Lincoln Motor Company Plant

The 6500th Lincoln Liberty Aircraft Engine produced in the plant; Henry Leland and his son Wilfred Leland are on left

Beginning in 1902, Henry Leland steered Cadillac to become a popular, high quality luxury automobile brand.[3] Leland sold the company to General Motors in 1908, but continued his association with Cadillac until the mid-1910s, when he resigned because of the company's unwillingness to transition to World War I wartime production needs.[2]

In 1917, Leland established the Lincoln Motor Company to build Liberty engines for fighter planes using Ford Motor Company-supplied cylinders.[3][4] Leland immediately purchased the former Warren Motor Car Company factory on Detroit's west side.[2] However, he quickly realized the facilities were not sufficient to house the engine production envisioned, so he purchased a 50-acre plot of land at Warren and Livernois.[5] The company immediately broke ground for a factory complex of over 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²), hiring architect George Mason to design the new buildings and the firm of Walbridge-Aldinger to build them.[5][6] By the end of the war, the plant complex contained the Administration Building and Garage (Building A), the machine shop (Building B), the main Factories (Buildings C and D), a power house, a heat treatment plant, a motor testing building, and other minor structures.[2]

In January 1919, after producing 6500 Liberty engines, manufacturing operations were suspended, and the war was soon over.[5] Lincoln considered manufacturing automobile engines for other nameplates in the postwar years,[5] but soon opted to convert to the production of luxury automobiles.[3] However, production delays and the postwar recession of 1920 hurt sales, and the company eventually went into receivership.[5]

In 1922, Henry Ford purchased the company for $8,000,000,[5] turning the Lincoln into Ford Motor Company's luxury brand.[3] Leland retained his management post after the sale, but the strong-willed Leland and Ford immediately clashed, and Leland resigned after a few months.[2] Ford immediately began refurbishing the plant layout and manufacturing.[5] Ford also added onto the size of the complex, hiring architect Albert Kahn to design some of the many buildings along Livernois,[6] adding over 300,000 square feet (28,000 m²) to the plant.[7] The Lincoln Zephyr and Continental were made in the factory until 1952,[3] when production facilities were moved to Wayne, Michigan The new Wixom plant opened in the fall of 1957.[2]

Ford kept some offices in the plant, and leased out portions to other companies after manufacturing operations were relocated to the new Wixom Assembly Plant .[8] In 1955, Detroit Edison bought the complex for $4,500,000,[8] renaming it the Detroit Edison Warren Service Center.[1][3] The company consolidated many of its services into the facility, but later used it primarily as a storage yard.[6]

In recognition of its importance in automotive history, the Lincoln Motor Company Plant was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978.[2] However, nearly all of the plant buildings were demolished in December 2002 and January 2003, including the main Buildings A, B, C, and D.[2] A small portion of the Factory G was retained, as well as other scattered support structures; however, because of the substantial loss of historic integrity the plant's National Historic Landmark designation was withdrawn on April 4, 2005.[2]