Page 14 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

History of the Ford Plant

It was announced in August 1950
that Ford would build a new plant
just west of Wayne in what was then
Nankin Township. The new plant
would be built on the Stellwagen
farm, on the south side of Michigan
Avenue. The Stellwagen’s had come
from Germany in the 1850s and set-
tled there, the farm remaining in the
family for about 100 years. The corn one, to accommodate the huge rise
crops growing in the fields had to in station wagon sales. In 1957 the
hurriedly be harvested because bull- station wagon plant opened, making
dozers were on the way. the Mercury Colony Park, and em-
In 1952 Wayne Assembly opened, ploying 700 people.
with 33 acres under one roof and In 1959 station wagon sales
employing 4,300 people. They built slumped, so the plant was shut
Lincoln and Mercury cars, with the down until 1964. In that year the Sta-
first Mercury Montclair rolling out tion Wagon plant was added onto
on October 1, 1952. Capacity was and became the F-100 series plant The first car built at the Wayne Assembly Plant coming off the production line on
640 cars per day, as this was still the making pickup trucks. October 1, 1952. Photos courtesy of the Wayne Historical Museum.
era of hand welding, grinding and In the meantime, in 1960 Wayne
painting cars. became a city and annexed the west- 100,000th truck, and the first plant was built on Van Born Road
In 1957 the Lincoln line moved to ern part of the city from the Railroad Bronco. and connected to the plant via over-
Novi, and in 1958 it was announced viaduct to Hannan Road. Ford tried In the 1970s the car plant was re- head tunnels. In 1989 the Wayne
the Edsel would be made at Wayne to fight this, preferring the lower tooled for smaller compact cars due Drive-in was bought and closed to
Assembly. Going back a bit to 1955 taxes of the township, but ultimately to the energy crisis, producing the allow for expansion all the way to
it was announced a second plant lost. In 1964 the first F-100 truck Comet and the Maverick. Hix Road.
would be built west of the current rolled off the line, and in 1965 the In 1987 a new large stamping In 1996 Bronco production
ended, and in 1997 pickup truck
production ceased, to switch to Lin-
coln Navigators and Ford Expedition
SUV's.
In 2008 all production ceased,
both plants were combined, and the
Focus was made there beginning in
2011.
In 2018 it was announced that
the plant would be overhauled again
to go back to truck and bronco pro-
duction. The Ranger and Bronco are
currently made there.
Wayne Michigan Assembly is the
2nd largest Ford plant in the US,
only behind the Rouge Plant in Dear-
born, with 369 acres, 15 miles of as-
sembly lines and over 5 million
The Ford Plant in the early days from the viewpoint of Newburgh and Michigan Avenue. square feet.

14· June 2023 · The Wayne Dispatch