Jacob Smith opened a fur trading post in 1819 at the Grand Traverse of the Flint River, and the settlement grew as a stop on the Saginaw Trail between Detroit and Saginaw. Lumber came next, and lumber money funded a carriage trade that made it the Vehicle City. William C. Durant took over Buick in 1904 and founded General Motors in 1908, headquartered here until the mid-1920s. The Sit-Down Strike of 1936 and 1937 helped establish the United Auto Workers.

The City of Flint's business core is Saginaw Street downtown, with landmarks such as the Paterson Building and the Capitol Theatre. University Avenue links the University of Michigan-Flint and Kettering University, which began its GM ties as the General Motors Institute, and Hurley Medical Center is the city's public teaching hospital. Mott Community College sits near the Cultural Center. GM's assembly plant remains on Van Slyke Road.

Flint Township is a separate government, shaped like an L around the city's southwest side and split by the I-69 and I-75 interchange. Its commercial center grew around Genesee Valley Center, which opened in 1970 at Miller and Linden Roads, and that freeway access supports retail, restaurants and hotels. The city annexed Bishop Airport and the Van Slyke plant from the township in the 1970s, so check jurisdiction closely in this area.