Comments: Larry Kestenbaum - 2004-03-23 09:57:00 Tours of the Ford Rouge plant slammed shut in 1979, just exactly when I moved to Detroit and wanted to see it. Unfortunately, I think a whole lot of the buildings in those famous photos have been demolished since then. Another reason I wished I could get inside the Rouge plant: at the beginning of my second year at Wayne, I made a map of all the phone exchanges (wire centers) in the Detroit zone, which includes Dearborn. In other words, back in the days of hard-wired telephones, I knew what part of town any 3-digit phone prefix was native to. But the Ford Rouge plant was a huge hole in my map. I knew there were surely pay phones in the complex which had whatever prefix Michigan Bell had assigned to that patch of ground, but I had no way of knowing which one it was -- several adjoined the plant complex. * * * * * * * * * * * * Tuesday - 2004-03-23 10:41:41 Whew. I think not. Those suckers explode/burn on a VERY regular basis. I would want to be nowhere near that thing when it blows. * * * * * * * * * * * * tom - 2004-03-23 16:43:49 I've both toured the Rouge (in the 60's when I was little kid) and worked there making windshields one summer during college. The tour was a lot more interesting! Re: exploding/burning on a VERY regular basis: There was a disastrous explosion at the power plant on Feb. 1, 1999 which killed six workers. There have been 3 other explosions, all at the steel plant, since then. These latter injured some people, but there were no fatalities. Neither the steel plant nor the power plant is part of the tour, and both are located a ways away from the rest of the Rouge complex. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-03-23 20:04:51 I saw the demolition of a section of the Rouge, from across the river. It was dramatic. A huge WHHOOOOMP and the slow, balletic fall of a row of towers, then an equally slow cloud of dust rising...I can't wait to take this tour, explosion danger or no. * * * * * * * * * * * * LynneFremont - 2004-03-23 21:27:18 What a neat idea. It never would have even occured to me to take a tour of the plant. I think I'll have to look into this. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-03-25 21:02:01 Sure sounds interesting to me. I bet I'd pick up plenty on local history. And I bet it's visually stunning, too. This is definitely on my list. Spring road trip! * * * * * * * * * * * * Michael McC. - 2004-03-26 09:51:14 I worked for the Ford-connected ad agency, and we got to see a special room that Bill Ford had done for the holders of "family stock", which is different than public Ford stock. It looked like a science fair, with boards on the wall for each parameter, like watershed or work environment. For each paramter, it had mission, goals, stakeholders, and some other categories. I videotaped it and then created a Flash movie that enabled you to see all the missions or all the goals, as well as each individual parameter's qualities. I think ol' Bill has the noblest vision of manufacturing in the world, or at least the best one I've ever heard of. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-03-26 09:54:13 What a fascinating insider's comment; thanks Michael. * * * * * * * * * * * * only-lady - 2004-09-04 21:59:07 only lady * * * * * * * * * * * * the-triumph - 2004-10-03 08:23:50 the triumph * * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: your name: your email: your url: back to the entry - Diaryland