Walter Flanders' Historic Home & Garage
Automobile entrepreneur Walter E. Flanders (1871 ~ 1923) was born on a Vermont farm.
During his career, automotive pioneer Walter Flanders was considered a genius of production and management. He was one of the first men to develop the moving automotive assembly line in Detroit. In 1907he implemented production methods at the Ford Motor Company's Piquette Avenue Plant, which produced ten thousand cars in one year.
Flanders left Ford in 1908 and with B.F. Everitt and W.E. Metzger formed the E-M-F Company in Detroit. Flanders led several automobile companies, including the Studebaker Company which purchased E-M-F in 1911. In 1917 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson called Flanders to Washington D.C. along with Henry Ford, William C. Durant, and John Dodge to determine how the automobile industry could assist in winning World War I.
Flanders died in an automobile accident in 1923.
At the peak of his success in the 1910s, he owned a one-thousand-acre estate, which included all of Green Lake, large farm outbuildings, a greenhouse, this garage and the adjacent Craftsman-style house. Flanders owned a variety of livestock and at times he employed three to four hundred men on his farm. The garage, which he used for entertaining, has an automobile turntable, a billiard room, a ballroom, and a two-lane bowling alley. Flanders moved to Virginia in 1919.
The Aviation Country Club purchased the estate in 1920 and used the garage as a clubhouse. The lakefront land and golf courses have been developed as a subdivision. The Green Lake Association purchased the garage in 1949.
The home and garage are located at 6478 Alden off of Willow Lake Road in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The home has been converted to a nursing home and has been added onto several times. The front of the home still exists in its original condition and serves as a lobby and offices for the nursing home.
The former EMF/ Studebaker Plant on Piquette Avenue in Detroit burned to the ground in an incredible fire on June 20, 2005.
During his career, automotive pioneer Walter Flanders was considered a genius of production and management. He was one of the first men to develop the moving automotive assembly line in Detroit. In 1907he implemented production methods at the Ford Motor Company's Piquette Avenue Plant, which produced ten thousand cars in one year.
Flanders left Ford in 1908 and with B.F. Everitt and W.E. Metzger formed the E-M-F Company in Detroit. Flanders led several automobile companies, including the Studebaker Company which purchased E-M-F in 1911. In 1917 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson called Flanders to Washington D.C. along with Henry Ford, William C. Durant, and John Dodge to determine how the automobile industry could assist in winning World War I.
Flanders died in an automobile accident in 1923.
At the peak of his success in the 1910s, he owned a one-thousand-acre estate, which included all of Green Lake, large farm outbuildings, a greenhouse, this garage and the adjacent Craftsman-style house. Flanders owned a variety of livestock and at times he employed three to four hundred men on his farm. The garage, which he used for entertaining, has an automobile turntable, a billiard room, a ballroom, and a two-lane bowling alley. Flanders moved to Virginia in 1919.
The Aviation Country Club purchased the estate in 1920 and used the garage as a clubhouse. The lakefront land and golf courses have been developed as a subdivision. The Green Lake Association purchased the garage in 1949.
The home and garage are located at 6478 Alden off of Willow Lake Road in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The home has been converted to a nursing home and has been added onto several times. The front of the home still exists in its original condition and serves as a lobby and offices for the nursing home.
The former EMF/ Studebaker Plant on Piquette Avenue in Detroit burned to the ground in an incredible fire on June 20, 2005.
