Thursday, April 18, 2013

Flint Photos: Buckingham's Department Store Fire

 Firefighters respond to a fire at Buckingham's Department Store in downtown Flint in the 1940s.





14 comments:

  1. Love the name of the photographer, Baldwin-Chase.

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    1. "Baldwin Chase" could have been the name of a Flint Expatriates contributor.

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  2. Baldwin Chase was one of the leading Photography Studios in Flint. It was on Third Avenue. Wonder where the negatives went from this studio.

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  3. There 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.

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  4. I didn't do it. I mean, I wasn't there.

    I must have had something to do that day other than go shopping or to Dr. Schreiber.

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    1. He 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?

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  5. Where was Buckinghams?

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    1. Corner of Kearsley and Saginaw Street, downtown.

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  6. Did he do it? Lol.

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  7. It wasn't me. I think it was Baldwin Chase...or it could have been Ted.

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  8. Nancy 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.

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  9. If 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.

    Over the decades donut grease has most assuredly been a major contributor to death in the Vehicle City.

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  10. Hi family visiting Flint soon, can anyone tell me what is in the Buckingham's building now? It was my grandfather's business.

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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.