Highland Park

[Allan]

Highland Park is a city of almost 17,000 that is completely surrounded by the city of Detroit. It is covered by the Detroit police department and the Detroit fire department, even though it is techincally its own city. Really it is more like a neighborhood of Detroit than anything else. The city has fallen on hard times, and is run by a financial manager who was appointed by former governor John Engler. The city is rebounding very slowly, but it is rebounding.

Some Aerial Pics of Highland Park can be seen at this website. Take a look at them. There is even one pic that shows downtown Detroit. I'd post them in this thread, but cannot due to copyright issues.

Population (year 2000): 16,746

Males: 7,730 (46.2%), Females: 9,016 (53.8%)

Land area: 3.0 square miles

Zip code: 48203

Median resident age: 34.5 years

Median household income: $17,737 (year 2000)

Median house value: $49,800 (year 2000)

Races in Highland Park:

Black (93.4%)

White Non-Hispanic (4.0%)

Two or more races (1.7%)

American Indian (1.1%)

Hispanic (0.6%)

The Davison Freeway, the first urban freeway in America was built to bring the employees who worked at this Ford factory in Highland Park to their jobs from their homes in Detroit. The factory was designed by prominant Detroit architect Albert Kahn.

[M. Brown]

3 sq miles. Thats small.

[Allan]

Yeah, well it is essentially a suburb that was never annexed by the city of Detroit. It's my understanding that the only reason Highland Park exisits is because Henry Ford didn't want to pay the taxes for his factory to the city of Detroit. Otherwise the city would've been merged with Detroit long ago.

[Allan]

Here is a map I found showing the city & township boundaries in metro Detroit.

[Scott]

Does that factory still excist?

[Allan]

It still exists, but it in very poor condition. The part that is used is used only as a warehouse. It is a national historic site.

Here is some history of the plant:

"Probably no factory changed life in 20th century America as much as the Highland Park Ford Plant. It was here, that Henry Ford and his engineers developed many of the crucial principles of modern mass production. The most notable of these was the continuously moving assembly line; its introduction in late 1913 reduced the assembly time of a Model T from 728 to 93 minutes. By 1920 the plant turned out a car every minute, and one out of every two automobiles in the world was a Model T. The rapid pace of production enabled Ford to pay his workers far higher wages, but it also created a relentless monotony that many of his employees detested. The Highland Park Ford Plant, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, was also revolutionary for its design. Starting in 1908, Albert Kahn, who would become the country's foremost industrial architect, created a series of brick, concrete, and steel buildings that included features that came to define proper factory design: large, open floors that allowed for the efficient arrangement of machinery; expansive windows that brought in additional light and created a more pleasant and productive working environment ; and the potential for expansion or connection of additional structures to meet increased demand. Even that last characteristic, however, could not prevent Ford from outgrowing Highland Park, and so in the late 1920s the company moved its production center east to the sprawling River Rouge plant."

From http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/detroit/d32.htm

View from the South

View from the East

Office Building Portion

Photos are from detroityes.com, courtesy of Lowell Boileau.

The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, which was where the first model T was built, is being restored by the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex. The Highland Park Ford Plant is probably much too large to actually restore, however.

[ClevelandNO!]

what? no current pictures?

[M. Brown]

They should restore it.

[Allan]

what? no current pictures?

If you know of more current pics, feel free to post them

[ClevelandNO!]

no go take some!

[Allan]

LOL. I will go take some, but it might be several months before I finally get down there to take some. I live 60 miles from the city .

[turlough]

Hey cool I have a township named after me. OK it's offical Detroit is the city for me But back to the subject all that history all the jobs. The history is still there but what about tht jobs Oh yeah I forgot MEXICO