What to See in Flint - Top Sights and Attractions

Public library in Flint, Michigan. The Flint Public Library is the public library serving Flint, Michigan. It was founded in 1851, and its current building on the Flint Cultural Center campus was built in 1958. It has hosted the Michigan Storytellers Festival since 1981 and the Julia A. Moore Poetry Contest since 1994. During the Flint water crisis, the library played a key role supporting the community, and in the aftermath it partnered with StoryCorps to create oral history interviews of residents' experiences.

The Flint Public Library's collections document the City of Flint and Genesee County, local African-American history and literature, and genealogy. It also offers a Michigan Collection and an Automotive History Collection. The library has furthermore been designated a Federal Depository Library for government publications, maintains microfilm copies of The Flint Journal, and provides collections for both children and teenagers.^[2]

Stadium in Flint, Michigan. Atwood Stadium is an 11,000-seat stadium owned by Kettering University. It's located in the historic Carriage Town district area of downtown Flint, Michigan. In 2019 it became the home field for the Flint City Bucks, a soccer club that competes in USL League Two, as well as Powers Catholic High School. The annual Vehicle City Gridiron Classic also opens the high school football season at Atwood Stadium, with six to eight teams competing each season. The Flint Institute of Music hosts an annual Independence Day concert in the stadium, which is coordinated with Flint's fireworks display, which is launched from the Chevy Commons park, located to the south immediately across the Flint River from the stadium.

The stadium was named after Edwin W. Atwood, who was elected as the Mayor of the City of Flint in 1920, and also donated a portion of the site for the stadium. It has hosted boxing matches, UAW strikes, high school football, minor-league baseball, election stump speeches, and concerts over the years. Originally Atwood Stadium had a natural grass field, but in 1968 began using artificial turf. Atwood's turf was ruled unsafe, leading to the stadium's closure in 1992. The stadium reopened in 1995 after $3.5 million in improvements, including a new artificial turf field, and resumed hosting football games for Flint Community Schools.

Kettering University received ownership after Flint Emergency Manager Mike Brown ordered the city to transfer ownership in 2013, with the university undertaking the cost of emergency repairs to permit the stadium to continue operation. In 2015 the stadium underwent over $2 million in renovations to the restrooms, press box, concourse, exterior and playing field, and hosted Powers Catholic, Flint Southwestern and Flint Northwestern high school football in the fall of 2015. The new FieldTurf surface has permanent lines for regulation high school football, soccer, and lacrosse. The field goal posts are permanently mounted whereas soccer and lacrosse goals are moved into position as needed. As the field goal uprights are not hinged and therefore cannot tipped back during soccer matches, the uprights are in bounds above the soccer goal.

Since 2019, the Flint City Bucks soccer team and Powers Catholic High School's football, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls lacrosse, and marching band programs share Atwood Stadium as their home field. Kettering University's intramural and recreational sports programs also extensively use the field, however the university has no varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. Perhaps uniquely, Atwood Stadium is a university-owned public stadium which has permanent regulation markings for high school football but no such markings for college football.

The stadium seating surrounds the field on three sides and is open on the south side, allowing spectators to overlook the paved parking area, the Flint River, and Chevy Commons park beyond. A Genesee County park trail runs along the south edge of the Atwood Stadium paved parking lot along the riverside. Kettering University leaves a portion of the paved parking area publicly accessible to allow residents to fish the river.

The stadium received its nickname, "The Beautiful Stadium of Ours," from the River Rats, the original Bucks supporters' group. The group's tradition is to sing about the stadium as they march to every home match.^[7]

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Building is a 16-story office high-rise building in downtown Flint, Michigan. It is the tallest building in the city. Designed by Wirt C. Rowland in 1928 and opened in 1930, it was built as the Union Industrial Bank Building to serve as the headquarters for Union Industrial Bank. Rowland was considered innovative for his use of two materials in the building's construction: Nirosta for decorative purposes in the public spaces and aluminum for its storefronts and window frames.

In 1944, Charles Stewart Mott bought the building, which has since served as the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation's headquarters and been renamed the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Building. More recently, the building has appeared in the films Semi-Pro and All's Faire in Love. It is considered one of the most iconic structures in downtown Flint.^[8]

Auditorium in Flint, Michigan. The Flint Cultural Center is a campus of cultural, scientific, and artistic institutes located in Flint, Michigan, United States. The institutions located on the grounds of the FCC are the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint Institute of Music, Sloan Museum, Flint Public Library, Buick Gallery & Research Center, Robert T. Longway Planetarium, The Whiting, and the Bower Theatre. The campus and some institutions are owned by Flint Cultural Center Corporation.

The campus is 33 acres in size and is owned by the Flint Cultural Center Corporation. The Flint Public Library owns its own building.

Flint Institute of Music (FIM) and Flint Institute of Arts are non-profits independent from the Flint Cultural Center Corporation, but lease their buildings from the cultural center. FIM consists of the Flint School of Performing Arts, Flint Symphony Orchestra and Flint Repertory Theatre.^[9]

Public university in Flint, Michigan. The University of Michigan–Flint is a public university in Flint, Michigan. It is one of the two regional universities operating under the policies of the University of Michigan Board of Regents.

UM-Flint is one of the five doctoral/professional universities in the State of Michigan The university's enrollment is approximately 6,400 students, behind Grand Valley State University and Ferris State University, ahead of University of Detroit Mercy and Andrews University. There are 138 majors/concentrations that apply to 12 Bachelor's degrees and 43 graduate majors/concentrations. UM-Flint also offers graduate degrees, including 15 master's degree programs and 12 doctoral degree/specialist programs.

The university's colleges and schools include the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), College of Health Sciences (CHS), School of Education & Human Services (SEHS), School of Management (SOM), School of Nursing (SON) and College of Innovation and Technology (CIT).^[11]

Building in Flint, Michigan. The Durant-Dort Carriage Company Office is a National Historic Landmark owned by General Motors. A late 19th-century office building located at 316 West Water Street in Flint, Michigan, it was built and occupied by GM's parent, Durant-Dort, followed by Dort Motor Car Company, until 1924.

This building was the focal point of William C. Durant's efforts in building first carriages and then automobiles, and is the only extant building closely associated with Durant. Here pivotal decisions were made in the development and financing of the Buick Motor Company, the beginning of Chevrolet, and Durant's founding of General Motors.

The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978.^[13]