Ford River Rouge Complex (Dearborn, Michigan)

USA / Michigan / Melvindale / Dearborn, Michigan
 production, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, steelworks, car assembly factory, Ford factory
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The River Rouge Plant (commonly known as the Rouge Complex or just The Rouge) is a Ford Motor Company automobile factory complex located in Dearborn, Michigan at the confluence of the Rouge and Detroit rivers and Zug island. Construction began in 1917, and when it was completed in 1928 it had become the largest integrated factory in the world.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_River_Rouge_Complex
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   42°18'12"N   83°9'43"W

Comments

  • Bill Ford, the current Chairman of the Board for Ford Motor Company is transforming what once was the symbol of American prosperity that had fallen on hard times into an eco-friendly manufacturing facility for the 21st century and beyond.
  • It is my understanding that in its early years, every single part for a Model A was made here except tires. There was reportedly even a leather tannery on site for use in upholstery. There is still a glass works, an engine plant, a steel mill & foundry and assembly lines.
  • The steel mill is now owned by the Russian steelmaker Severstal. Severstal North America is focused primarily on high-quality flat products, with a production capacity of 3.037 million tonnes of crude steel per year. The facility is fully integrated and is located in Dearborn on an industrial site adjacent to Ford’s stamping, engine, frame, paint and assembly plants. The facility comprises blast furnaces and steel making, casting, hot and cold rolling facilities, as well as two downstream galvanising joint ventures to produce high-quality, flat-rolled carbon steel products consisting of hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanised steel. Severstal North America’s primary operations consist of two operating blast furnaces, two BOF vessels, two ladle refining facilities, one vacuum degassing facility and two continuous casters. The finishing operations include a hot-strip mill, three pickle lines, a tandem mill, one temper mill, a hot dip galvanising line and an electrogalvanising line.
  • Used to (1970) be able to take a free tour of the factories. There was an overhead catwalk.
  • Tours are still available...cost is about $8.00
This article was last modified 9 years ago