Pic-A-Day (349) Albert Mach Fine Art

Ford Piquette Plant Completed in 1904

This was seen at The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant.

http://www.fordpiquetteavenueplant.org/

The following information came from the above web site:

Recognition

• U.S. National Register of Historic Places, 2002
• U. S. National Historic Landmark, 2006
• U. S. Historic District Contributing Property, 2004
• Michigan State Historic Site, 2003

Built: 1904

• Neighborhood: Milwaukee Junction
• Architect: Field, Hinchman & Smith, Detroit, Michigan
• Architectural style: A late Victorian style brick building, modeled after New England textile mills.
• Size: 402 feet long, 56 feet wide, three stories tall.
• Windows: 355 windows provided light in an era when industrial electric lighting
• was still in its infancy, and ventilation in the days before air conditioning.
• Powerhouse: A separate building, 36 feet x 57 feet.
• Fire suppression features: Divided into four sections by three firewalls with fire doors. Each section has fire escapes. A 25,000-gallon water tank on the roof fed an automatic sprinkler system.
• Cost: The board approved $76,500 for construction in April 1904.

HISTORY

• Second home of Ford Motor Company, and the company’s first purpose-built factory.
• Ford Models B, C, F, K, N, R, S, and T were built here.
• The Ford Model T was developed here, introduced in 1908 as a 1909 model.
• The first 12,000 Model Ts were assembled here and shipped out by railroad.
• Ford Motor Company relocated to its new Highland Park Plant in 1910, selling the building to Studebaker in 1911.
• Studebaker used it for automobile production until 1933.
• Occupied by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company and Cadillac Overall Company until purchased by Heritage Investment Company in 1989.
• Sold in 2000 to the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex.
• Now operated as the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, an historic site open to the public.

 THE NEIGHBORHOOD

The 1858 intersection of two railroad lines—Detroit & Milwaukee, and Chicago, and Detroit & Canada Grand Trunk Junction—had created a natural location for Detroit manufacturing, with easy access to national distribution by rail. Called Milwaukee Junction, it became the hub of Detroit’s emerging auto industry in the early 1900s. It was a natural choice for Ford Motor Company’s new plant in 1904.

Henry Ford’s neighbors included car manufacturers Anderson Electric, Brush, Cadillac, Hupp, Packard, and Regal. And new companies joined them. In fact Ford’s production manager, Walter Flanders, left in  early 1908 to establish E-M-F (Everitt-Metzger-Flanders) in the next block. Automotive suppliers also located in the area—including Detroit’s carriage makers, who transitioned from carriages to making wood automobile bodies. As wood bodies gave way to steel, Milwaukee Junction became known for its stamping and metal fabricating capability.

 HENRY FORD ON THE CUSP OF FAME

In the summer of 1904, as the Piquette Avenue plant was being constructed, Henry Ford turned 41. Henry, his wife Clara, and their son, Edsel, rented a brick duplex a few blocks away. Henry usually walked or bicycled to work.

Henry Ford had previously started two auto companies, and failed both times. But he’d had some success at auto racing, and built his reputation by winning. On June 16, 1903, Ford and a group of investors organized Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford was named vice president, investing his knowledge, experience, reputation, and hard work—but no cash. And now this new company was just one year old and already building its own state-of-the-art brick factory!

By 1907, Ford had the country’s best-selling car, the Model N. By 1908, 14-year-old Edsel was drawing cars and coming to the plant almost every day to see developments in the experimental room, where a small group of talented men led by his father were busy hashing out a new model behind closed doors.