The demolition of St. Paul?s Ford assembly plant has officially begun. Shuttered in 2011, the 88-year-old manufacturing facility produced Model T?s and A?s, Galaxie LTDs and Ranger trucks, not to mention armored cars, trucks and tractors during World War II.
For the past 20 years, the history of Ford in Minnesota has been assiduously chronicled by local historian Brian McMahon, who is writing a book for the University of Minnesota Press, expected to be released next year. In the interim, the Minnesota Historical Society has released a 20-page e-book by McMahon that nicely crystallizes the plant?s extraordinary story.
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Q: How did you get interested in the Ford plant?
A: I?m a trained architectural historian, and I?ve long been interested in [Ford plant architect] Albert Kahn?s work. So when I came to the Twin Cities 20 years ago, I arranged a tour of the production process, and was mesmerized.
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Q: So a book seems a natural extension of your interest.
A: Yes ? I have so much incredible material, it really should be put in the public realm. When I started, there was no serious speculation that the plant would shut down, so it wasn?t motivated as a memorial to the plant. I did an oral history in the late 1990s of retired autoworkers, both union and management folks who had long, long histories with the plant, including some dating back to 1929. I have over 1,000 pages transcribed; I guess I wanted to share it, plus ephemera and objects, and over 1,000 photos.
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Q: Why was the site along the bluffs of the Mississippi River so attractive to Henry Ford back in the early 20th century?
A: Ford needed a large site that could accommodate a single-story building. This was the lesson he learned when he pioneered the assembly line that changed the way cars were made. The Minneapolis plant [at 5th Street near what is now Target Field] was 10 stories and was functionally obsolete even before it was finished. Beyond that, he felt he needed a place for workers to park their cars ? he was talking about hiring 18,000 workers at the time ? which never came to be. Then, one of the key reasons [St. Paul won out] was the access to hydropower from the hydroelectric power plant on the Mississippi River. Ford was very focused on being energy-independent and not at the beck and call of the utility and coal companies and the railroads. It was paramount.
Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/214413881.html
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