Locations

The former Independence Township Hall was once owned by Henry Ford and intended to be an apprentice school for Ford’s Clarkston Village site. He later converted it into a factory to build cushions and straps for civilian and military vehicles throughout World War II, then built the neighboring steam plant as a power source until the factory closed in 1947.

In the 1950s, Ford Motor Company chose the Wixom Road site for a new automobile assembly plant. In 1957, Wixom offically became a city with the freeway opening and thus the huge Ford plant began operations. 

This road was once called the Grand River Trail that Native Americans followed across Michigan long before European settlement. In the 1850s the trail became a plank road for travel between Detroit and the new state capital in Lansing. 

Studebaker became one of the largest automakers in the world, along with Ford, after it started purchasing manufacturing plants in Detroit. The plant was built in 1906 and occupied by early automaker E-M-F. Within a couple of years E-M-F was acquired by Studebaker, and in 1910 Studebaker also bought the Piquette plant down the street from Ford Motor Company. At that time, Studebaker and Ford were the two highest-volume automakers in the world.

Henry Ford wasn’t always head of an automotive leader. Ford made two other attempts to enter the auto industry before Ford Motors, and he worked for the likes of Thomas Edison, even becoming good friends with the inventor.

Various railroads joined at this junction, built in the 1890s to encourage industrial development. Several auto companies set up factories near the Milwaukee Junction, earning it the title, “cradle of the Detroit auto industry.”

Affordability and reliability – these were the criteria set by Henry Ford when he began working on an entirely new vehicle. Beginning with the Model N, Ford oversaw various improvements to introduce a vehicle that would transform the automotive industry. Today, the Model T is still considered one of the most influential vehicles of all time.

The birthplace of the Model T. Ford’s Piquette plant manufactured several Ford cars until the company relocated to the larger Highland Park plant in 1910.

The Model T was born here, inside the Piquette Avenue Plant. This 400-foot long building housed many different Ford Model makes, including the Model T’s predecessor, the Model N. Ford made sure to keep his office close to the vehicle design department to ensure his vision was carried out.

With the Canada Southern Railway travelling between Canada and the U.S., officials needed to inspect goods on the trains, and this building housed their operations.