1980
The
wreck of the Titanic is discovered in the north Atlantic.
Smith-Bridgman,
Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penney close their downtown Flint stores.
Ronald
Reagan is elected president; Republicans control the Senate for
the first time since 1964.
1981
U.S.
hostages held in Iran are freed.
John
Hinkley shoots President Reagan, Press Secretary James Brady and
two others.
Final
link of I-475 opens through Flint.
Prince
Charles and Lady Diana Spencer are married in St. Paul’s
Cathedral.
The
first U.S. space shuttle, Columbia, makes a successful flight.
IBM
introduces its personal computer (the P.C.).
Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first female member of the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Hyatt
Regency Hotel opens in downtown Flint.
1982
Safetyville
closes.
The
state office building in downtown Flint is completed.
General
Motors severs ties with General Motors Institute; the school’s
name is changed to GMI Engineering & Management Institute.
AT&T
agrees to sell 66 percent of its assets after an antitrust suit.
1983
Bombs
in Beirut, Lebanon, kill 329 Americans and 62 French peacekeepers.
Unemployment
in the United States tops 12 million, the highest figure since
1941. 
Family
Hospital, which opened in 1937 as Flint General, closes.
The
compact disc is introduced.
James
Sharp Jr. becomes Flint’s first popularly elected black mayor
after defeating incumbent James W. Rutherford.
1984
Smith-Bridgman,
Sill building, other downtown landmarks are razed to make way
for Water Street Pavilion.
Workers
begin to clear land around Buick for the Buick City project.
The
Apple Macintosh computer � with ‘mouse’ � is introduced.
President
Reagan defeats Walter Mondale in the presidential race.
Baker
Junior College opens a campus at the former John Wesley College
in Owosso.
1985
Construction
begins on the project to link S. Dort Highway
to I-75.
In
one of the largest bank deals in state history, NBD Bancorp buys
Genesee Bank.
The
last rear-wheel-drive LeSabre and last Flint-made Regal are built;
Buick assembly is remodeled to create ‘Buick City.’
Water
Street Pavilion opens.
Construction
for the Hampton Inn is delayed when crews discover eight skeletons
on the site, a former city cemetery that had supposedly been moved
in the 1950s. Eventually, 24 more skeletons are found.
1986
Manufacturer’s
Marketplace opens in Birch Run, with 16 stores.
Eastland
Mall is renamed the Courtland Center and gets a new wing with
16 stores, including the first Crowley’s outside of metro
Detroit.
The
U.S.S.R.’s Chernobyl reactor explodes; clouds of fallout
affect Europe.
The
‘Junior’ is dropped from Baker College’s name after
it becomes a four-year institution.
The
renovated Statue of Liberty is unveiled July 4.
The
space shuttle Challenger explodes on liftoff.
Sports
Creek Raceway in Swartz Creek opens to a sellout crowd.
1987
Black
Monday’ stock market crash; the Dow Jones falls by 23 percent.
The
first prisoners arrive at the Thumb Regional Correctional Facility
in Lapeer.
Workers
at Hamady Bros. Food Stores go on strike Oct. 18; by Oct. 27 all
27 stores are closed. Chairman Alex Dandy later loses control
of the chain.
1988
Inmates
are moved from the old jail to the new Genesee County jail on
Nov. 12.
Baker
College opens its new W. Bristol Road campus, on the site of the
former Mandeville Junior High School.
St.
Joseph and Flint Osteopathic hospitals announce affiliation; Genesee
Memorial is later added to St. Joseph Health Systems Inc.
The
Flint Board of Education votes to close eight schools; Flint Southwestern
becomes Southwestern Academy.
Vice
President George Bush defeats Michael Dukakis in the presidential
race.
1989
President
Bush authorizes $300 billion to prevent the collapse of the savings
and loan industry.
Employees
at Lapeer’s Oakdale Regional Center for the Developmentally
Disabled learn that two-thirds of the staff will be laid off.
In spring.
The
Exxon Valdez runs aground in Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons
of oil — the world’s largest oil spill.
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Era
of basketball greats also golden for pitcher
