Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant

	Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant
Location	Richmond, California
Coordinates	37°54′38.6″N 122°21′30.1″W / 37.910722°N 122.358361°W
Built	1930
Architect	Albert Kahn
NRHP reference No.	88000919
Added to NRHP	June 23, 1988

The Ford Richmond Plant, formally the Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, in

Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It currently houses the National Park Service

visitor center, several private businesses and the Craneway Pavilion, an event venue.

Construction

Built in 1930 during the

Santa Fe Railroad. It is also an outstanding example of 20th-century industrial architecture designed by architect Albert Kahn, known for his "daylight factory" design, which employed extensive window openings that became his trademark. The main building is composed of a two-story section, a single-story section, a craneway, a boiler

house and a shed canopy structure over the railroad track.

World War II

To ensure that America prepared for total war by mobilizing all the industrial might of the United States, President

armored personnel carriers, armored cars and other military vehicles destined for the Pacific Theater. By July 1942, military combat vehicles began flowing into the Richmond Ford plant to get final processing before being transported out the deep-water channel to the war zones. The "Richmond Tank Depot" (only one of three tank depots in the country^[3]) as the Ford plant was then called, helped keep American fighting men supplied with up-to-the-minute improvements in their battle equipment. Approximately 49,000 jeeps were assembled and 91,000 other military vehicles were processed here.^[3]

In mobilizing the wartime production effort to its full potential, Federal military authorities and private industry began to work closely together on a scale never seen before in American history. This laid the groundwork for what became known as the "

military-industrial complex" during the Cold War years.^[2] This Assembly Plant was one cog in the mobilization of the "Arsenal of Democracy

" and a historic part of what is today's industrial culture of the United States.

Post-war

After the war, the devastation to the local economy as a result of the closing of the Richmond Shipyards would have been crippling had it not been for the continued production of the Ford Plant. The last Ford was assembled in February 1953, with the plant being closed in 1956 and production transferred to the San Jose Assembly Plant because of the inability to accommodate increased productivity demands.

The plant was featured in the movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Principal photography started with first unit shooting on April 13, 1987 in the Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant in Richmond, California.

In 1989, the

Contra Costa County officials announced that the Craneway Pavilion would be converted into a 250-bed hospital for COVID-19 patients who do not require an intensive care unit level of care, which has since closed. The California National Guard helped set up the facility.^[8]

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 15, 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant". World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area. National Park Service. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
^ ^a ^b "Self-Guided Auto Tour" (PDF). Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park. National Park Service. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
^ Craneway Pavilion: Venue - About
^ Skrillex Insomniac Halloween Archived copy
^ Björk Breathes New Life Into Craneway Pavilion - East Bay Express
^ Rowe, Georgia (30 July 2018). "Why SF Bay Area's West Edge company does opera like no one else". San Jose Mercury News. Bay Area News Group. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
^ Lee, Henry; Fernandez, Lisa (April 2, 2020). "The Craneway Pavilion in Richmond used in WWII to be converted into a federal medical station for COVID-19 patients". KTVU. Oakland, California. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Park Service.

External links

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 15, 2006.

[nps-2] "Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant". World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area. National Park Service. Retrieved 2007-04-03.

[roripdf-3] "Self-Guided Auto Tour" (PDF). Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park. National Park Service. Retrieved 2007-04-04.

[4] Craneway Pavilion: Venue - About

[5] Skrillex Insomniac Halloween Archived copy

[6] Björk Breathes New Life Into Craneway Pavilion - East Bay Express

[7] Rowe, Georgia (30 July 2018). "Why SF Bay Area's West Edge company does opera like no one else". San Jose Mercury News. Bay Area News Group. Retrieved 14 December 2018.

[8] Lee, Henry; Fernandez, Lisa (April 2, 2020). "The Craneway Pavilion in Richmond used in WWII to be converted into a federal medical station for COVID-19 patients". KTVU. Oakland, California. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

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v t e History of Richmond, California
National Register of Historic Places	East Brother Island Lighthouse Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant Hotel Mac Kaiser Richmond Field Hospital New Hotel Carquinez Point Richmond Historic District Richmond Shipyards SS Red Oak Victory The Plunge Wapama Winehaven
Other historic places	East Shore and Suburban Railway Rancho San Pablo Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park Richmond–San Rafael Ferry Company Ellis Landing Stege, California
Historic people	Irma Anderson Nat Bates George Carroll Víctor Castro Rosemary Corbin Henry Cutting Lucretia Edwards Henry J. Kaiser Tom Butt T. Y. Lin George Livingston Andres Soto Betty Reid Soskin William Rheem Mary Yamashiro Otani Nat Bates

Construction

World War II

Post-war

See also

References

External links