This week in history (60 years ago)
In an 1837 letter to family back east, Ann Arbor resident Sarah C. Miles Case wrote, “A branch of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor is to be established in Flint at some future day.” That day turned out to be Sept. 23, 1956, nearly 120 years after Case penned the first recorded mention of a University of Michigan-Flint campus. On that autumn morning, 167 students began their first day at Flint Senior College. Owing to the vision, generosity and leadership of community leaders in Flint and Ann Arbor, the school continued to evolve and adapt in accordance with the needs of the community it was established to serve. The U-M Board of Regents in 1971 officially changed the name of the institution to the University of Michigan-Flint. In the late ’70s, the university began moving to property in the heart of downtown Flint, building a riverfront campus of modern buildings and amenities for its growing student population. UM-Flint became a residential campus in 2008 when 300 students moved into the First Street Residence Hall.
— From “History of UM-Flint”
