Flint is a city full of legacies overshadowed by tragedy. Read the stories of the innovations and surprising elements of the city's past. In the shadow of Flint's success as an industrial hub and the tragedy that is the water crisis that came to a head in 2014, the fascinating past of Flint has been largely forgotten. Local author Gary Flinn showcases the obscure and surprising elements of the Vehicle City's past, such as local Civil War hero Franklin Thompson who was actually Sarah Edmonds in disguise; the city's most prolific inventor, Lloyd Copeman, created the electric stove, flexible ice cube tray and automatic toaster; and even Thread Lake's Lakeside Amusement Park that offered seaplane rides and a giant roller coaster partly built over the water before closing in 1931. Flinn offers the reader the often-overlooked but fascinating history of Flint, including how the 2014 water crisis was a half century in the making.
Gary Flinn is a product of the Flint Community Schools and a graduate of Mott Community College and Michigan State University who has lived in the Flint area most of his life. His earliest writings were for Flint Central High School publications the Tribal Times and the Arrow Head. Besides the Uncommon Sense, he also contributed articles for Your Magazine, the Flint Journal and Downtown Flint Revival magazine. Gary is the author of Remembering Flint, Michigan, published by The History Press.