Ford Valve Plant | |
| |
Location | 235 E. Main St., Northville, Michigan |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°25′56″N 83°28′40″W / 42.43222°N 83.47778°W |
Area | 4 acres (1.6 ha) |
Built | 1936 |
Architect | Albert Kahn |
Architectural style | Art Deco |
NRHP reference No. | 95000866 [1] |
Added to NRHP | August 01, 1995 |
The Ford Valve Plant is a factory building located at 235 East Main Street in Northville, Michigan. The plant was built as part of Henry Ford's vision of decentralizing manufacturing and integrating it into rural communities. [2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. [1]
Northville's Valve Plant was the first of Henry Ford's "Village Industries" factories. [3] The Village industries were designed to bring the economic advantages of industrial jobs to rural communities through the establishment of decentralized, non-disruptive manufacturing plants. [2] [3] In particular, Ford intended the Village Industries to stabilize the income of farmers who would otherwise have little winter income, [3] [4] and he gave his workers leaves of absence to work their farms. [5]
Over the span of the 1920s and 1930s, Ford established over thirty more Village Industries factories, making everything from copper welding rods to lamp assemblies to wheels. [3] The plants tended to be small, employing around 100 workers. As in Northville, all of the factories were built on a riverbank (many at the former site of gristmills), and utilized hydroelectric power. [3] [4]
Henry Ford purchased the property this building sits on in 1919. [2] The lot contained an old gristmill which was reconfigured into a valve manufacturing facility by moving machinery in from the Fordson and Highland Park plants. [6] Between 1919 and 1936, the plant manufactured over 180 million valves, [6] at a cost of less than half what it would be in the larger Highland Park plant. [5]
In 1936, Ford replaced the mill with an Albert Kahn-designed factory building. [2] The building reflects the then-current industrial architecture, as well as hints of Art Deco in the brickwork and entryway styling [7] but still incorporated a water wheel. [2]
The Village Industries program was discontinued in 1947, but the factory continued to produce valves. [2] The building was enlarged in 1956, and in 1969 over 150,000 valves were produced every day. [6] The plant continued operations until 1978, the longest lived of any former Village Industries factory, [2] and was later sold. [6] The building has been renovated into office space for use by design firms, such as HKS, Inc., an architecture firm, and Spider9, an environmental technology developer. [8]
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Ford Valve Plant | |
| |
Location | 235 E. Main St., Northville, Michigan |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°25′56″N 83°28′40″W / 42.43222°N 83.47778°W |
Area | 4 acres (1.6 ha) |
Built | 1936 |
Architect | Albert Kahn |
Architectural style | Art Deco |
NRHP reference No. | 95000866 [1] |
Added to NRHP | August 01, 1995 |
The Ford Valve Plant is a factory building located at 235 East Main Street in Northville, Michigan. The plant was built as part of Henry Ford's vision of decentralizing manufacturing and integrating it into rural communities. [2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. [1]
Northville's Valve Plant was the first of Henry Ford's "Village Industries" factories. [3] The Village industries were designed to bring the economic advantages of industrial jobs to rural communities through the establishment of decentralized, non-disruptive manufacturing plants. [2] [3] In particular, Ford intended the Village Industries to stabilize the income of farmers who would otherwise have little winter income, [3] [4] and he gave his workers leaves of absence to work their farms. [5]
Over the span of the 1920s and 1930s, Ford established over thirty more Village Industries factories, making everything from copper welding rods to lamp assemblies to wheels. [3] The plants tended to be small, employing around 100 workers. As in Northville, all of the factories were built on a riverbank (many at the former site of gristmills), and utilized hydroelectric power. [3] [4]
Henry Ford purchased the property this building sits on in 1919. [2] The lot contained an old gristmill which was reconfigured into a valve manufacturing facility by moving machinery in from the Fordson and Highland Park plants. [6] Between 1919 and 1936, the plant manufactured over 180 million valves, [6] at a cost of less than half what it would be in the larger Highland Park plant. [5]
In 1936, Ford replaced the mill with an Albert Kahn-designed factory building. [2] The building reflects the then-current industrial architecture, as well as hints of Art Deco in the brickwork and entryway styling [7] but still incorporated a water wheel. [2]
The Village Industries program was discontinued in 1947, but the factory continued to produce valves. [2] The building was enlarged in 1956, and in 1969 over 150,000 valves were produced every day. [6] The plant continued operations until 1978, the longest lived of any former Village Industries factory, [2] and was later sold. [6] The building has been renovated into office space for use by design firms, such as HKS, Inc., an architecture firm, and Spider9, an environmental technology developer. [8]
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cite web}}
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help)