Firefighters respond to a fire at Buckingham's Department Store in downtown Flint in the 1940s.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
14 comments:
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Love the name of the photographer, Baldwin-Chase.
ReplyDelete"Baldwin Chase" could have been the name of a Flint Expatriates contributor.
DeleteBaldwin Chase was one of the leading Photography Studios in Flint. It was on Third Avenue. Wonder where the negatives went from this studio.
ReplyDeleteThere was a fire at the Kresge Building right across the street in the early 1960s. I think JWilly was downtown that day also. In the cleanup, we went to Buckingham's. They were saying that they were just glad it wasn't them this time. It seems like the major damage at Kresge's was water damage. I remember seeing the water coming out the front doors. The lunch counter opened right back up within a week or so. It took several months to reoopen the rest. JWilly was older and may remember more, but I remember talking to his sister Nancy about it and she was there.
ReplyDeleteI didn't do it. I mean, I wasn't there.
ReplyDeleteI must have had something to do that day other than go shopping or to Dr. Schreiber.
You sound very defensive.
DeleteHe didn't do it. Nobody saw him do it. Nobody can prove he did it. Nobody can prove it in a court of law. Besides, hasn't the statute of limitations run out on that?
DeleteWhere was Buckinghams?
ReplyDeleteCorner of Kearsley and Saginaw Street, downtown.
DeleteDid he do it? Lol.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't me. I think it was Baldwin Chase...or it could have been Ted.
ReplyDeleteNancy said it was the doughnut machine that caused it. She said they thought it was out and it started up again. I think that is when they started flooding the Kresge Building with water, which did far more damage. My theory is that it was probably grease from the doughnut machine in the vent that caused it, and there was probably grease all the way up to the roof that ignited. The heat from one level probably heated the pipe so hot it melted and ignited the grease in other parts of the pipe at different levels. Remember this happened over 50 years ago. I don't think we can hold Nancy or JWilly responsible. But think of that before you eat that next doughnut.
ReplyDeleteIf Flint had burned to the ground in one fell swoop it would be appropriate that our "Mrs. O'Leary's cow" would have been a donut.
ReplyDeleteOver the decades donut grease has most assuredly been a major contributor to death in the Vehicle City.
Hi family visiting Flint soon, can anyone tell me what is in the Buckingham's building now? It was my grandfather's business.
ReplyDelete