robert. J. Dallas Dort : Citizen Complete (Flint: University of Michigan Flint Archives, 1986).
Researched by: Justen 8/98