Ford Piquette Avenue Plant

Coordinates: 42°22′09″N 83°03′56″W / 42.369107°N 83.065467°W / 42.369107; -83.065467

The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a museum and former factory located at 461 Piquette Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, within the Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District in Milwaukee Junction. It was the second home of Ford Motor Company automobile production and is best known as the birthplace of the Ford Model T. It is the oldest automotive factory building in the world open to the general public. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, designated as a Michigan State Historic Site in 2003, and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2006.

History

Ford period

In May 1904, after less than one year in operation, the board of the Ford Motor Company approved construction of a New England mill-style building, on a lot at the corner of Piquette and Beaubien Streets in Detroit, Michigan. The Detroit architectural firm of Smith, Hinchman, and Fields designed the building, which is three stories tall, 56 feet (17 m) wide, and 402 feet (123 m) long. The structure served the Ford Motor Company for only a few years, yet it played a most important role in realizing Henry Ford's dream of an affordable car for the masses.