Woodward Avenue (M-1) - Automotive Heritage Trail
Ford Motor Company - Highland Park Plant, MI

The Ford Motor Company Highland Park Plant is significant for being, among other things, where Henry Ford first began the mass production of automobiles (specifically, the "Model T") on a moving assembly line in 1913. The plant was also the site where Ford instituted the "five dollar day," a generous wage for the time.

Detroit architect Albert Kahn designed the complex, which included offices, factories, a power plant and a foundry. In 1927, Ford shifted auto production to the River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, limiting Highland Park to truck and tractor manufacturing. The Highland Park Plant is a National Historic Landmark.

The Highland Park Plant was built between 1909 and 1920 on the lot bounded by Woodward, Manchester and Oakland Avenues, and three railroad tracks. An office building, a garage and several machine shops once stood on this portion of the site.