Special places archive
December 1999
The fabulous ruins of Detroit
Broken link
Lowell Boileau’s tour of the vanishing ruins of his beloved city.
Granddaddy of them all and possibly the most famous factory in history, the remains of Henry Ford’s Model T Automobile Plant in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park is still in partial use as a warehouse. Home of the moving assembly line and designed by industrial architect giant, Albert Kahn, the world beat a path to its door fuelling the second industrial revolution and catapulting Detroit to wealth and fame.
Model T Ford factory [image from ‘The fabulous ruins of Detroit’ website]
Built in 1909, it once produced 1,000 “Tin Lizzies” a day. In its last days of vehicle manufacturing, it produced Ford tractors. It ceased production in the 1970s. It has suffered greatly from neglect and faces an uncertain future.