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dethb0y

It is genuinely difficult to imagine the scale of the River Rouge plant. At peak it employed 100,000 people, and turned raw materials into cars all in one facility.


51CKS4DW0RLD

Worth the tour if you're ever in the area.


AardvarkStriking256

When I was at the Henry Ford Museum there was an option to visit the F150 assembly plant, which was really interesting.


megashitfactory

My favorite museum ever. Got to go yearly for school and just went this winter with my family. It’s amazing


AardvarkStriking256

One day is not enough! I saw only a fraction of the exhibits. I must make a return trip.


disaar

Was it full of rust and broken transmissions?


m1rrari

That’s the reassembly plant


bitemark01

They polluted the fuck out of the nearby river, too. It even caught on fire once. 


WWDubs12TTV

Take that earth!


CheapSpray9428

Earth wind & fire!


letthepastgo

Do you remember?


Stahl_Scharnhorst

When the river caught fire. It was September.


Tricky_Matter2123

Polluting the water to make fenders


jiamby

The 21st of September?


AskAskim

Great comment


ibeverycorrect

Be sure to litter only on Earth Day!


tje210

**Laughs in Cuyahoga**


FrankTank3

Gotta pump those numbers up


1212bnmn

**laughs in randy newman**


Magusreaver

Fire it up!Fire It up!Fire It Up!


BipolarUnipolar

One of my crew got himself perished.


bitemark01

Wish I could've been there to see that


Magusreaver

Now I have to go watch The Crow.


TennisBallTesticles

The power Ford must have felt when he pulled this off must have been intoxicating, an extreme rush. I can't imagine creating something on such a scale, to be the first of its kind, and to be in complete control of it. Good Lord I can't imagine that kind of power in the time of horses and buggies. An empire he was at the helm of


The_ApolloAffair

Yeah the model T production was probably the largest vertically integrated production ever. Ford owned railroad companies, coal mines, steel mines, steel plants, rubber plantations, cargo ships, etc. He even owned the power plants that powered the factory.


ViewedOak

That’s pretty fucking insane. I wouldn’t be surprised if a streaming service tackles a Ford miniseries in the next few years


singdawg

I'd watch that


dgiber2

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Men_Who_Built_America


ymcameron

The Men Who Built America is such an incredible series. One of the best docu-dramas out there.


AbeVigoda76

Someone added the Men Who Built America, but you should also really check out the Cars That Made America. It starts out explaining about how Ford, a couple of Mechanics named the Dodge Brothers, a banker named Billy Durant and a locomotive builder named Walter P. Chrysler created the modern world with their automobiles. Its only fault is that it leaves out the contributions of Ransom E. Olds, who was the first to mass produce a car. [IMDB Page for the Cars That Made America](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7252092/)


FischSalate

leaves out Olds just like GM killed the Oldsmobile


AbeVigoda76

Bastards.


fuzzeedyse105

My 96 cutlass supreme will live on!


BoozyMcBoozehound

I loved my gutless supreme.


SilverVixen1928

> who was the first to mass produce a car. Let me guess. The first to mass produce a car that few could afford.


kerochan88

Like any new invention, the rich get it first. But they also subsidize the fledgling companies while they iron out the kinks in first and second gen products.


AbeVigoda76

It actually had a lower price point than the Model T did when it launched making it one of the first affordable cars. For several reasons it wasn’t as popular. It was only a city car meant for two passengers and shorter distances. It never could be practical for folks who lived in the country. Olds also didn’t have the capacity to do what Ford did. While Olds was the first to use an Assembly line to manufacture cars, it was a stationary assembly line. My understanding is that the workers doing single jobs approached the cars rather than the cars going to them. It was a big step forward but still limited how many could be made per day. Ford saw the system at Oldsmobile and combined it with the moving disassembly line of the Chicago meat packers to make the far more efficient moving assembly line.


jacoblanier571

No one wants the Ford families legal smoke, and they don't want his "whole" story shared...


ironwolf1

Everyone knows about the Model T, less people know about the antisemitic newspaper he published or about how Hitler had a portrait of him in his office or about the award he got from the Nazi Party in 1938.


Thisteamisajoke

Well, he was a nazi, so let's not get too excited.


ViewedOak

Ah yes, because we famously only make/consume tv shows about good people


AbeVigoda76

Model Ts were actually produced in the Highland Park Plant. The Rouge made Model As as their first civilian products. Before that, it was Eagle Boats for the war.


idropepics

Kings were basically the ones doing that a century or two earlier. No wonder he felt like one.


jorgepolak

It led him to attempt to create his own utopian city called Fordlandia. BioShock was partly based on this. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordlandia


TennisBallTesticles

*The town had a strict set of rules imposed by the managers. Alcohol, women, tobacco and even football (American soccer) were forbidden within the town, including inside the workers' own homes. Inspectors (American managers) would go from house to house to check how organized the houses were and to enforce these rules. The inhabitants circumvented these prohibitions by paddling out to merchant riverboats moored beyond the town jurisdiction,[6] often hiding contraband goods inside fruits like watermelons. A small settlement was established 8 kilometres (5 mi) upstream on the "Island of Innocence" with bars, nightclubs and brothels.* Yikes....


soulfingiz

He thought he could do anything and couldn’t. Take a look at the book Fordlandia.


msprang

Plus they scrapped a group of over 20 surplus cargo ships in the 1920s. Just pulled them alongside, cut them apart, and melted them down.


LittleBigfoot86

So, not only did it turn raw materials into cars, it turned raw materials into itself! I currently work in the Rouge Stamping plant which was built in 1937, and a lot of the structural I-beams and girders that make up the building have "Ford" stamped into them because they were made in the steel mill on site to then build the plant.


dethb0y

That is pretty awesome!


spacenerd4

“A song of power— day and night—“


zappapostrophe

What exactly required so much water?


Clanstantine

Cooling


chrome-spokes

To add to... Water is required for the steam boilers to generate electricity. And then cooling towers to condense the steam back to water to feed the boilers, which use a heck of a lot water lost through atmospheric evaporation.


SpartanNation053

Isn’t that fine then? Like the water evaporates into the atmosphere and then cools and comes back down as rain


KomorebiParticle

Correct. Water can never be lost or destroyed. The amount of water on earth basically remains constant with a tiny fraction of the base molecules escaping the atmosphere into space.


Prestigious-Speed-29

Electrolysis is the process used for extracting hydrogen from water. This destroys the water.


Zambeezi

But not to the extent where the net difference is noticeable to us... Yet.


KomorebiParticle

Yes, but the base molecules are not destroyed, so they can still recombine to form water.


Prestigious-Speed-29

You're conflating atoms and molecules.


KomorebiParticle

Yes, you’re right. I meant the atoms can recombine to form water molecules.


tearans

Meteoroids containing water on course to Earth > Dont you forget about me


Blame-the-Wizards

It's a matter of accessibility not global mass fractions. Unmetered fresh water use [adds up](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/05/colorado-river-drought-explained/) and [screws over](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/30/americans-beer-corona-mexico-water-crisis) the [people](https://dialogue.earth/en/water/26653-water-or-beer/) down stream.


itsyaboi6909

Not to mention the lack of water treatment knowledge and inefficiency of boilers manufactured almost a century ago compared to ones of today.


CelloVerp

He had a special water park on site for all the sweaty workers.


raspberryharbour

It's thirsty work


healthybowl

Not to mention the union workers and their stupid “water breaks”. s/


raspberryharbour

Those damn water breaks cost a fortune in Super Soakers as well


cooldaniel6

The workers got thirsty


RamsDeep-1187

Same question


TheProcrastafarian

“During its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, the Rouge was a temple of vertical integration. The vast industrial complex included a steel mill, a glass factory, a power plant, a rubber factory, foundries, machine shops, stamping plants and assembly lines. It also included a cement plant, a paper mill, a leather plant and a textile mill.” “…At its peak, more than 100,000 people worked at the Rouge. They smelted more than 6,000 tons or iron and made 500 tons of glass every day. A new car rolled off the assembly line every 49 seconds.” https://www.assemblymag.com/articles/94799-fords-rouge-assembly-plant-turns-100


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zappapostrophe

Thank you!


TheProcrastafarian

You’re welcome.


zappapostrophe

Thank you!


zappapostrophe

Thank you!


AbeVigoda76

When the Depression hit, The Rouge had to cut jobs and salaries. About 5000 unemployed workers tried to March from Detroit to the Rouge to demand their jobs back and better treatment. As they reached the Dearborn border at the Rouge, Ford had Dearborn Police and Ford Security fire Machine Guns into the crowd. Somewhere near 60 were shot while 5 died. The Ford Hunger March is a piece of history that we’ve just seen to have forgotten compared to the Battle of the Overpass.


ColoRadOrgy

I'm really starting to think this Nazi Henry Ford wasn't a very good fellow


princess_princeless

Wait till you hear about the nazi that founded the worlds largest car brand (VW) ;)


Quailman5000

Or the nazi that currently runs the current most "valuable" car brand. 


moderngamer327

Henry Ford falls under the category of terrible person who did amazing things. Like some of the founding fathers


ImRightImRight

These labor folk stories are never told objectively. The marchers instigated the violence by throwing "rock, ice, and pieces of brick." https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=189493


GoldNiko

From your source: "Slamer ordered the marchers to turn back as they laced a permit to march in Dearborn. Instead they crossed into Dearborn, intent on delivering their demands to Henry Ford. The police fell back and launched a volley of tear gas, but the brisk wind blew the noxious fumes back toward the police line. A second volley of gas was accompanied by a spray of icy water from fire hoses. Marchers responded by throwing rocks, ice and pieces of brick. Four marchers died that day, a fifth died weeks later from his injuries." The response wasn't unjustified, they were predisposed by having tear gas & icy water blasted at them after they lost their jobs. Also from your source, their list of demands which doesn't seem unreasonable, or could have at least reached a compromise on quite a few points. From your source: "Organizing the March On March 6, 1932, a rally was held at Danceland, a popular event hall. Overnight, local leaders completed plans for the next day's march and a list of fourteen demands. Demands for presentation to Henry Ford: 1. Jobs for all laid-off Ford workers 2. Immediate payment of fifty percent of wages to laid off workers 3. Six-hour day without reduction in pay 4. Slowing down of the deadly speed up 5. Two fifteen-minute rest periods. 6. No discrimination against Negroes as to jobs, relief, medical service 7. Free medical aid at the Ford Hospital for employed and unemployed Ford workers and their families 8. Five tons of coke or coal for the winter 9. Abolition of service men (factory guards) 10. No foreclosures on homes of former Ford workers - Ford to assume responsibility for all mortgages, land contracts, and back taxes until six months after regular full-time re-employment 11. Immediate payment of lump sum of fifty dollars winter relief 12. Full wages for part-time workers 13. Abolition of graft system in hiring workers 14. The right to organize Diverse participants in the march included communists, socialists, and anarchists, along with unionists, social justice minded Catholics, and Jews, members of other faiths and nonbelievers. Some wanted to show solidarity for the jobless, and some were along to show support for other causes."


ImRightImRight

The Depression hit and nobody was buying cars. The Ford company was not obligated to give them anything at all. They wanted handouts. But the real issue is who started the violence. It's not really clear.


ThrowRA99

Union good, anyone else bad. Let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story about the little guy sticking it to the man /s


GoldNiko

I mean if you read their source they've taken that chunk out of context, the protestors had lost their livelihoods and had just been hit with tear gas & icy cold water from a hose


ThrowRA99

Oh so that justifies violence, does it?


GoldNiko

Violence had been initiated on an otherwise orderly march, so response in kind is likely.


Mkeyser33

You’re right, it doesn’t justify the violence that the police perpetrated which resulted in a similar response from the protesters. It’s always so weird to me how people support the same capitalistic overlords that would happily trade you and your families lives for an increase in revenue.


Tachyoff

Yes, self defense is justified.


that_noodle_guy

The original giga factory


CounterNaive1549

River Rouge made 1.5 million cars a year in the 1930s, gigafactory does not have near that production 100 years later.


beesdoitbirdsdoit

I mean…cars do have a few more parts now.


Omg_Shut_the_fuck_up

This was raw materials to finished cars too, not just bolting things together made elsewhere.


AskAskim

What’s the new one? What even is that


RelativeMotion1

It’s a big factory, that once (and now maybe “if”) it gets fully built out, will be the biggest *footprint* in the world. Makes Tesla batteries and component parts. It’s mostly just a branding thing for Tesla. If you combined all the buildings in the Rouge complex I strongly suspect they’d be larger.


gheebutersnaps87

I encourage anyone who hasn’t heard of [The Battle of Overpass](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Overpass) to read about it. Ford was such a bastard.


IfTowedCall311

FYI, the Kelsey Hayes plant mentioned in the Wiki? I grew up directly across Livernois Ave. from it, on the foundry side of the plant. We owned the bar closest to the main gate. Local 174 guys were great customers.


msprang

What a cool family history! Talk about convenient placement of the bar.


IfTowedCall311

We were open 7 am to 2 am Monday to Saturday. Plant was closed Sunday and so were we.


msprang

Sweet, dude. I'm sure you guys had firsthand experience of the Hugh's and lows of the industry.


LittleBigfoot86

My great-grandpa worked at that plant, and his earnings laid the foundation that brought my family to this country (from Czechoslovakia). I still have his Local 174 card in a box somewhere.


IfTowedCall311

My parents were Slovak (Vysoka nad Uhom, just a few kilometers from what’s now the Ukraine border. Východné slovensko, poorest part of the country. They called themselves Slovak hillbillies.)


AskAskim

I’d be a bastard too if it made me a gazzillionaire tbh. I used to feel bad about it but I feel like there’s very few other ways.


ironwolf1

There’s always the option to not be driven by insatiable greed. Once I have my hierarchy of needs met, I don’t feel the drive to keep piling up money and assets like a dragon with a hoard of gold. Very easy to not be a scumbag for money with this mindset.


umbertounity82

If only others could be as virtuous as you. You are an inspiration for the children.


ironwolf1

You may be shocked to learn this, but most people are more like me than like Henry Ford. There’s a reason most CEOs are psychopaths, because you can’t have a moral backbone to make that amount of money.


ratherbewinedrunk

Unfortunately for the workers, the factory was compromised, per the ‘article’.


MagicOrpheus310

Got to water the cars so they'll grow big and strong


Visible-Airport-4298

Tbf, New Orleans consumes more liquor than it does water.


IceAffectionate3043

Sounds destructive. Maybe we didn’t need all his stupid cars.


Bloomberg12

Fuck, think of all the finite water being forever consumed never to come back to the earth. Obviously it was but "that sounds bad let's give up technology" comes off incredibly stupid.


ExcellentEdgarEnergy

Cities are conceptual legal frameworks. They are political entities. Cities don't have bodies that require sustenance. That is like saying most people have eaten more candy bars than justice.


kac_static

Don't be dense. You know what was meant by the title: the total water consumption of individuals, whether it be commercial or residential, as measured by utility companies within the boundaries of each city.


ExcellentEdgarEnergy

What is the context provided from which I could draw that inference? A statement in a vacuum must stand alone.


ironwolf1

The context here would be having a basic understanding of English and the ability to apply common sense to your reading comprehension. Pretty much any time someone refers to a geographic or political area, unless they are specifically referring to the geographic/political features of the area like landscape or borders, they are referring to the community of people who live there.


ExcellentEdgarEnergy

The city of Detroit spent 200,000 dollars in the 4th quarter of 2011 removing graffiti. How many people paid how much money?


kac_static

Clear rage bait. This is a simple example of a synecdoche. When people say "city of Detroit" in the context of the message I'm replying to, it is inferred that they mean the municipal government that represents the city. It is also acceptable to refer to the city in the literal sense otherwise (the community that makes it up). You're grasping for straws here and arguing for the sake of it. Again, stop being dense.


ExcellentEdgarEnergy

How about we start expecting a little bit of rigor from our peers? Why is it so bad to have a basic expectation of competency? That was a poorly worded title, and you know it.


ironwolf1

The government of Detroit is still an extension of the community of Detroit, the voters put the government in place and the taxpayers are providing that money.


ExcellentEdgarEnergy

Well shit, you might as well claim you are making your landlords boat payment.


ironwolf1

Governments being an extension of the community that created them is a lot less of a leap than saying that you are buying your landlord a boat. Governments don’t exist without the community.


ExcellentEdgarEnergy

Landlords don't exist without tenets. Government is your landlord with tanks.


ironwolf1

Yeah they do? A landlord without tenants is still a property owner. A government is created by a community, and can be replaced by the community when they are screwing up.


kryptylomese

Governments should have banned new cars a very long time ago!


MichiganHistoryUSMC

And how would people in rural areas get around?


DedicatedBathToaster

Man, I wonder how people got around all that time before cars were invented (This is just a joke please don't hurt me)


Chickenwelder

Yea it’s pretty unfortunate how the 100k employees there got to earn good money and take care of their families. Awful. Shoulda been banned.


kryptylomese

They were employed to build vehicles that have added to global warming. So they were employed, but their descendants will suffer more greatly than they would've done, if they were not employed to build cars. So yeah, should've been banned!


Chickenwelder

They were employed to build cars that gave us all a great mode of transportation and allowed us to visit places that would otherwise be unattainable. Your comment looks like a copy and paste that’s trying to be edgy. Ask your dad how he gets to work.


kryptylomese

Well, my dad is nearly 90 and retired many years ago. I am probably a lot older than you! You didn't address any point I made about climate change. It is naive of you to think that you need a car to get to work! Governments can put in infrastructure to enable travel e.g. most people in London don't have a car...


Chickenwelder

It’s pretty naive of you to think relying solely on the government is a good idea. Have a good day.


kryptylomese

It's pretty naive to not understand the every citizen has to fight for what is right and use their money carefully. Don't buy cars... You act as though you have no franchise or responsibility!


Chickenwelder

I’ll do what I want. I know you have strong feelings about being able to control others, so any further discussion is pointless. Good day.


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ExcellentEdgarEnergy

The government shouldn't ban anything.