Ford Piquette Avenue Plant
The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a former factory located in the Milwaukee Junction area of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Built in 1904, it was the second center of automobile production for the Ford Motor Company, after the Ford Mack Avenue Plant. There, the company created and first produced the Ford Model T, the car credited with initiating the mass use of automobiles in the U.S.
About Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in brief
The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a former factory located in the Milwaukee Junction area of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Built in 1904, it was the second center of automobile production for the Ford Motor Company, after the Ford Mack Avenue Plant. There, the company created and first produced the Ford Model T, the car credited with initiating the mass use of automobiles in the U.S. The factory was used by the company until 1910, when its car production activity was relocated to the new, bigger Highland Park Ford Plant. Studebaker bought the factory in 1911, using it to assemble cars until 1933. The building was sold in 1936, going through a series of owners for the rest of the 20th century before becoming a museum in 2001. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, became a Michigan State Historic Site in 2003, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. The museum, which was visited by over 31,000 people in 2018, has exhibits that primarily focus on the beginning of the United United States automotive industry. It is the oldest purpose-built automotive factory building open to the public, and is located in a historic district of the city that was once known as the “Motor City” The building is three stories high, 56 feet wide, and 402 feet long. Its load-bearing exterior brick walls contain 355 windows, and its maple floors, supported by square oak beams and posts, cover 67,000 square feet.
It has two elevator-stairwell combinations, one located on its northwest corner and the other Located on its southwest side. A fire sprinkler system in the building’s design, a rare feature for industrial buildings of the period, is still present. The firewalls, fire doors, and fire escapes, are still present, as well as a wooden water tank located on the building’s roof. A brick powerhouse, measuring 36 feet Wide by 57 feet long, was the original electricity provider for the factory. The water tank and powerhouse no longer exist. The vast majority of factory tasks were done by men, except for magneto assembly, which would be completed at the fixed stations. The company did not recognize labor unions at the factory, and assembly work was done by hand. Due to variations in car model changeover, the number of employees varied as low as 300 to as high as 700. The first car model, the original Ford Model A, began to be assembled that same month in June 1903, at a rented wagon manufacturing shop in Detroit. In late 1904, the first production of the Ford B began, and the first Ford F began the following February. From October 1904 to the end of 1909, Ford Motor company assembled car models B, C, F, K, N, R, S, and T at the Piquette Ave Plant. The plant is an example of late Victorian-style architecture and was modeled after New England textile mills. It also has a brick powerhouse that was located near the northwest corner.
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This page is based on the article Ford Piquette Avenue Plant published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
