Flashback: A Nostalgic Look Back At Flint’s Legendary Safetyville

If you grew up in the Flint area back in the late 60s to early 80s, there is a good chance your first time behind the wheel was on the streets of Safetyville. Safetyville was a miniature cityscape designed to teach kids the rules of the road and lessons in safety in a fun atmosphere. Oh, the memories!

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Created in 1963 through the Industrial Mutual Association and the Genesee County Traffic Safety Commission, Safetville was nestled in Kearsley Park and featured Flint's Kearsley Park was home to a 36,000-square-foot miniature city. The pint-size city featured sidewalks, roads, miniature buildings, street signs, signals, and small electrically-powered cars.

Kids would have a chance to spend time touring Safetyville with their special Flint Police Officer guide. During the special tour, they would learn all about pedestrian and traffic safety from their Flint police officer guide.

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The highlight for any kid who spent the day at Safetyville was the chance to get behind the wheel of one of the miniature motorized cars after passing a safety test and earning the coveted Safetyville official driver’s license. Once you earned that license you could "ride the roads" of Safetyville all summer long.

Safetyville was part of so many memories for those growing up in the area during that time. In 1978 the Flint Parks & Recreation Department took over the project from the IMA and sadly in 1982 Safetyville closed its roadways.

Relive some of the magic of Flint's Safetyville below!