Bellevue Ave. Plant

[Original Smith]

This plant made engines and gears during the Piquette era. I've not seen much if anything on that plant. Does it exist today? Did Ford own this building, or was it a rental?

[Luke]

Larry,

Are you talking about 773 Bellevue? If so; yes it still exists today, and it was not owned by Ford.

This earlier post of mine in Rob's thread on Ford and Malcomson will give more info, as will the next post too:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31175#p240642

Luke.

[Rob]

Luke,
I'm still confused, trying to determine the way the building sits today vs. the original six cylinder plant photo. Thank you for all your work, and I hope we at some point get someone on the ground to determine if this is indeed Ford Manufacturing/Six Cylinder Plant. If so, it would make a good stop on a tour of the places associated with the early Ford Motor Company affiliated buildings.
Thank you again,
Rob

[Dashpot24]

I go down to Detroit monthly. I will take a look at the other forum posts and see if I can figure it out and take some pictures and stuff. I like old architecture and history, plus I am a lot closer than NZ.

[Rob]

David, that would be great. Looking forward to hearing and seeing what you find. It would be good to plot some of these important locations on a street map.
Cheers,
Rob

[Luke]

David,

Totally with Rob on this, it'd be brilliant to know more about the site, look forward to hearing how you get on.

FYI it was a while ago when I did the GIS work but I seem to recall being fairly confident about the overlay and location of the site as such. Whether the building(s) form part of what's in the original photograph is another matter, but if it were possible to look inside I suspect that would greatly assist in determining the matter. From what I could see in contemporary photos they certainly couldn't be ruled out.

Otherwise I often look at a map to see where people are in relation to each other (trying to figure out some State acronyms can be challenging); while you're certainly closer than me I see you're still a good drive away from Detroit. It was interesting to consider that if I were to fly one of my dream aircraft from home to Detroit I could get there (fuel stops notwithstanding) in less than the time it would take you in a typical Model T .. the difference a hundred years of progression makes eh!

Luke.

[Dashpot24]

Hi. Yes. It takes me about 4 hours to get to Detroit. I have some family things and work going on there. There are some good towns where you can stop on the way.
Looking at the Sanborn fire map from the library of congress 1921, I see that the building is either the tall, highly modified structure currently occupied by H&L recycling or the flat concrete pad next to it. I will be able to ascertain whether or not it is original structure when I look at the side of the building. I downloaded the hi-res version of the photo from Benson Archives. It seems the present building near/on the site has modified perforations with steel lintels. It also appears possibly the second story was removed and the firewall to roof juncture modified.
Anyway, I will see what I can come up with. I will be down there this week. It is not far from Milwaukee Junction where the Piquette plant is located. They allow visitors to come in and check out the cars and building(you don't need to book a tour) so I guess I will go there after. Yippee!

[Rob]

That’s great David. Between you and Luke, this mystery may be solved. This building (if it is the plant) has an interesting place in early Ford history.

[Original Smith]

My real question is, did they make Model T engines and gears at Bellevue?

[Original Smith]

Apparently there are no historians around who can answer my question!

[Rob]

Larry,
If we are all talking about the same plant, the Ford Manufacturing Co. location at 773 Belvue (old address) then 6 cyl plant at 773 Belvue, no, I don’t believe any T work was completed there. The 773 Belvue plant came into existence to build/assemble Model N motors in 1906. In mid 1907, Ford Motor bought Ford Manufacturing and transferred all the relatively new equipment to Piquette, transferring Model K production to Belvue. I think Ford possession of the plant (fuzzy on this) ended in late 1908 or 1909.

As far as I am able to speculate, 773 Bellevue was not a foundry, but an assembly plant for the N engine components that were then taken to Piquette for assembly of Model N and later R snd then S.

This link is to the April 30, 1907 Ford Manufacturing inventory account prepared by N A Hawkins as Manufacturing was negotiating with FMC for acquisition. All parts are listed and inventoried. Considering the size of the property, and number of rough and finished castings (cylinders), I doubt any foundry work was done there, only finish and assembly. At the time of the inventory there are almost 900 rough and 900 finished cylinders alone (2 cyl castings), enough for 900 cars when combined.

The document also is a good resource for Fords cost of parts/components for almost every part of the Model N motor.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/meogi7o6l9h7w ... s.pdf?dl=0

I suspect the Romeo plant and Bellevue get intertwined sometimes, and I was thinking Ford bought the Romeo plant sometime during the 1908 calendar year, but I haven’t looked into that at all. Just foggy memory of what I may have read at some point. Maybe Trent, Hap or someone will weigh in?