P6910

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Details

ID Number

P6910

Item Name

Image

Title

Transportation of Ford Products / Transport des produits Ford

Title (Fre)

Transport des produits Ford

Date

ca 1941

Description

Black and white photograph of the Essex Terminal Railway cars transporting Ford products from industry to the major railyards; the end of the train is visible in the bottom right corner of the photograph and it continues diagonally up to the centre left; the cars have flat beds, each carrying two crates; the crates appear to be wooden and "Ford" painted on the ends; a second track runs parallel to the track the train is on and the two cross at the bottom right of the photo; there is a water tower visible in the background behind a tall fence.

History

The train of cars is being hauled by an Essex Terminal Railway locomotive. This twenty-one mile terminal system handled the transfer of cars to the tracks of such lines as the Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, Wabash, New York Central and Pere Marquette Railways and served almost all the major industries of the Windsor-Amherstburg district. The Ford Motor Company was established in Canada in 1904 when a group of Windsor businessmen began negotiations with a struggling Detroit inventor named Henry Ford. Ford's first plant was located in the former plant of the Walkerville Wagon Works, which overlooked the Detroit River. Location was key as the cars were assembled one by one as parts were ferried by wagonload across the river. The first car built in Canada was the Model C. 1904 - 1905, the first year of operations, the company employed 16 men and turned out 114 automobiles. Ford extended capacity in 1910 by building a three-storey automobile plant on Sandwich St., close to the company's first building. In 1911 a reinforced building of four floors was erected containing 60,000 feet of floor space. Many parts factories sprang up to supply the demands, which grew out of the automobile industry. In 1913, assembly line techniques and moving conveyors were introduced and by 1914 the company was producing 14,500 units per year. In 1915, Ford introduced the "Four Dollar a Day" plan over a six-day, eight-hour workweek. The municipality of Ford City grew around the Ford plant. Ford City became a village in 1913, a town in 1915 and became the City of East Windsor on June 1, 1929. Expansion of the Ford Motor Company continued during the 1920s and was a major factor of the city's development. By the summer of 1928, the company employed 8000 men and an output of 500 cars per day was predicted for 1929. When war was declared in 1939, all resources and facilities of Ford of Canada were committed to serving the war effort. The Windsor plant was retooled for the construction of war vehicles and produced 8000 Universal Carriers, a half-auto, half-tank vehicle, in just over two years. By April of 1945, Ford of Canada had supplied the armed forces with 380,000 motor vehicles valued at more than $650,000,000. In 1954, Ford of Canada's Head Office was relocated to Oakville, Ontario in order to be closer to the major population centres of the nation. Today, Ford of Canada assembles cars and trucks at two plants in Oakville and one near St. Thomas. It produces engines, aluminum engine parts and iron castings at five plants in Windsor. The Company's cast aluminum research and development facility is also located in Windsor. Its operations employ approximately 17,000 people across Canada.

Place made

Canada - Ontario - Windsor

Collection Name

Museum Windsor

Subjects

Automobile industry / Industrie de l'automobile

Essex Terminal Railway / Compagnie ferroviaire Essex Terminal

Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd. / Ford du Canada ltée

Railroad cars / Wagons

Railroad tracks / Voie ferrée

Transportation / Transport

Transportation industry / Industrie du transport