The Lincoln Motor Company Plant was an automotive plant at 6200 West Warren Avenue (at Livernois) in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, later known as the Detroit Edison Warren Service Center. The complex was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1978, due to its historic association with

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Liberty engine The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing and making designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized, in marine use both i ...

s and the

Lincoln Motor Company Lincoln Motor Company, or simply Lincoln, is the luxury vehicle division of American automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company, Ford. Marketed among the top luxury vehicle brands in the United States, Lincoln was positioned closely against i ...

. However, the main structures were demolished in 2003 and NHL designation was withdrawn in 2005.

Henry Leland's Lincoln

Beginning in 1902,

Henry Leland Henry Martyn Leland (February 16, 1843 – March 26, 1932) was an American machinist, inventor, engineer and automotive entrepreneur. He founded the two premier American luxury automotive marques, Cadillac and Lincoln. Early years Henry M. Lelan ...

steered

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

to become a popular, high quality luxury automobile brand. Leland sold the company to

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

in 1908, but continued his association with Cadillac until the mid-1910s, when he resigned because of the company's unwillingness to transition to

wartime production needs. In 1917, Leland established the

to build

s for fighter planes using

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

-supplied cylinders. Leland immediately purchased the former Warren Motor Car Company factory on Detroit's west side. However, he quickly realized the facilities were not sufficient to house the engine production envisioned, so he purchased a 50-acre plot of land at Warren and Livernois. The company immediately broke ground for a factory complex of over , hiring architect George D. Mason to design the new buildings and the firm of Walbridge-Aldinger to build them. By the end of the war, the plant complex contained the Administration Building and Garage (Building A), the machine shop (Building B), the main Factories (Buildings C and D), a power house, a heat treatment plant, a motor testing building, and other minor structures. In January 1919, after producing 6500 Liberty engines, manufacturing operations were suspended, and the war was soon over. Lincoln considered manufacturing automobile engines for other nameplates in the postwar years, but soon opted to convert to the production of luxury automobiles. However, production delays and the postwar recession of 1920 hurt sales, and the company eventually went into receivership.

Henry Ford's Lincoln

In 1922,

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...

purchased the company for $8,000,000, turning the Lincoln into

's luxury brand. Leland retained his management post after the sale, but the strong-willed Leland and Ford immediately clashed, and Leland resigned after a few months. Ford immediately began refurbishing the plant layout and manufacturing. Ford also added onto the size of the complex, hiring architect Albert Kahn to design some of the many buildings along Livernois, adding over to the plant. The

Lincoln Zephyr Lincoln Zephyr is a name used by various different Lincoln vehicles. * Lincoln-Zephyr, a 1936–1942 line of mid-size luxury cars * Lincoln MKZ, a 2005–2020 mid-size sedan, sold as the Zephyr from 2005 to 2006 * Lincoln Zephyr (China), a 2022 ...

and

Lincoln Continental The Lincoln Continental is a series of mid-sized and full-sized luxury cars produced by Lincoln, a division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. The model line was introduced following the construction of a personal vehicle for Edse ...

were made in the factory until 1952, when production facilities were moved to

Wayne, Michigan Wayne is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 17,593 at the 2010 census. Wayne has a long history of automotive and transportation related manufacturing. Ford Motor Company currently has two plants in Wayn ...

The new Wixom plant opened in the fall of 1957.

The Lincoln Plant after automobiles

Ford kept some offices in the plant, and leased out portions to other companies after manufacturing operations were relocated to the new

Wixom Assembly Plant The Ford Wixom Assembly Plant was a Ford Motor Company manufacturing facility in Wixom, Michigan, with production reaching 6,648,806 over the fifty years it was operational (1957–2007). History As one of Ford's largest and oldest manufacturing ...

. In 1955,

Detroit Edison DTE Electric Company (formerly The Detroit Edison Company) was founded in 1886. DTE Electric's power generation portfolio includes renewable energy, but is primarily generated by fossil fuels. In 2021, 67.32% of electricity generated by DTE came ...

bought the complex for $4,500,000, renaming it the Detroit Edison Warren Service Center. The company consolidated many of its services into the facility, but later used it primarily as a storage yard. In recognition of its importance in automotive history, the Lincoln Motor Company Plant was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978. However, nearly all of the plant buildings were demolished in December 2002 and January 2003, including the main Buildings A, B, C, and D. A small portion of the Factory G was retained, as well as other scattered support structures; however, because of the substantial loss of historic integrity the plant's National Historic Landmark designation was withdrawn on April 4, 2005.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit History of Detroit Ford factories Economy of Detroit Former National Historic Landmarks of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturing plants on the National Register of Historic Places Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Buildings and structures demolished in 2003 Demolished buildings and structures in Detroit