Part II of this feature includes the early history of Applewood Estate, Flint Institute of Music, Flint Youth Theater (Bower Theater) and Buick Gallery.
The Flint Cultural Center has a rich history, and My City Magazine is proud to explore the early history of the cultural institutions in a two-part series. The campus is home to nationally recognized institutions aimed at furthering the arts, sciences and the humanities. Currently, Flint Cultural Center includes: Applewood, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint Institute of Music, Flint Public Library, Flint Youth Theatre, Longway Planetarium, Sloan Museum and The Whiting.
March is National Women’s History Month, designated as such to honor the extraordinary achievements of American women. The month-long celebration recognizes the important contributions made by women through programs in schools, workplaces and communities.
Mildred Doran was born and raised in Flint, the daughter of William Doran, a farmer in the early 1900s. Her mother, Helen, passed away when Mildred was just 16 years old, and the teen raised her two brothers and her younger sister while working her way through school. Doran made the history books, however, as she was the only woman to enter the Dole Air Race in 1927, flying from California to Hawaii. She went missing during the flight, along with the crew and several other aircraft. She was just 22 years old.
Did you know that the rubber ice cube tray, electric stove and automatic electric toaster were invented right here in Flint? Often referred to as the “forgotten inventor” Lloyd Groff Copeman was born and raised just east of Flint in Farmers Creek in Lapeer County. He attended a one-room school and Michigan Agricultural College, which is now Michigan State University. He later became a well-known entrepreneur.
Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson was a famous aeronautical and systems engineer who has ties to Flint. He was born in 1910 to Swedish immigrants Peter and Christine Johnson, in Ishpeming, a small town in the Upper Peninsula. Johnson was raised in Flint, according to his niece, Lois Craig, a Flint native best known for her work with Special Olympics and the Crim Road Race. He went to school at Flint Junior College (now Mott Community College) and went on to continue his studies at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He was given his Irish nickname, “Kelly,” after a schoolyard fight with a bully in grade school. “He was the seventh of nine children,” Craig remembers. “He was talented and very intelligent.” He passed away in 1990.
Attorneys, judges, dignitaries, friends and family members attended a ceremony at the Genesee County Courthouse in September that honored Andrew Jackson Transue, who was an attorney that practiced law in Flint for many years. He is best known for successfully arguing a landmark case in 1952, Morissette vs. The United States in front of the Supreme Court. A photograph of bomb casings that had been used as an exhibit and was given to the court administrator to add to the Historic Photographic Collection.
Thanks to the hard work of Court Administrator Barbara Menear and Janet Patsy, Deputy Court Administrator, the historic Genesee County Courthouse has become a “living museum.” Courthouse murals were restored and artwork is displayed throughout the building. Menear and Patsy devoted hours of painstaking work and research to the project.
During the renovation of the historic courthouse building, Barbara Menear, Court Administrator of the Genesee County Courthouse, and Deputy Court Administrator, Janet Patsy, put in hours and hours of hard work. They also wrote a commemorative publication about the history of the courthouse, the addition, restorative efforts undertaken, and the many people who were so dedicated to the project.
This is the first of a three-part series about the historic Genesee County Courthouse – The History, The Re-dedication, and The Murals and Artwork.
