When the network news crews come to Detroit, they invariably ask to be taken on what local residents call the “ruins tour,” which always includes the greatest ruin of all, the gigantic old Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard.
The images of the crumbling buildings they collect will then be used in their reports as a metaphor for the recent state of the American auto industry. This is not just unfair and misleading, it’s historically ignorant. When Packard abandoned the East Grand plant back in 1955, the auto industry was near its peak and the Motor City was booming.
And often you will hear this in the media and elsewhere: calls for the resurrection of the Packard plant, as if somehow the buildings can be rehabilitated and Detroit can be returned to its former glory. No. Please. Multi-floor layouts like this one were already hopelessly obsolete half a century ago when Packard walked away. That’s why the place was abandoned, and except for some warehousing and light manufacturing in some of the structures, it’s been essentially vacant ever since.
If you’d like to see an auto plant put back to work, a far more realistic candidate is the recently closed Ford-Lincoln factory in nearby Wixom, Michigan. It’s not like there’s any shortage of modern manufacturing capacity in the Detroit area. In fact there’s a surplus.
The best thing that could possibly happen to the Packard plant, for everyone concerned, is to have it bulldozed to the ground—what’s left of it. Then the surrounding neighborhood, which has somehow managed to hang on all these years despite the presence of this enormous, perpetually smoldering corpse in its center, can be allowed to thrive.
This little story lacks any of the above agendas. It is presented strictly in the interest of history. When the plant began to sprawl over Grand Boulevard and south along Concord Street over a century ago, it was among the first to use Albert Khan’s revolutionary reinforced concrete, glass curtain construction. Eventually the facility grew to nearly a mile in length and two city blocks wide. But in 1955 Packard, by then nearly out of business, moved vehicle assembly to the smaller and even less suitable Briggs stamping plant a few miles away on Conner Avenue. That the East Grand plant is still standing today, barely, is an accident of history  as much as anything.
Since MCG’s last visit in 2009, the deterioration of the structures has really begun to accelerate. It probably won’t be long now. We hope. These photos were taken this week. Slide show below:
Bill, 100% accurate take on the ruins of Packard.
It is entirely fair to say that when Packard died, an ethos went with it i.e. “We’re too well loved to fail.” It just took a lot longer for the rest of the world to get the message. That Packard failed in the midst of the postwar consumer boom is testimony that they were asleep in every way that they could be, and when they woke up it was too late. Imagine a group of consultants recommending to Mercedes-Benz that they simply close the doors and sell the building…
Just as important is your observation that the Packard facilities were passed over from 1956-on by every single auto manufacturer and supplier, even those strapped for capacity and flooded with cash. It was integrated with none of the efficiency and giant without the leverage of scale. The workforce at one time was one of the world’s best, but they had scattered to the corners by the time the last Carribean shipped.
(By contrast, sprawlin operations such as Ford Rouge, Flint Buick / Chevy in the Hole were all able to prosper well into the 80s when age and market forces finally overtook their heritage. )
Packard is in fact a metaphor for Detroit, and our collective inability to let go of the mythology it represents. We remember the days when shift change at Cadillac, Hudson, Chrysler or Ford meant the sidewalks were jammed with well-paid men and women shouting in different languages, pockets filled with cash heading for the streetcars with a lunchpail and a secure vision of tomorrown tucked under their arms.
I feel like a lot of people do: when the wrecking ball gets the last brick, our heritage is gone for good. The inability to demolish this un-salvagable ruin is really a reflection of our inabilty to craft a new vision to replace it. I hope we can, we just haven’t seen it yet.
Thanks for the learned response. I’m very proud to have car guys of your caliber reading Motor City Garage. I will strive to keep it worthy.
Thanks Bill,
After reading this story I had to have a look at this Packard factory site on Google maps and streetview to get a full idea of scale. All I can say is wow! That place was huge. I was thinking it would be about a quarter the size that it is.
At one time the facility was even larger. If you have the map handy, maybe a fifth of it on the north end, including the power plant and foundry, was cut off by Interstate 94. Also, large portions have burned or fallen down. The complex was nearly a mile long.
Did it go as far as Strong St and Mt Elliot St? The building on the corner looks of a similar era.
Yep. Well, Strong and Concord and then WSW to the Michigan Central RR, to my knowledge. I don’t know that it ever went all the way west to Mt. Elliott.
By the way, on the other side of Mt. Elliot was the Hupp plant, then a bit up on Mt. Elliott was Dodge Main.