St. Louis Ford Assembly Plant History

1914 Model T

Ford Comes to St. Louis

The Ford name first attracted attention in St. Louis when Henry Ford spent much of the summer of 1904 visiting his exhibit in the Manufactures' Hall at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (also known as the 1904 Worlds Fair). Less than a year prior to that time, he had organized his company to commence the manufacture of automobiles. Before the end of the summer, many thousands of the 20,000,000 - odd visitors to the exposition saw the car bearing his name for the first time.

With the Mississippi River Valley rapidly becoming automobile conscious, the company opened a sales branch in St. Louis during the fall of 1905. This branch was located at 3667 Olive Street. When the doors first opened there were no more than twelve cars in the entire sales territory assigned to it, but that was soon to change.

As progress was made in road building in the mid-west, the automobile market in St. Louis and the farm country surrounding the city grew far beyond the point where cars and trucks could be assembled in Detroit, shipped to Missouri and sold economically. In keeping with the new Ford policy of building near the source of supply and assembling near the market, an assembly plant was established in St. Louis early in 1914. The new assembly plant was located at 4100 Forest Park Boulevard, on the corner of Forest Park and Sarah Street. This building still stands today. Model T cars rolled off its assembly line in April of 1914. Acceptance of the Model T in the mid-west was so great that one year later the Forest Park Plant had to be doubled in size.

First Ford Assembly Plant in St. Louis - Forest Park Blvd. & Sarah Street

World War I brought a halt to civilian automobile production. Between May 1917 and March 1919, Ford turned over its assembly plant to the government and it was used as a warehouse for war supplies. Production resumed and by 1924 a peak output of 325 Model T's per day was achieved.

Between 1922 and 1923 the plant also produced the Fordson tractor. These tractors helped revolutionize farming in America. During the peak of production, 125 tractors a day came off the assembly line.

Production at the Forest Park plant continued uninterrupted until 1933 when the depression shut the plant down. During this time the plant was used as a Sales and Service Branch. Production was resumed in January of 1935 and continued until World War II stopped civilian car production. From August 1914 through February 1943, over 800,000 vehicles were produced at the Forest Park facility.

Formal Dedication of St. Louis Assembly - September 21, 1948

Ford Moves To A New Assembly Plant

Even though the nation was engaged in another world war, it had become obvious that the Forest Park facility was badly outdated and would be inadequate for the demands of the postwar automotive market.

On Tuesday, November 20, 1945 the St. Louis Post Dispatch ran a press release from Ford in the Everyday Magazine. This press release announced that the Ford Motor Company was ready to start construction of a new assembly plant located on Highway 66 near Robertson, Missouri (now known as Hazelwood). Construction of the plant got underway on February 16, 1946.

The plant was originally designed as a Ford assembly plant, but Henry Ford II, then president of the company, announced on November 1, 1946 that in order to provide productive capacity for the expansion program of the Lincoln-Mercury Division, the new plant was being turned over to this division.

In March of 1948, the new St. Louis Assembly Plant was ready to start production. This new facility was 935,000 square feet under roof. It not only served as an assembly plant, but it also housed the Sales and Service offices in the administration building as well as 52,000 square feet assigned to the service stock department. The service stock department handled 9,000 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury parts for dealers in the St. Louis and Kansas City districts.

Formal dedication of the plant was held on September 21, 1948. Benson Ford, Henry Ford's grandson, headlined the ceremony before 3,500 employees and their families. He explained what he called the "three convictions" that underlie the Company's actions: "First, we are convinced that the best and quickest way to increase our high standard of living is through lower cost," he said. "Secondly, we intend to develop sound and better labor-management relations. Thirdly, we intend to have unquestioned leadership in the style and quality fields."

The speech made an impression on employees, whose experience and enthusiasm were helping to smooth out Plant operations into an orderly and constant schedule. By October 1949, one year later, the 100,000th car assembled at the new facility rolled off the end of the line. The 200,000th made the same journey in October of 1950 and on September 15, 1951, a Mercury Monterey became the 300,000th car assembled at St. Louis Assembly. In September of 1953, the 500,000th car was assembled almost five and a half years to the day when production began.

As St. Louis Assembly's reputation for building a quality product grew, so did the plant itself. In March of 1956, ground breaking ceremonies were held for the first of many additions to the plant. This first addition added 258,000 square feet to the plant. Over the last 50 years there have been numerous additions bringing the current building to over 3,000,000 square feet under roof.

First Lincoln Off The Line

Last Mercury Built in St. Louis

St. Louis Assembly continued to produce Mercury and Ford automobiles until January 25, 1984, when the last Mercury rolled off the end of the line. From this time on, St. Louis Assembly would join the truck division of Ford.

On May 25, 1985, after a four month shut down, St. Louis Assembly proudly launched the Aerostar minivan. The Aerostar was a new breed of truck that was rapidly replacing the station wagon as the vehicle of choice for families and businesses alike. Building the uni-body Aerostar was a dramatic change from the Mercury days. Gone were the gatelines and hand welding guns. In their place were robots and the newest technology in automotive assembly.

In 1990 the All Wheel Drive Aerostar was awarded the Motor Trend "Truck of the Year" award. Aerostars came off the line at the rate of 50 jobs per hour. With two shifts working 10 hours days each. 1,000 unites a day were produced.

1992 was a significant year for St. Louis employees. On July 7 the 5 millionth vehicle produced at our plant came off the end of the line. In August of that year, St. Louis Assembly was awarded Q-1 status by the company. This prestigious certification came about through the hard work and attention to detail from the men and women both hourly and salary.

In February 1993, Ford Motor Company announced that the St. Louis Assembly plant would start producing the Explorer Sport Utility Vehicle in January of 1995. At first, the plant was scheduled to shut down in August of 1994 for the expansion and retooling, but in April of that year, Ford asked if it was possible for us to continue to build the Aerostar and build the Explorer. The response was YES! So, in April of 1994, the 700,000 square foot expansion of St. Louis Assembly started.

Plant Manager, Jeff Haller, Congratulates Owners of 5 millionth Unit Built in St. Louis

Explorer Launch, January 12, 1995

During this three quarters of a billion dollar expansion, St. Louis continued to build the Aerostar. The challenge was to build a uni-body truck, the Aerostar, alongside a body on frame truck, the Explorer. This would be a first in the automotive world. Though many said it could not be done, especially in the short time frame, the dedicated men and women of St. Louis Assembly made it happen.

On January 12, 1995, the Explorer was officially launched in St. Louis. This momentous occasion is yet another proud chapter in the plant's success. In August of this same year, the All Wheel Drive V-8 Explorer was introduced. One year later, the first right hand drive Explorer came off the line bound for export to one of the five countries we now ship our quality product.

As our plant continued to improve on the quality of the Explorer, time was running out for the Aerostar. Markets were changing and Ford decided to cease production of the Aerostar. The last Aerostar came off the line on August 22, 1997. Over the twelve years, St. Louis had been the sole assembly plant producing this popular minivan. The last Aerostar brought the total number of Aerostars built to 2,029,577.

In a fitting tribute to our bread and butter over the last decade, the last Aerostar was donated to the Hazelwood police department. This van is used by the officers involved in the D.A.R.E. Program to visit schools in the local area.

Hazelwood Police Department's, Officer Marione Johnson, with Donated Aerostar

Over the last fifty years, the men and women, both hourly and salary, have made our plant a flagship of the Ford Motor Company. Their dedication and hard work have made St. Louis Assembly a plant to be proud of. As we set forth into the new millennium, the challenges and changes in the ever more competitive automobile industry will be met by one of the greatest work forces in the world.

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