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The front façade of the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant by Jackdude101 – Wikimedia Commons
Top 10 Sensational Facts about the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit
The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a former factory located within the Milwaukee Junction area of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. It was built in 1904, and was the second center of automobile production for the Ford Motor Company, after the Ford Mack Avenue Plant.
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and luxury cars under its Lincoln luxury brand.
Here are 10 sensational facts about the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit.
1. Ford Piquette Avenue Plant was the biggest U.S.-based automaker
Early experiments using a moving assembly line to make cars were also conducted there. It was also the first factory where more than 100 cars were assembled in one day.
While it was headquartered at the Piquette Avenue Plant, Ford Motor Company became the biggest U.S.-based automaker, and it would remain so until the mid-1920s. The factory was used by the company until 1910 when its car production activity was relocated to the new, bigger Highland Park Ford Plant.
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2. Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is the oldest purpose-built automotive factory building open to the public
A 1911 Cadillac at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant by Jackdude101 – Wikimedia Uncommons
Studebaker, an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, 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.
The Piquette Avenue Plant is the oldest purpose-built automotive factory building open to the public. The museum, which was visited by over 31,000 people in 2018, has exhibits that primarily focus on the beginning of the United States automotive industry. The building 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.
3. The Detroit-based architectural firm Field, Hinchman & Smith designed the Piquette Avenue Plant
It is an example of late Victorian-style architecture and was modeled after New England textile mills. Designing factories based on this type of mill was common practice in the United States at the time. 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. The Piquette Avenue Plant contains two elevator-stairwell combinations, one located on its northwest corner and the other located on its southwest side.
4. Ford Piquette Avenue Plant’s name is derived from a railroad junction within it
Portrait of Henry Ford by Hartsook – Wikimedia Commons
Henry Ford, Detroit coal merchant Alexander Y. Malcomson, and a group of investors formed the Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903, to assemble automobiles. The company’s first car model, the original Ford Model A, began to be assembled that same month at the Ford Mack Avenue Plant, a rented wagon manufacturing shop in Detroit, Michigan.
The company quickly outgrew this facility and, on April 10, 1904, bought a parcel of land off of Piquette Avenue in Detroit to accommodate a larger factory. The land was located in the Milwaukee Junction area, whose name is derived from a railroad junction within it. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant’s construction started on May 10, 1904. The company moved into its new factory the following October.
Read more about Henry Ford and his contribution to the automotive industry.
5. Ford models B and C were the first car models produced at the Piquette Avenue Plant
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 Avenue Plant. Ford models B and C were the first car models produced at the factory starting in late 1904, and production of the Ford Model F began the following February.
The vast majority of factory tasks were done by men, except for magneto assembly, which was done by women. Hand tools were used for the assembly work at fixed stations, and the completed components would be brought by hand to the chassis for final assembly. Completed cars were shipped to the company’s distributors and dealers by rail using a spur line behind the building, which connected to a Michigan Central Railroad main line.
6. The first production Model T was completed at the Piquette Avenue Plant in 1908
An assortment of Ford Model Ts at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant by Jackdude101 – Wikimedia Commons
The first production of Model T was completed at the Piquette Avenue Plant on September 27, 1908. On May 1, 1909, due to overwhelming demand, Ford Motor Company stopped taking Model T orders for two months.
To satisfy the unprecedented demand for the Model T, the company moved most of its car production activity to the new, larger Highland Park Ford Plant in Highland Park, Michigan, by January 1910.
7. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant produced 101 completed cars in a single day
During July 1908, a few months before the Model T’s introduction, a group of Piquette Avenue Plant employees experimented with the concept of using a moving assembly line to make cars, where the chassis would be moved to the workers for components to be installed.
Although Henry Ford encouraged these experiments, he did not implement a formal moving assembly line at the Piquette Avenue Plant, as all of his attention was focused on getting Model T production started on time. Despite not having a moving assembly line, the Piquette Avenue Plant, aided by the usage of interchangeable parts and other production improvements, produced 101 completed cars in a single day on June 4, 1908, an auto industry record at the time.
8. The Ford company completely vacated the Piquette Avenue Plant by October 1910
Ford Piquette Plant, 411 Piquette Ave, Detroit, MI by Rsep09 – Wikimedia Commons
The concept of using a moving assembly line to manufacture cars would be fully implemented at the Highland Park Ford Plant, starting on October 7, 1913.
Over 15 million Model T’s would eventually be built, and the first 14,000 made in the United States were assembled at the Piquette Avenue Plant.
9. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant was sold to the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex in April 2000
Model T Automotive Heritage Complex is a 501 nonprofit organization that has run the building as a museum since July 27, 2001. The Piquette Avenue Plant is the oldest purpose-built automotive factory building open to the public.
The museum, located north of Midtown Detroit at 461 Piquette Street, attracted 31,018 visitors in 2018. It contains over 40 early automobiles built by Ford Motor Company and other Detroit-area car makers, as well as recreations of Henry Ford’s office and the room where the Ford Model T was designed. One of the cars on display is Model T Serial No. 220, which was built at the factory in December 1908, and is one of the oldest surviving examples of that car model.
10. The Piquette Avenue Plant was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002
The plant was designated as a Michigan State Historic Site in 2003 and became a National Historic Landmark in 2006. The building has also been a contributing property for the surrounding Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District since 2004.
The factory’s front façade was fully restored to its 1904 appearance and revealed to the public on September 27, 2008, the 100th anniversary of the completion of the first production Model T. On August 11, 2011, Model T Automotive Heritage Complex membership chairman Tom Genova was honored with a ROSE Award from the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau in the Volunteers category
Read more about other historic places and best museums to visit in Detroit.
