Discuss Detroit » Hall of Fame Threads » Lincoln Motors Memories « Previous Next »
Top of pageBottom of page

Liberté (Admin) (69.3.251.122 - 69.3.251.122)
Posted on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 4:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Tell the story of Lincoln Motors to the world. Share your memories below.
Top of pageBottom of page

Mikie (64.12.96.230 - 64.12.96.230)
Posted on Saturday, March 01, 2003 - 10:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It is destressing to note the passing of so many auto icons, in of all places, the motor capital of the world. Most of todays population is unaware of the locations of building/sites where auto world history was made. Detroit has likewise discarded many golden opportunities to educate it's younger citizens of some of it's most important elements that made this place a world class in bygone times. Of more interest is the observation that the car companies apparently have little interest in preserving their past. The Lincoln plant is a classis example.
Top of pageBottom of page

craps36 (64.53.233.53 - 64.53.233.53)
Posted on Sunday, March 02, 2003 - 1:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I feel that it is ironic and justified that this destruction is happening. The automobile only intensified the obsession that "Americans" have with material culture and technology.

This passion created the space and place relations which we see today as sprawl. the banal architecture that makes up most of american suburbs today is a testiment to the automobile. Mass produced america. Why should the auto companies have any remorse for their history.? Look what General Motors did with the streetcars.

A quote from Kenneth Jackson's Crabgrass Frontier best sums this up,

"Charles F. Kettering of General Motors, after Thomas Edison perhaps America's most important inventor and engineer, thought studying history was a waste of time. Arguing, 'You never get anywhere looking in your rearview mirror,' he preferred to focus on the FUTURE because, he said, 'we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.' Kettering was wrong. Decisions made in the past impose powerful restraints on the future."

I think that what is happening to the Lincoln plant is terrible and a travesty. I only hope that it will never happen to Packard.
Top of pageBottom of page

William Jones (152.119.146.98 - 152.119.146.98)
Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2003 - 4:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

As a youngster who was employed with the Western Union Company, and delivering telegrams on a bike for over three (3) year throughout the city, left indelible memories of the the various locations of things and places. not only did i delivery telegrams to this plant, but to many others, i.e. the Desota Packard,and Hudson plants, as well as the many parts assembly plants throughout the city. After being away from the ciyt for over 40 years and returning periodically, those facilitiy were monsters, that produced those fine road machines of our time. Thanks for the menories...
Top of pageBottom of page

WMG (67.38.17.58 - 67.38.17.58)
Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2003 - 8:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great reading - thank you.
Do any of you have some pictures from back in the day?

Thanks in advance,
WMG
Top of pageBottom of page

HerrerA (68.58.180.157 - 68.58.180.157)
Posted on Thursday, March 06, 2003 - 2:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What is planned for the new greenspace left behind at both of these sites (VA Hospital and Lincoln Motors)? Any plans in the works?
Top of pageBottom of page

SwiftlySpeakin (68.40.39.236 - 68.40.39.236)
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 7:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It is with a strong sense of loss that I look upon the destruction of these landmarks. Naturally, the events that were housed in these magnificent structures carry the personal mysteries and memories for countless natives to the area. My Grandfather came here in the 1930's. He worked in the Ford Plants. Both in Highland Park, then in the Foundries of Ford Rouge when the arms of hatred and racism held our city in it's grip. And only the brave spoke with conviction. Through it all these buildings have stood as a reminder of our progress. As in Industry. And more importantly...as a civilization. Like our conviction. Let their reproduced images remind us of the ostacles we have Overcome. As well as the accomplishments and bounty of overcomming them.
Top of pageBottom of page

flexxmi (65.59.46.127 - 65.59.46.127)
Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 4:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I would like first of all to say "THANK YOU" to everyone responsible for bringing us this wonderful website. I am fascinated by archirtecture and the history behind these old landmarks - some of which are no longer standing. It seems such a shame that we can find money to demolish and build ugly new buildings and we can't seem to commit those same dollars to renovating (some of these) structures from our past which posess such intricate style and will NEVER be replicated. It deeply saddens me that our historical - and captivating - structures are being torn down one by one with only these photographs to commemorate them.
Top of pageBottom of page

ABSOLUT_SS (24.200.2.78 - 24.200.2.78)
Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 12:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Incredible. I have spent hours on this site since I came across it. I can't seem to tear myself away. I have always held a special place in my heart for you're city. So much so, that we have planned our vacation around visiting the ruins of Detroit this summer. Thanks for the inspiration. And good luck to all of you in trying to preserve the past. Its worth it! From Ottawa, Canada...
Top of pageBottom of page

Marj Haskin (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Posted From: 68.217.219.239
Posted on Friday, June 25, 2004 - 3:07 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I remember as a young child driving by the hospital on our way to my aunt's house in Lincoln Park. My mom always called it "The Castle" and it did seem like a giant castle.

(Message approved by admin)
Top of pageBottom of page

William Clark (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Posted From: 63.77.247.130
Posted on Saturday, April 09, 2005 - 4:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Being an employee of Detroit Edison it is my pleasure to WORK in the old Lincoln Site. It currently houses various shops for the maintenance of the Company's Electrical System and Power Generation plants. This site has a very long history dating back to at least 1918 when Henery Leland built aircraft engines for WW1. After the war Leland started to build automobiles on this site and one model was called The Lincoln. After facing financial problems Leland sold the site and Lincoln name to Ford and from then on all Lincolns were built at the site until the Ford Wixom Plant was built in 1957. Detroit Edison moved in in 1959 after leaving the Beecher Street Shops, (another cool site that could be checked out). In the last remaining building from the old assembly plant (now called "G" building)there are manhole covers cast with FMCO on them, orginal roof trusses, and guide rollers for hoses and wires attached to the trusses from the days of the old plant. The parts of the plant that were torn down were of the column design seen in the Fisher Body Plant 21. Under the buildings were numerous tunnels connecting the buildings together with one said to run to The Ford Rouge Complex to the West with a rail track in it. During WWII Ford made Jeep engines at the Lincoln Site and used this tunnel to ship them to The Rouge fearing aircraft attacks. So the rumor goes. There is a book out called The American Automobile Factory that shows this site as it appeared in 1918 from a birdseye view. The book is a good read loaded with tons of pictures from long lost plants.

(Message approved by admin)
Top of pageBottom of page

Mikem
Member
Username: Mikem

Post Number: 1393
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 11:16 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks for your contribution. Interesting that you are in the electric utility business, because I understand that Ford powered the Highland Park plant from the Rouge powerhouse. Any evidence on the grounds of the Lincoln plant of a transmission line from Rouge, seperate from the Edison grid? Maybe through the tunnel?
Top of pageBottom of page

Bill Clark (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Posted From: 63.77.247.130
Posted on Thursday, April 21, 2005 - 3:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hello Mikem, after talking to some of the old timers around here, (I only have 10 yrs in), none can recall any transmission lines above or below the ground going to either Rouge or Highland Park. The tunnel was likely filled in when the Edsel Ford freeway was built because it would have intersected the tunnel. An intresting fact is that Ford worked for Detroit Edison before he built his car at I beleive the "A" Street Station. The company wouldn't let him work on his "project" on company property on his off-time
so he quit. Also when Ford was born it was by the light of a kerosene lamp, and when he died it was by the light of a kerosene lamp due to the flooding of the Rouge River which knocked out the powerhouse at Fords Estate at Fairlane.

(Message approved by admin)
Top of pageBottom of page

Mikem
Member
Username: Mikem

Post Number: 1408
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, April 22, 2005 - 12:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, he worked at the Washington Blvd station, which I'm sure was the "A" Station. His experience there convinced him that DC-power was the way to go and his Highland Park factory, and initially the Rouge complex, were DC powered until maintenance and inefficiencies finally forced him to convert to AC sometime in the late 1920s. Re-reading my source, it says the Highland Park plant received 1/3 of its power from the Rouge powerhouse. I can't remember exactly when the Rouge powerhouse went on line, but auto assembly at Highland Park ceased in 1927, so that arrangement must not have lasted long. I wonder if it was transmitted by AC or DC? If it was DC, I'd love to find any evidence of a DC transmission line between the two.
Top of pageBottom of page

ABDG83A (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Posted From: 164.113.135.70
Posted on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 4:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

AS A KID, I WALKED PAST THAT LONG BUILDING
EVERYDAY, DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS, GOING SWIMMING
AT KRONKS GYM. IT WAS OWNED BY EDISON AT THE TIME
I ONLY WISH I KNEW THE RICH HISTORY OF THAT
LONG,LONG BUILDING.

(Message approved by admin)
Top of pageBottom of page

Burnsie
Member
Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 673
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Friday, October 06, 2006 - 3:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wouldn't Highland Park's own powerhouse have handled at least some of HP's electrical needs? Or was it only used to heat the buildings?

(Message approved by admin)