Opening of the Indianapolis Assembly Plant...

[Steve Plucker]

In all my research on the opening of Ford's assembly plants, it is strange why the Indianapolis plant was not included in the first part of 1928 with a few of the other plants that were mentioned in Ford News.

I say this because the Indianapolis plant was putting out "Assembly Change Service Letters" left and right starting with January 3, 1928 (a couple earlier).

If they weren't assembling cars and trucks at that time, just why then all the Service Letters? It sure sounds like they knew what they were doing in Indy yet nothing reported on just when they started assembling the Model A in any newspapers or even from the FORD office.

Interesting.

Pluck (who is still on the trail of the 14 missing assembly plants)

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Steve Plucker

In all my research on the opening of Ford's assembly plants, it is strange why the Indianapolis plant was not included in the first part of 1928 with a few of the other plants that were mentioned in Ford News.

I say this because the Indianapolis plant was putting out "Assembly Change Service Letters" left and right starting with January 3, 1928 (a couple earlier).

If they weren't assembling cars and trucks at that time, just why then all the Service Letters? It sure sounds like they knew what they were doing in Indy yet nothing reported on just when they started assembling the Model A in any newspapers or even from the FORD office.

Interesting.

Pluck (who is still on the trail of the 14 missing assembly plants)

Could it have been a conspiracy to keep us uninformed of all the marginal engineering faults?

[QGolden]

Steve
Are you referring to "Plant 215"? Wasn't it a "T" plant, then Ford converted it to a "Body Finishing" plant? Just doing assembly and paint of body components? I have no personal knowledge, but I do have contact information of a man who retired from the English Ave plant. Again, not known to me personally. PM me if you think it would help your efforts.

[txturbo]

Was there an assembly plant in Texas?

[Steve Plucker]

Originally Posted by txturbo

Was there an assembly plant in Texas?

Yes, there were two, one in Dallas (03/09/28) and Houston (Unknown opening date)...Since you are from Houston, care to do some research in the local Newspapers and find out when the Houston plant opende for Model A/AA production in 1928?

Pluck

[Steve Plucker]

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Originally Posted by QGolden

Steve
Are you referring to "Plant 215"? Wasn't it a "T" plant, then Ford converted it to a "Body Finishing" plant? Just doing assembly and paint of body components? I have no personal knowledge, but I do have contact information of a man who retired from the English Ave plant. Again, not known to me personally. PM me if you think it would help your efforts.

I don't think so because according to the Assembly Production Records they assembled Model A's and AA's during this time.

One is going to have to look in the local Newspapers of the time to see when they opened in 1927/28.

Pluck

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by txturbo

Was there an assembly plant in Texas?

Originally Posted by Steve Plucker

Yes, there were two, one in Dallas (03/09/28) and Houston (Unknown opening date)...Since you are from Houston, care to do some research in the local Newspapers and find out when the Houston plant opende for Model A/AA production in 1928?

Pluck

Yes, for those of us in the Model-A club in the 60's & 70's, the club would tour by there. If you Google 3870 Harrisburg Boulevard, Houston, TX , Google Maps will take you to the location of the plant.

Here is a photo taken back in the mid-twenties;




Below are some excerpts taken from the Galveston newspaper that confirm some things and give some details;
10/06/1913 - "The Central Contracting Company of Detroit. Mich., has been awarded the contract to construct the assembling plant for the Ford Motor Company, on Harrisburg road property recently purchased. H. C. Beck, president of the company, has arrived in Houston to superintend the start of the work. A similar plant will be constructed in Dallas. The building will be of reinforced concrete, four stories and basement, and will cover an area of 80x300 feet. It will include a large assemblying department, a repair department, stock and salesrooms. The building is one of twenty-three assembling plants being constructed by the Ford Motor Company in various cities of the United States."

10/18/1913 - "The Ford Motor Company today secured a building permit for the construction of a building, 78x240 feet, to be erected at a cost of approximately $200,000. It will be used as an assembling plant by the Ford company, and is similar to the Ford plants in Detroit, Mich., being constructed of reinforced concrete. It will be equiped with every modern appliance for the assembling of automobiles. The building will be located at Milby street and the Harrisburg road, will be four stories high, and will be constructed by the Central Construction Company."

10/23/1913 - Ford filed suit to remove the cloud on its title to the property on Harrisburg Rd., denying the City of Houston's allegation that some of the streets through the property were public streets.

02/24/1919 - Ford announced it was "reopening" its Houston plant on March 1st, and that it would be shipping cars from the plant to South Texas and Mexico, and that it expected South America would also soon come within the trade territory of the Houston plant. [The plant had presumably been closed during World War I or used for war‑related work. In 1919, Henry Ford was in litigation with the Chicago Daily Tribune, which had called him an anarchist in an editorial because of pacifist positions he had taken in 1916, and which he had sued for libel, asking for $1 million in damages. One of the issues in that litigation was the extent to which Ford plants had been given over to war work during World War I, with Ford arguing that its Detroit plant was 100% devoted to war work at the time of the signing of the armistice, and the newspaper arguing that Ford was as profitable in war time as in peace time.]

09/23/1920 - Ford cut the price of its cars and trucks by 31%, and stated that the cut would apply not just to new orders from the Houston plant, but also to that plant's 6,000 unfilled orders pending at that time.

01/09/1921 - Ford was close to finishing a new unit at the Houston plant, a "modern concrete structure of two stories, 100 feet front by 220 feet deep." Houston was the only American city requiring expansion - some plants in other cities had even been closed.

09/20/1921 - Ford petitioned the Houston City Council to gravel Drennan St. from Texas Ave. to Harrisburg Blvd.

03/25/1922 - Ford announced that all its plants were adopting "the forty-hour week," meaning that its plants would be closed on both Saturdays and Sundays.



From the Houston Press, 8/5/46, p. 1 -
General Foods Maxwell House Coffee buys the old Ford plant @ 3900 Harrisburg, will move from their current facility at 2107 Preston.

Press says the plant was built by Ford '25 years ago,' 'abandoned by Ford before the war.' It was used as an assembly plant for aircraft parts during the war and briefly as a warehouse by Pepsi after the war.

[txturbo]

That's interesting....have to go down there and see how that area looks now.

[Steve Plucker]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

Yes, for those of us in the Model-A club in the 60's & 70's, the club would tour by there. If you Google 3870 Harrisburg Boulevard, Houston, TX , Google Maps will take you to the location of the plant.

Here is a photo taken back in the mid-twenties;




Below are some excerpts taken from the Galveston newspaper that confirm some things and give some details;
10/06/1913 - "The Central Contracting Company of Detroit. Mich., has been awarded the contract to construct the assembling plant for the Ford Motor Company, on Harrisburg road property recently purchased. H. C. Beck, president of the company, has arrived in Houston to superintend the start of the work. A similar plant will be constructed in Dallas. The building will be of reinforced concrete, four stories and basement, and will cover an area of 80x300 feet. It will include a large assemblying department, a repair department, stock and salesrooms. The building is one of twenty-three assembling plants being constructed by the Ford Motor Company in various cities of the United States."

10/18/1913 - "The Ford Motor Company today secured a building permit for the construction of a building, 78x240 feet, to be erected at a cost of approximately $200,000. It will be used as an assembling plant by the Ford company, and is similar to the Ford plants in Detroit, Mich., being constructed of reinforced concrete. It will be equiped with every modern appliance for the assembling of automobiles. The building will be located at Milby street and the Harrisburg road, will be four stories high, and will be constructed by the Central Construction Company."

10/23/1913 - Ford filed suit to remove the cloud on its title to the property on Harrisburg Rd., denying the City of Houston's allegation that some of the streets through the property were public streets.

02/24/1919 - Ford announced it was "reopening" its Houston plant on March 1st, and that it would be shipping cars from the plant to South Texas and Mexico, and that it expected South America would also soon come within the trade territory of the Houston plant. [The plant had presumably been closed during World War I or used for war‑related work. In 1919, Henry Ford was in litigation with the Chicago Daily Tribune, which had called him an anarchist in an editorial because of pacifist positions he had taken in 1916, and which he had sued for libel, asking for $1 million in damages. One of the issues in that litigation was the extent to which Ford plants had been given over to war work during World War I, with Ford arguing that its Detroit plant was 100% devoted to war work at the time of the signing of the armistice, and the newspaper arguing that Ford was as profitable in war time as in peace time.]

09/23/1920 - Ford cut the price of its cars and trucks by 31%, and stated that the cut would apply not just to new orders from the Houston plant, but also to that plant's 6,000 unfilled orders pending at that time.

01/09/1921 - Ford was close to finishing a new unit at the Houston plant, a "modern concrete structure of two stories, 100 feet front by 220 feet deep." Houston was the only American city requiring expansion - some plants in other cities had even been closed.

09/20/1921 - Ford petitioned the Houston City Council to gravel Drennan St. from Texas Ave. to Harrisburg Blvd.

03/25/1922 - Ford announced that all its plants were adopting "the forty-hour week," meaning that its plants would be closed on both Saturdays and Sundays.



From the Houston Press, 8/5/46, p. 1 -
General Foods Maxwell House Coffee buys the old Ford plant @ 3900 Harrisburg, will move from their current facility at 2107 Preston.

Press says the plant was built by Ford '25 years ago,' 'abandoned by Ford before the war.' It was used as an assembly plant for aircraft parts during the war and briefly as a warehouse by Pepsi after the war.

Brent,

Do you know if there was more to this story?

Thanks.

Pluck

[old car guy]

Were there any assembly plants. In fl there have been some stories about one for model ts being. Dade city fl but I , was curious if that was even true

[Steve Plucker]

Old Car Guy...

Yes there was one in Florida...It was in Jacksonville and opened for Model A/AA production on May 7, 1928.

It produced 74,164 Model A's and AA's during the four years of production.

It was located at Wambolt Street at the St. Johns River.

Pluck

[Tiny]

The plant in SF is gone now. There is a park there. My father in law went through iron worker school in the 60's in the building though. I believe it was the local 273 union hall for many years.