Ford Rouge plant through the years
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October 1953: During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn became the largest industrial complex in the world, as well as the most advanced, architecturally and technically. Generations of workers from the Detroit area have been employed at the giant plant.
The Detroit News archives
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Because Henry Ford was determined to be independent of suppliers, he developed the Rouge into an almost self-sufficient and self-contained industrial city. Construction began on April 1, 1917, and 10 years later, the facility contained 93 structures, 90 miles of railroad tracks, 27 miles of conveyors, 53,000 machine tools and 75,000 employees. The Rouge is shown here circa 1947.
The Detroit News archives
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The assembly line at the Rouge, 1929.
The Detroit News archives
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A machinist at the Rouge plant on 1921.
The Detroit News archives
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Detroit architect Albert Kahn designed most of the complex. Today, the Rouge is only one of many Ford Motor Co. manufacturing and assembling facilities, but it is still unique in American industry. Undated photo.
The Detroit News archives
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Old cars move slowly along a conveyer belt at Ford's River Rouge plant while workmen remove tires, glass, roof material, spark plugs and other parts June 1930.
The Detroit News archives
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Henry Ford and his son, Edsel Ford, at a building under construction at the Rouge plant on the 35th anniversary of the founding of Ford Motor Co., June 1938.
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Artist Diego Rivera was inspired by the Rouge complex for his Detroit Industry Murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Rivera saw Detroit, he said, as an expression of the steel that goes into automobiles and skyscrapers. Oct. 17, 1932, photo.
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The fluid lines and trolleys in the plant are mirrored in Rivera's work.
The Henry Ford
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The American architectural photographer Charles Sheeler was another artist who found inspiration in the Rouge. This photo of criss-crossed conveyors was taken in 1927.
Charles Sheeler
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Rouge plant workers operate gigantic presses in 1932.
Detroit News Staff, The Detroit News archives
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Rouge workers board trams into the factories, July 1933.
The Detroit News archives
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Employees take the steps up to a walkway that leads to the factory in 1933.
The Detroit News archives
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The drawbridge over Dix Avenue with the Rouge plant in the background, 1934.
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The railroad at the Rouge plant, 1935.
The Detroit News archives
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Applicants at the Ford Motor Co. Rouge employment office in October 1935, at the height of the Great Depression.
The Detroit News archives
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Three members of Ford's internal security service approach union leaders Walter P. Reuther third right, and Richard T. Frankensteen, second right, who were posing for a photo for Detroit News photographer James Kilpatrick on one of the Ford bridges over Miller Road on May 26, 1937. The ensuing fight became known as the "Battle of the Overpass."
The Detroit News archives
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The Rouge was the scene of some violent labor struggles. In May 1937, Ford servicemen beat UAW activist Richard Frankensteen after he and other unionists gathered to pass out leaflets. At the suggestion of News photographer James Kilpatrick, the union men had gathered on the overpass that carried Ford workers from the Rouge plant parking lot, and the Ford men attacked in "the Battle of the Overpass."
The Detroit News archives
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Walter Reuther, left, president of UAW Local 174, and Richard Frankensteen, UAW-CIO, are bloodied after being beaten by Ford employees in the "Battle of the Overpass," May 26, 1937.
The Detroit News archives
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The Rouge steel mill, 1938. Situated on more than 2,000 acres in Dearborn along the Rouge River, a tributary of the Detroit River southwest of downtown Detroit, the Rouge plant was built to easily receive iron ore from Upper Michigan and coal from Pennsylvania by ship.
The Detroit News archives
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The tool and die shop at the Rouge plant, November 1940.
The Detroit News archives
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This Pulitzer Prize-winning photo vividly captured the emotions of unionists confronting a strikebreaker during the 1941 walkout of Ford's Dearborn Rouge Plant. It was taken by News photographer Milton Brooks and was the first photo to win in the new Pulitzer category for photo journalism.
The Detroit News archives
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Onlookers examine the overturned car of an African-American man. presumably a strikebreaker,
who was attacked by union pickets during the 1941 Ford
strike.
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Women picketing during the 1941 Ford strike.
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Strikers at Gate 4 of the Ford Motor Co.'s Rouge plant hold up copies of The Detroit News announcing the end of the wildcat strike that prompted Henry Ford to capitulate to unionzation in April 1941.
The Detroit News archives
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Ford employees return to the Rouge plant after the 1941 strike.
Detroit News Staff, The Detroit News archives
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The Rouge overpass in 1941.
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Ford trained sailors at the Rouge plant during World War II. 1941 photo.
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All the Detroit automakers joined the war effort, as the city became known as "the Arsenal of Democracy." Here workers assemble airplane engines at the Ford Rouge plant in 1941.
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Olga Willett machines a bevel gear blank on a Monarch lathe at Ford's Rouge plant in 1942. Willett, 41, came to Detroit from Colorado to see her son Carl leave for Fort Custer, and after bidding him goodbye she applied for work at the Rouge plant. She was one of more than 1,000 women working in the aircraft building during World War II.
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Seventeen days after his 28th birthday in 1945, Henry Ford II succeeded his grandfather, Henry Ford, to become president of Ford Motor Co. Here, a relaxed Ford is talking with employees at the company's Rouge manufacturing complex.
Ford Motor Company
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An undated aerial of the Ford Rouge plant.
The Detroit News archives
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An aerial of the Ford Rouge complex in 1945.
The Detroit News archives
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Coke piles at the Rouge, 1945.
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A coke barge at the Rouge plant, 1946.
Associated Press
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An assembly line at the Rouge, 1945.
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A worker at the Rouge tire plant in 1945.
Ford News Bureau
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Workers hoist an engine on the assembly line in October 1945.
The Detroit News archives
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Workers drop a body onto a chassis, July 1945.
The Detroit News archives
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Workers at the Ford Rouge plant, 1945.
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Workers attach a wheel to a vehicle at the Rouge test grounds.
The Detroit News archive
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A car makes a run at Ford's proving grounds at the Rouge, September 1946.
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Parking lots at the Rouge plant, 1946.
Ford News Bureau
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Workers inside the Rouge, 1949.
Ford News Bureau
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Workers inside the Rouge, 1949.
Detroit News Photo Archive
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Tourists visit the assembly line at the Ford Rouge plant in 1951.
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Visitors watch the Ford assembly line at the Rouge in 1952
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Delance Shaw works at the Rouge by-products plant, where waste from the coke-making process was used to make ammonia gas, in 1954.
Ford Motor Company
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Ford's Rouge Plant is seen in an undated aerial view.
The Detroit News archives
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A man inspects engines, 1955.
The Detroit News archives
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Gates at the Rouge plant, June 1957.
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Cars on the line, May 1958.
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Experiments are under way at the Rouge plant's Scientific Lab in 1959.
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An aerial shot of chimneys at the Rouge, 1960.
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A workman at the Rouge plant, February 1960.
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Ford Mustangs on the Rouge production line in 1965.
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Motown singers Martha and the Vandellas pose at the Ford Rouge plant, sitting in a Mustang being assembled on June 15, 1965. The label's second most-successful girl group after The Supremes, they were known for hits like "(Love is like a) Heat Wave" and "Dancing in the Street."
The Detroit News archive
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Ford Mustangs on the line.
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Rolls of steel at the Rouge steel mill 1973.
The Detroit News archives
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A control room at the Rouge plant, 1980.
The Detroit News archives
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Engines travel an assembly line at the Ford Motor Co. Rouge Plant in Dearborn in 2008.
Max Ortiz / The Detroit News
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The Ford Rouge Center complex gate in Dearborn, December 2003.
John T. Greilick / The Detroit News
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A media tour goes through the final assembly at the Rouge on April 26, 2004. Ford started giving public tours of the Rouge again that year after halting them in 1980.
Daniel Mears / The Detroit News
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Ford goes green with a living roof at the Rouge, April 2004.
Daniel Mears / The Detroit News
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The Rouge now builds Ford F-150 trucks. March 2013 photo.
Daniel Mears / The Detroit News
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An aerial shot of the Rouge plant April 5, 2004.
Daniel Mears / The Detroit News
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UAW president Bob King, left, shakes hands with Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford Motor Co. during the traditional handshake to launch the start of Ford-UAW contract negotiations held at River Rouge Plant in Dearborn Friday, July 29, 2011.
Gary Malerba, Special to the Detroit News
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Ford begins building the new 2015 Ford F150 pickup truck at the Ford Rouge Plant in Dearborn.
Charles V. Tines, The Detroit News
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New ford F150 pickup trucks are seen at the Ford Rouge Plant in Dearborn.
Charles V. Tines, The Detroit News
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Workers celebrate as Ford begins building the new 2015 Ford F 150 pickup truck at the Ford Rouge Plant in Dearborn.
Charles V. Tines, The Detroit News
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Bill Ford poses with a new 2015 Ford F150 pickup truck at the Ford Rouge Plant as assembly begins for the famed truck.
Charles V. Tines, Charles V. Tines, The Detroit News
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Mark Fields, CEO of Ford Motor Company, speaks to a large crowdas work begins on building the new 2015 Ford F 150.
Charles V. Tines, The Detroit News
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Nov 11th 2014 Dearborn Michigan: Ford begins building the new 2015 Ford F 150 pickup truck at the Ford Rouge Plant in Dearborn. Photo by Charles V. Tines, The Detroit News.
Charles V. Tines, Charles V. Tines, The Detroit Ne
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Mark Fields and Bill Ford at the Ford Rouge Plant in Dearborn.
Charles V. Tines, The Detroit News
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The aluminum frame all new Ford F150
Charles V. Tines, The Detroit News
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Ford Motor Company workers cheer Bill Ford as work begins on the new 2015 Ford F150 pickup truck at the Ford Rouge Plant in Dearborn.
Charles V. Tines, The Detroit News
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October 1953: During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn became the largest industrial complex in the world, as well as the most advanced, architecturally and technically. Generations of workers from the Detroit area have been employed at the giant plant.
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