O. J. Beaudette started a small carriage company in 1891, locating his business, at the corner of Walnut St. and Wesson St., which today in 2020 it is known as Rotary Park. As most carriage companies, Beaudette moved from producing carriages and sleighs, to bodies and body parts for the auto manufactures that were springing up. In 1909, Beaudette started producing bodies for Ford Motor Company, for their Model T. Beaudette produced bodies for Ford from 1909 unitl the summer of 1922. From 1913 until July 1922 a total of 2,001,196 bodies for Ford were produced, the peak being in 1917 with just over 361 thousand bodies being made. In July of 1922 The Beaudette Company was purchased by the Fisher Body Company, which also owned the body plant on Baldwin Rd., just north of the City of Pontiac. After it was purchased By Fisher, it started producing bodies for the Oakland Motor Company and for Chevorlet, after the Pontiac Motor factory was completed, at the intersection of Baldwin Rd. and Montcalm Rd., the old Beaudette Body factory was torn down. The first Sanborn Fire Map of Pontiac, that shows the Beaudette company is 1903, this was the second Beaudette factory, the first was destroyed by fire in 1903. This map, when compared with the 1909 map, appears to be the new factory that was built after the fire.
Below is the 1909 Sanborn Fire map of Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan, showing the Beaudette factory. showing some expansions to the north part of the factory, on the south side of Divison St.
Below is the 1915 Sanborn Fire map of Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan, showing the Beaudette factory. The 1915 shows that the factory had been expanded out to the intersection of Wesson St. and Branch St., also they expanded the factory on the north side, building over Divison St. and expanding the buildings on the north side of what was Divison St.
Below is the 1919 Sanborn Fire map of Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan, showing the Beaudette factory. This map shows another expansion , off to the north west, going over to Lull St.
Below is the 1924 Sanborn Fire map of Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan, showing the Beaudette factory. It does not appear to be any more expansions made to the factory, however, the name hase been changed to, General Motors Corp. of Delaware.
This image below is from the 1963 aerial photos of Pontiac, from the
Oakland County Property Gateway, this image shows some type of business has been place on part of the old Beaudette site. Sometime between 1997 and 2000, this building was torn down. The area behind the building is part of the park, as it appears to be just being built.
This image was taken in 2018, and is from Google Maps, the last house that was in the north west corner, along Orchard Lake road, was take down between 2002 and 2005, this is currently in 2020 how the site looks today.
Oliver J. Beaudette's residence in 1920, at 87 Franklin St., Pontiac, Michigan