former Ford Utica Plant

 production, car assembly factory

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The, 1,870,480 sq. ft., former Ford Trim plant was closed in 2009 and demolished in 2012.

Packard

In 1951, Packard Motor acquired 55 acres of land adjacent to their Proving Grounds and commenced construction of a 700,000 sq. ft. warehouse to store goods to free up space for defense work at its main Grand Boulevard plant. Shortly thereafter, Packard decided to upgrade the proposed facility to 1.5 million sq. ft. to build transmissions, axles and its new V8 engine. As a consequence of Packard's declining sales and resultant financial difficulties production did not commence until 1954. By 1956, Packard had merged with Studebaker and the Packard line was discontinued.

Utica Bend

In an effort to save the the struggling Studebaker-Packard, the US Defense Department helped facilitate an arrangement whereby defense contractor Curtiss Wright entered into an agreement with Studebaker-Packard to produce J47 jet and marine engines at the Utica plant. A new company, Utica Bend was formed to operate the facility and twenty one jet engine test cells were constructed at the site.

Ford Motor


In 1961, Ford bought the 1,186,436 sq. ft. plant from Utica Bend and moved its automotive assembly division soft trim operations from Highland Park to Utica. The plant was enlarged in 1964 and again in 1967 when a 264,000 sq. ft. warehouse was added. Following Ford's 1998 decision to spin-off its component facilities, the plant was transferred to Visteon. By 2005, with the demise of Visteon, the facility was back under Ford's control through the Automotive Components Holding Co. The 1,870,480 sq. ft factory was closed in 2009.