Ford Assembly Plant Comes Back to Life

[Metro Jacksonville]

Ford Assembly Plant Comes Back to Life



Metro Jacksonville takes a look at the restoration and adaptive reuse of a Ford Assembly Plant in California to show the potential of what could be done with our own abandoned, isolated historic industrial facility.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-mar-ford-assembly-plant-comes-back-to-life

[billy]

Project is featured in this month's Architectural Record magazine.

[thelakelander]

For those that aren't familiar with Jacksonville's Ford Assembly Plant:

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2008-jan-inside-the-ford-motor-company-assembly-plant

[BridgeTroll]

Something like that could spark the rebirth of Tallyrand and the A Phillip Randolph area...

[vicupstate]

Great Find.

[aaapolito]

I know that they city is focused one bringing commercial activity to Cecil Field, but is there any chance that they could lure companies to Jacksonville by promoting this location?

I have not been to Cecil so I don't know what it has to offer, other than the information I have read about in articles.  However, with the Ford plant's location on the St. John's and proximity to downtown, it seems as though it has benefits that Cecil does not have.

[Wacca Pilatka]

I don't think I ever appreciated the beauty of an industrial building until I read about the Ford plant in Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage.

[Overstreet]

Cecil Field has four paved runways. They range in length from 8,000 to 12,000 feet. It also has a little more than 22,000 acres of space. 

The old ford plant has a two lane road access, little used railroad spur that may not be operational, and river access that is silted in on two sides and only around 22' on the remaining third.  The property may be 23 acres but it is hemmed in. Interstate access is not convienent.

I don't think the ford plant is that attractive to commercial interests.

[billy]

Ock,
Is the spur operational?
Is it CSX?

[thelakelander]

Some historical information on Jacksonville's Ford plant from OldArlington.org:

Arlington, The St Johns, and Henry Ford

by Cleve Powell
At the turn of the twentieth century two unrelated projects would bond and result in Jacksonville becoming the little Detroit of Northeast Florida. Henry Ford was designing gas powered tractors to help America boost its crop production, and Jacksonville, with federal assistance, turned the St Johns River up to Jacksonville into a deepwater port with a channel depth of 18'.

Ford continued to develop trucks and automobiles (even race cars), and by September 27, 1908, the first Model T was produced. Jacksonville started construction of the Municipal Docks on Talleyrand Avenue in 1913. The community of Arlington was directly across the river and had become a viable growing neighborhood. A ferry began service from Arlington to Fairfield near the docks in 1914. By 1916 the channel was being deepened to thirty feet in depth and three hundred feet in width. Many of Arlington's early settlers worked on the improvements on the river and the docks. Now it was time to benefit from the industrial port they had created

These improvements undoubtedly brought Ford to Jacksonville and produced a byline in the March, 1925 issue of Ford's monthly newsletter

“Ocean Transportation of Ford Products; Facilities for Other Shippers Provided by Large Dock”

The article heralds the opening in Jacksonville in November 1924 of a full Ford assembly plant with a capacity to build 150 Model Ts in an eight hour day. The building was of standard Ford assembly plant design 200' x 560' and was located at the foot of Wambolt Street, just north of where the Mathews Bridge would be built in later years. Both are still standing today.

The plant employed an estimated 600 men, many of whom lived in “East” and South Jacksonville or Arlington. Energy for the production line was electricity supplied by a Ford designed generator station. It was powered by steam heated by fuel oil and used water filtered from the river. The steam was also used to heat the paint drying ovens.

The plant had excellent rail and water transportation facilities with a rail line going directly into the building and another to the end of a 300' wide concrete dock that extents into the river 460'. The S. S. Oneida* of the Ford Fleet delivered parts on its new Norfolk, Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Houston route, and carried commercial cargo on its return trip.

The plant was modified in 1926 to produce 200 cars a day, and under Ford's design the original building was modified adding 240' on the dock without loss of a single day of production. In 1927 Ford closed all his plants for several months to retool for the production of the Model A which boasted 40 hp, four wheel brakes and a selective gear ratio. 15,000,000 Model Ts were produced, and dealers offered deals to Model T owners while waiting on the Model A, such as fenders replaced from $8-$10, tune-ups $1.00, and a set of four new pistons and rings for $7. 50. For $25-$30 you could have your engine and transmission overhauled.

Over 5,000,000 Model As were made before they were discontinued in 1931. Their prices ranged from $385 for a roadster to $550 for a touring sedan. In 1932 Ford switched from the Model A to a Model B which was a much updated version of the Model A. They also came out with the famous Ford flathead V-8, which was made until 1953. In 1932, the bodies on the Model B and the Ford V-8s were almost identical to the Model A with a more classic grill and other improved features.

Having always been a neighborhood of marine technicians and shipyard workers, Arlington had quite a few of its finest that adapted well and worked at the Ford Plant. Some that are still remembered were Wilbur Larry and Henry Odell by Thelma Bishop Larry (Wilbur's widow). In a recent phone conversation, she said that Wilbur worked very hard putting the final finish on the cars, Henry who was in the family probably did seam work. Richard Steeves remembers Wilbur buying a new Ford at the plant and driving it off the ferry in Arlington. He then put it in reverse and backed all the way to the crossroads to show how fast it went in reverse. (probably a Model A). Thelma who was raised by Grandma Olson moved to Ohio, and Wilbur quit his job and went to Ohio to ask her to marry him.

Manning Woodley, who is a member of our group, says that his father worked there as a supervisor. George Carter remembers tales of boys riding on the big “wheels” (propellers) on the Ford ship like a ferris wheel while they turned slowly idled in port.

Bob Sikes who got this information together while doing research on his father's life has found the following references to Arlington residents who worked at ford in the 1930 census:

Wickerman, Henry, Painter
Holden, George, Laborer
Miller, Sarah, Comptroller
Adams, Jerry, Inspector
Larry, Wilbur, Painter
Turner, Alison J., Foreman
Nevens, Blair, Machinist
Floyd, Marion C., Machinist
Roundtree, George, Machinist
Anderson, John, Machinist
Sigler, Hugh, Assembly
Bloodworth, Jeff, Mechanic
Gautry, Walter, Stock Clerk
Emerson, Robert, Machinist
Futrel, Willy, Upholstery
Braddock, Arnold, Assembly
Roberts, John, Mechanic

If all of these people rode the 7:00 A.M. ferry it would be quite a crowd. In talking with J. C. Olson he mentioned a walk between his grandmother's house that sat on the top of the hill on River Bluff Road South and his father, Cecil Olson's home, which was a little closer to Arlington Road about 300' apart.

“The walk was made of steel plates that came from the Ford Plant, and I remember walking on it thinking that it stayed shiny from use.”

Richard also remembers one of the Morel boys working on Ford's ship in the engine room, and when they got the order to go forward to pull away from the dock, he accidentally went in reverse and it cracked the bulkhead. I'm sure there are a lot more stories from the [Ford} past. The warehouse was used by Ford until the mid-sixties, and Jerry Nolan in search of a 57 T-Bird after they went out of production, found one by word of mouth in the old plant with the bumpers covered in grease to prevent rust. It had sat there for some time and took a lot of cleaning up. It turns out that it was one of the last ones produced and was a “sweeper” made of a mismatch of leftover parts, even some from the 58 Fords. In Jerry's words “after Ford got the bugs out, it was a great car.”

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:IBE7HbyfkDUJ:oldarlington.org/HC-2009-07-CP-ArlingtonStJohnsHenryFord.php+ford+assembly+jacksonville+google+books&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[thelakelander]

Ock,
Is the spur operational?
Is it CSX?

I'm not Ock, but the rail line that passes the site is in use and operated by CSX.  It serves the silos at the concrete terminals between the Matthews and Hart Bridges.

[billy]

I don't think I ever appreciated the beauty of an industrial building until I read about the Ford plant in Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage.

Whatever Jacksonville may otherwise lack,
I don't think any other U.S. city has as fine an architectural guide as Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage.

[devlinmann]

So many possibilities here

[Johnny]

I know the old thread mentioned an Aquarium. I think that would be a great reuse. Not sure how the traffic and buildings in front of it would be affected, but I like the idea.

[Ocklawaha]

Okay boys and girls, the "SPUR" is what?

The branchline from Export Yard into the Talleyrand - Commodore Point Terminals is very much alive and operated not by CSX but by TALLEYRAND TERMINAL COMPANY. Most of that trackage along the waterfront is city owned, under the JPA, and dates to the old City owned Municipal Docks and Terminal Railroad Company.

The distance from the west side of the plant to the railroad branch is only a couple hundred feet, and there is a slight grade difference between this and the old siding which still goes into the building. In effect the only thing missing is the switch and a bit of relay.

On the waterfront the South bulkhead of the wharf is served today by an active barge and marine contractor.


OCKLAWAHA