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Building, Highland Park, since 1910

Highland Park Plant, Ford Motor Company

Photographed standing in 2008

A view of the Highland Park plant of the Ford Motor Company in 1922 Photo: Bernard L. Johnson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Opened
1910
Standing
116 years

Designed by Albert Kahn

Highland Park Plant, Ford Motor Company has stood on Woodward Ave. in Highland Park since 1910, 116 years and counting. Who built it, what makes it special and how to see it for yourself.

On the map

More photos of Highland Park Plant, Ford Motor Company

Highland Park Ford Plant south side streetscape, 2008 Photo: Andrew Jameson at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Highland Park Ford Plant south side streetscape, 2008 Photo: Andrew Jameson at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Highland Park Ford Motor Company plant, in Highland Park, Michigan, 2008 Photo: Andrew Jameson at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What is there now

Standing

We checked building permits, sales, listings and the city's blight and demolition files on October 24, 2026. Nothing new at this address in the last two years.

The story

By Victoria Jackson, Editor in Chief Updated

Highland Park Plant, Ford Motor Company opened in 1910, in the years the auto age reached every town around Detroit.

Credit the design to Albert Kahn.

The federal government named it a National Historic Landmark in 1978, a status only a few thousand places in the country hold.

Next time you are nearby, stop at 15050 Woodward Ave and look up.

The Highland Park Ford Plant is a historic former Ford Motor Company factory located at 91 Manchester Street (at Woodward Avenue) in Highland Park, Michigan. It was Ford's third factory and the second American Model T production facility, but the factory gained notoriety as the first factory in history to assemble automobiles on a moving assembly line.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Timeline

  1. 1910 Built Designed by Albert Kahn
  2. 1973 Listed on the National Register February 6, 1973
  3. 1978 Named a National Historic Landmark June 2, 1978
  4. 2026 Today 116 years and still standing

Where it is

15050 Woodward Ave., Highland Park

On this map

  1. Highland Park Plant, Ford Motor Company This place
  2. First United Methodist Church 0.6 mi
  3. Trinity United Methodist Church 0.6 mi
  4. Medbury's-Grove Lawn Subdivisions Historic District 0.7 mi
  5. Dakota Inn Rathskeller 0.8 mi
  6. Greenfield Park Elementary School 0.8 mi
  7. Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church 0.9 mi
  8. Palmer Lodge Apartments 0.9 mi
  9. Whitmore Plaza Apartments 0.9 mi

Street map from OpenStreetMap contributors

Who made it

Albert Kahn
Photo: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Architect

Albert Kahn

American architect, 1869 to 1942. Designed the General Motors Building (1922) and 114 more in Metro Detroit

Also by Albert Kahn

More from Highland Park in the 1910s

Around the block

Photo credits

Every photo on this page is used under its license, named here with its author and a link to the original.

  1. A view of the Highland Park plant of the Ford Motor Company in 1922 Photo: Bernard L. Johnson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  2. Highland Park Ford Plant south side streetscape, 2008 Photo: Andrew Jameson at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  3. Highland Park Ford Plant south side streetscape, 2008 Photo: Andrew Jameson at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  4. The Highland Park Ford Motor Company plant, in Highland Park, Michigan, 2008 Photo: Andrew Jameson at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  5. Highland Park Ford Plant c. 1922 Photo: Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  6. Highland Park Ford Plant c. 1922 Photo: Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Facts only, gathered from these sources. The story above is written by Rebuild Detroit. Every photo names its author and license where it appears.