Blast Furnace Buildings and Powerhouse Stacks at the Ford Rouge Plant, March 1936

THF115358 / Blast Furnace Buildings and Powerhouse Stacks at the Ford Rouge Plant, March 1936
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Artifact Overview

In the 1930s, two blast furnaces at Ford's Rouge plant converted raw iron oxide ore into metallic iron. The furnaces operated 24 hours a day, and each one produced 1,200 tons of iron per day. Ore arrived via Great Lakes freighters, while coke used in the iron-making process moved to the furnaces in hopper cars on an elevated railroad line.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Date Made

04 March 1936

Subject Date

04 March 1936

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

64.167.833.P.65387

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Ford Motor Company.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)
Linen (Material)

Technique

Gelatin silver process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 11 in
Width: 8 in

Inscriptions

Typing on tape on back yellowed covering typed caption reads: 65387 - FORD BLAST FURNACE AND HI LINE AT ROUGE PLANT
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    Ford Motor Company operated its own industrial railroad at the Rouge factory. Ford-owned locomotives moved incoming railcars filled with raw materials, and outgoing railcars loaded with finished parts and vehicles. Ford employees crewed trains, cared for locomotives, and maintained 100 miles of track within the factory grounds. At its 1930s peak, Ford's Rouge railroad was one of the largest privately owned rail operations in the world.