Wednesday, December 17, 2008

FDR Comes to Flint in 1936



Grumkin writes: "My grandfather took this footage in 1936. It was taken from the 2nd story of Baker Drugs. President Roosevelt drove down Saginaw Street then later on to Atwood Stadium."



4 comments:

  1. Wow! Treasured footage! Remarkable!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this type of footage that lets you travel back in time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My Grandfather, Harvey Crane, retired from Buick in 1956. He would most certainly have enjoyed seeing this outstanding footage of Roosevelt waving to the throngs along Superior St. Most likely, he probably was among the many gathered. I recall my family lovingly quoting Grandpa about his politics & insight to his Flint lifestyle and Irish heritage. He'd grumble, "Get me my pipe and be quiet...the Tigers are on the radio". He advised my grandmother about their new furniture purchase upon his retirement, "My new chair can be any color.... as long as it's green". Finally, at election time in the 30's and 40's, he'd declare, "As usual, after long consideration, I've decided to vote for the right man this time. I'm going with FDR". I still have that retirement chair he bought for himself. It's had to have been reupholstered though. Yep, I kept it green.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.