On September 16, 1908, William Crapo "Billy" Durant founded General Motors with the merger of Buick and Olds car companies. The name Crapo came from his maternal grandfather who was a two term governor of Michigan in the 1860s.
Starting out with virtually nothing, Durant proved to be an excellent business leader and became rich. In 1885, he created the Coldwater Road Cart Company (for horse carriages) and the following year, the Flint Rock Cart Company. With an initial $2,000 capital, he eventually grew the business to $2 million.
In 1904, the Buick car company approached him to be general manager. He then combines Buick with Olds car companies and in 1910 added Oakland, Cadillac and several parts companies.
Of course, the growth of the car industry had a huge impact on road building in America.
Billy Durant Helped Get Us on the Road. --RoadDog
RoadDog's RoadLog Blog: Being my travels down those great two lane highways of this nation as well as news I learn about them from media sources. Since I'm also very interested in historic preservation, there will be a lot of that as well.
The Shamrock Court Motel in Sullivan, Missouri. It can be yours for $125,000. Lots of possibilities. Actually, now you're too late. Missouri's Roamin' Rich bought it.
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