Big thanks to regular reader Darren, who sent along this series from the Foundry. It appears they are back to work, doing some work clearing the yard surrounding the plant. The giant concrete silo was today’s victim…
Thanks again Darren!
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they should finish it off tomorrow since that last one was taken at about 5:30. i guess it was quitting time. after a while they began to hose it down with a large hose since dust was really blowing onto wyandotte. all around that silo are these concrete ramps or walls. they haven’t been able to break it up much with the same machine that hammered down the silo. i wonder how they will break it up.
seems like they’ve been concentrating on getting all the torn down bits off the yard for now to make room for tearing more down. thanks for posting the photos too.
Historical or not the buildings and the land are poisoned.I do not know the plans for the site but a return to a Carolinian woods so the toxins can be naturally cleansed by the vegetation would be nice..
No arguments here Simeon… The plans are to leave the site as vacant as can be…
Glad to hear that woods will return to the site. I know it meant a lot of jobs, but the foundry was a blight on the area. If Windsor and the county want to be marketed as a tourist/nature destination, like Michigan is working on, then old-tech places like the foundry need to be removed.
Now if Windsor can rebuild like Pittsburgh has…
JB – No woods are planed, just a vacant graveled lot…
The land may remain vacant to our eyes but nature abhors a vacuum, so over time nature will have its way with it. Plants that can stand the toxicity will flourish, becoming pioneers for more plants, and on and on. So clean it up and let it go, to find its own way.
That is exactly what we need…another vacant lot. I would rather the area returned to nature than to have a stupid gravel lot. Great vision by Ford and the city on this one…
don’t blame the city on this one. It’s all Ford. And not even Ford Canada. The land has been reverted to Ford property in Dearborn.
From what I understand the reason the land will be kept bare, is to permit the accessibilty for ground water monitoring so they can ensure the property remains contaminant free.
In thier defence Ford does a great job of environmental stewardship. Look at the Farilane Green shopping plaza in Allen Park, MI. The entire site is built on reclaimed land that was once a Ford Dump. All of the buidligns are build with “green” considerations. Ford actually forced major retailers like Target to build to their specifications rather than the cookie cutter type buildings national retailers love to throw up.
i woke up this morning and that thing was leveled. so i’m glad it’s done and they can continue on now. hope they start to make better progress soon. it’s been moving so slowly.
Thanks Andrew for the info. I guess it is my usual knee-jerk reaction to the city. We all know how well they have “performed” in the past.
You are correct about Ford’s environmental policies to which I was curious about the difference here in Windsor. Heck, even their property on Riverside Dr isn’t all that bad. Maybe one day they could take the fence down around it. But then again some losers would probably just dump garbage there if it was left open to the public.
Any word as to how long this gravel lot will exist before they will do anything with it?
Not sure. When I asked about that I was given the answer that it would be many years…
Darren – The reason that the outside demolition is going on, is that surprisingly the WCP is a listed building on the inventory. They are still waiting out the 60 days, which should be up very soon (next week or two?). Once the 60 days is up demolition of the main structure will commence.
Funny how they had to wait 60 days, but the Seagrave was “overlooked”.
i’m sending you a photo now of how it looks today with the rest torn down.
ah ok. at least the site is looking cleaner now. i’m glad i won’t be hearing jack hammering anymore now too.
The old part of the foundry was an Albert Kahn design, was it not? It really was beautiful building, and then the additions started…
The Foundry was at one time 2 separate buildings. There used to be a charcoal drawing of the Ford Windsor site at Huron Lodge that clearly showed the foundry as 2 buildings(the drawing showed cars parked in between them). The drawing was done in the early 40’s , I’d say.
As you say Chris the esthetics changed dramtically with all the uglyblue sided additions that were added, especially on the west side of the plant.
Does anyone have a pic from the 40’s or 50’s era that shows the 2 structures?
Bob C.
Yes Chirs – it was designed by Kahn in 1934(?)
Bob – As far as I know the foundry was always one… It might have been a seondary building near it but not part of it…
Check out the last photo here… http://internationalmetropolis.com/?p=289
The capiton I had to the photo was “above is the 14 ¼ acre machine shop, and new foundry and heat treat building” Maybe it was the Heat Treat building? I’m not sure…
The separate building is south/east of the foundary building, and housed the pattern makers who fixed and cleaned to molds that were used to produce the sand cores for the casting process.
We spent our days “Picking and Grinning” – yes, I was one of them.
Thanks for the pic Andrew, it confirms what the ‘Huron Lodge’ sketch depicted.
Click on the link in Andrews’ post (2 above), look at the last picture . The main part of the pic is what’s now Windsor Engine Plant but ignoring that, the picture also shows 2 separate structures, the foundry(on the left side–very small in size) and another structure with a V shaped roof in the rear centre of the picture. It looks like there’s a large open area with a few vehicles in between the 2.
At some point, the foundry was expanded to include the V shaped roof building(titled the “Heat Treat building” in the pic).
Chris> The Pattern Shop as you know it is relatively new—80’s I think
Bob C.