The Oldest Ford Plant Still in Operation
1920's Ford Plant Postcard
Built in 1924, the Ford Motor Company’s Twin Cities Assembly Plant is the oldest Ford plant still in operation. The plant manufactures the Ford Ranger pickup truck and the similar Mazda B-Series. In 2004, a vehicle took an average of 20.77 hours of labor to roll through the assembly line, 3.5 hours faster than might be expected in comparison to other plants. For many years, the soft sandstone underneath the plant was mined to obtain raw material to make glass for vehicle windows. The mining has long since ended, but the tunnels remain.
The promise of cheap hydropower was the chief reason why Henry Ford agreed to build a plant in St. Paul. The damn was initially completed in 1917, making it one of the oldest on the river. However, hydroelectric power required a rather large dam, which meant that the first lock and dam built on the Mississippi would have to be demolished. Some remains of the upstream Meeker Island Lock and Damn still poke out of the water when the river is low. A major upgrade to the Ford Dam was completed in 1929, and the completion of locks by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers followed in 1932. The damn was transferred to Twin City Hydro, LLC in 2008 and was refurbished in 2010.
1920's view of Ford Plant and Government Damn
In more recent years, the Ford Training Center was constructed on the plant’s campus. Designed by local firm TKDA of St. Paul, the Training Center is a 40,000 square foot facility which included an auditorium, robotics and engineering labs. The center was the result of a public-private partnership designed to provide ‘hands on’ learning opportunities for Ford employees and students of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. In the past decade the past decade there have been numerous rumors and dates set for the plant to close. In 2007, talks between local politicians and Ford management managed to push that deadline to 2008, then 2009, and then further to 2011. Since those talks, however, the plant has gone through periods of idling, with no work being done and workers being laid off. A variety of ideas put forth about potential uses for the site once Ford leaves, including mixed-use developments, condominiums, a large public park, and additional industrial uses. At the moment, the fate of the property is unclear.
Hard to believe that modern looking building is from the 1920′s.