I was looking at the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of the area. The original “Oakland Motor Car Company” factory faced Branch Street, with the Clinton River behind it. To the north was Wessen St, with railroad track running next to the whole factory, across the Clinton River. According to the 1906 map, the Wessen Indoor Tennis Club is roughly sitting in the footprint of the Oakland Motor Car Company’s first factory. 121 Branch Street, Pontiac, MI is the exact spot. The railroad track is gone, but the path still exists as the “Clinton River Trail”. This started off as the Pontiac Buggy Company, then became Oakland.
@@darylturcott Oaklands first location was the Pontiac Spring Works, which became Oakland in 1908. The remaining building at 196 Cesar Chavez, was Pontiac’s first HQ. The Oakland factory was behind it, at an angle. If you find old photos of the original factory, (some have window awnings) 121 Branch St aligns perfectly with the footprint of the Pontiac Springs Factory
Well many of the car companies started out making other things. I will still l say that this building is the home of Oakland Pontiac Motor corporation. The spring plant is an important part of its history.
@@darylturcott Very well. Just one thing. The remaining building at 196 Cesar E Chavez Blvd (originally named Oakland Ave), was built between 1927 and 1930.
I got a job as a clerk back in 1967, Each week I took the scrap reports from the foundry and stored them in these buildings. I used to spend at least an hour going through old photos and records stored there. Guess I was nosey but there was some cool stuff there.. John Deleon had his office there until he and the employees moved to the new Administration Building at the main Pontiac Motor complex. The building on your left as you go down Edison street was used in the 50s by the Pontiac Retail Store for a bump shop. They repaired my 1953 Pontiac in 1959.
In America people would live close to the factory and walk too work, that is why the blue collar neighborhoods the east is full of them. Cars changed all of that after the Second World War !!! Oakland will always be Oakland to some of us older people!!! 2021
Are we sure this was the original building? It may have been for Pontiac, but that can’t be the original Oakland Building. That building is 4 stories, but the original is 3 stories. Was Cesar Chavez Blvd originally a railroad? In all the photos, there are two rail lines that run along the length of the factory.
