Josiah Dallas Dort Businessman and cofounder of -Dort Carriage Company

Known as “The First Citizen of Flint,” Josiah Dallas Dort cofounded the Flint Road Cart Company in 1886 with his friend William C. Durant in 1886.

Dort’s personality was a counterpoint to that of his partner. Where Durant was brash and flamboyant, Dort was cultured and community-minded. He was a philanthropist who founded Flint’s Community Music Association, which later became the Flint Institute of Music, and established the Flint Vehicles Factories Mutual Benefit Association at the renamed Durant-Dort Carriage Company. Employees paid an association fee, and the company paid their medical bills. The association was the forerunner of the current non-profit IMA Recreation Association, which provides recreational programs for Genesee County families.

Dort was born in 1861 in Inkster, Mich. and moved to Flint in 1879. Seven years later, Dort, who then was a partner in a hardware business, made a $1,000 investment to become partners with Durant in the carriage business.

Durant was the carriage salesman and Dort ran the factories, overseeing production. Together, they grew the business into one of the largest carriage-producers in the world.

As carriages gave way to the automobile, Dort and Durant were both early investors of the Motor Company which, on its overwhelming market success, led to Durant’s founding of in 1908. Durant was ousted as head of GM in 1911, and Dort joined him for a time at , serving as president in 1912. However, the next year, he ended his partnership with Durant and in 1915 founded the .

The company was short-lived, closing in 1924 just months after Dort himself died, but not before becoming the 13th largest producer of automobiles in the country in 1920.

Even as he helped shape the future of personal transportation, Dort remained active in the community. He was director of the Genesee County Savings Bank. He also was president of the Carriage Builders National Association in 1907 and 1908 – during which time he attended the 1908 White House Conference on Conservation of National Resources at the invitation of President Theodore Roosevelt.

He participated in the local Shakespeare Club, the Knights Templar of the Masonic Order, the Flint YMCA and planning for Flint’s first hospital, now known as Hurley Medical Center. In addition, he chaired war bond drives in Flint during World War I.

Dort died on May 17, 1925, while enjoying a game of golf. He is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Flint, but his legacy lives on. The Flint Institute of Music is located on the site of his former home on Kearsley Street, with main offices in the Dort Music Center. Michigan state highway M-54 is named Dort Highway in his honor for much of its length.

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