FLINT

city, seat (1836) of Genesee county, eastern Michigan, U.S. It lies along the Flint River, 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Detroit. It originated in 1819 as a trading post (opened by Jacob Smith). Laid out in 1836 and named for the river (which the Indians called Pawanunling, River of Flint), the settlement progressed as a fur-trading, lumbering, and agricultural centre. Abundant local supplies of timber led to the development in 1886 of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, and by 1900 Flint was producing more than 100,000 horse-drawn vehicles a year. The body, spring, and wheel companies of the carriage industry became suppliers for the Buick Motor Company, organized in 1903 by W.C. Durant, who in 1908 consolidated Flint's major manufacturing resources into the General Motors Company. The city's growth paralleled the success of the automotive industry, and by the 1950s it was the site of the largest single manufacturing complex of General Motors. Flint became second only to Detroit in the manufacture of automobiles, auto parts, and supplies in the United States. The closing or relocation elsewhere of various General Motors plants in Flint in the 1980s and early '90s left the city with a shrinking economy and population, however. The GMI Engineering and Management Institute (founded 1919), Mott Community College (founded as Flint Community Junior College, 1923), and the University of MichiganFlint (1956) are located in the city. The Flint Institute of Arts, the Robert T. Longway Planetarium, and the Sloan Museum (which displays carriages and antique autos) form part of a university-college cultural complex. Inc. city, 1855. Pop. (1990) city, 140,925; Flint PMSA, 430,459; (1994 est.) city, 138,164; (1995 est.) Flint PMSA, 436,381.