Long Beach Assembly
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Long Beach Assembly is a former
Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...
assembly plant located at the Cerritos Channel on
Terminal Island Terminal Island, historically known as , is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington, Los Angeles, Wilmington and San Pedro, Los Angeles, San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles ...
, at 700 Henry Ford Avenue in
Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
, Southern
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. It operated from 1930 through 1958. The former
Henry Ford Bridge The Henry Ford Bridge, also known as the Badger Avenue Bridge, is a bridge located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, Southern California. It carries the Pacific Harbor Line railroad across the Cerritos Channel to Terminal ...
, crossing the Cerritos Channel from the mainland to Terminal Island, was located near the former plant site.


History

The Ford Model A were the first vehicles to be built, with operations beginning in March, 1930. The location was stopped production of the 1959 Fords on March 20, 1959. when underground subsidence caused by oil drilling left the facility unstable. The Los Angeles Assembly plant #2 had opened in Pico Rivera in August 1957 producing first the Edsel and in mid-September 1957, the Mercury. 1959 Ford car production resumed at Los Angeles on April 10, 1959. The location was one of several factories designed by architect Albert Kahn who was the chief architect for Ford factories across the US. Through 1948, the location built Lincoln, Mercury and Ford products that were distributed throughout the
American Southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
. In 1948 a Lincoln-Mercury plant opened in Maywood, called Maywood Assembly. During the Depression of the 1930s, the Long Beach Assembly plant manufactured trucks that were used to build
Hoover Dam The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado, Black Canyon of the Colorado River (U.S.), Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, d ...
. The facility was briefly closed from December 1932 until February 1935. During WWII the location was used as a supply base by the
United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...
, with automobile production resuming in December, 1945. Ford closed earlier Los Angeles Assembly plants that had been operating since 1911: first, at 12th and Olive Streets and after 1914, at East Seventh Street and Santa Fe Avenue. The factory that built Ford Model T and Model A is still standing, and since 2019 has been the home of Warner Bros. Records.


Gallery

File:Neg. No. F-69, Apr 21, 1930, EXTERIOR-OFFICE BUILDING, WEST (FRONT) AND NORTH SIDES, OPENING DAY - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-53.tif, Opening day, 1930 File:Neg. No. P-3120, ca. 1930, Photographer- A. C. Gates, Los Angeles, AERIAL VIEW OF THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY ASSEMBLY PLANT, PRIOR TO CONSTRUCTION OF THE PRESSED STEEL BUILDING, HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-48.tif, Aerial view of the plant, c. 1930 File:LongBeachFord.jpg, 1930 File:Neg. No. F-60, Apr 13, 1930, INTERIOR-ASSEMBLY BUILDING, HOOD CONVEYOR - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-80.tif, Hood conveyor, April 13, 1930 File:Neg. No. F-70D, Apr 13, 1930, INTERIOR-WAREHOUSE, 1ST FLOOR ENGINE STORAGE - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-63.tif, Engine storage, April 13, 1930 File:Neg. No. F-54, Apr 13, 1930, INTERIOR-OIL HOUSE, PAINT CIRCULATING SYSTEM - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-75.tif, Paint circulating system File:OVERALL VIEW TO EAST-NORTHEAST OF ASSEMBLY AREA. - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, CA HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-34.tif, Overall view to east-northeast of assembly area File:VIEW OF WATER TOWER FROM ELECTRICAL TRANSFORMER CAGE AT NORTH END OF SECOND FLOOR WAREHOUSE. VIEW TO WEST-NORTHWEST. - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-4.tif, Water tower and electrical
transformer In electrical engineering, a transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple Electrical network, circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces ...
cage File:Neg. No.-none, ca. 1950's, Photographer-Unknown, AERIAL VIEWS OF THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY ASSEMBLY PLANT, SOMETIME AFTER THE ADDITION OF THE NORTHERN WING - Ford Motor Company HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-52.tif, Aerial view of plant and Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge, ca. 1950s File:CRANE FROM SECOND FLOOR DECK, LOOKING SOUTH. - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Crane, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, CA HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-C-3.tif, Second floor deck


References


Ford Long Beach


External links

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Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). It administers three programs established to document historic places in the United States: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American E ...
(HAER) documentation, filed under 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, CA: ** ** ** ** ** **
Ford Plant Long Beach, 1930
{{Clear Ford factories Historic American Engineering Record in California Motor vehicle assembly plants in California Manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles Companies based in Long Beach, California Terminal Island 1930 establishments in California 1958 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles History of Long Beach, California