Long Beach Assembly is a former

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 ...

assembly plant located at the Cerritos Channel on

Terminal Island Terminal Island, historically known as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington and San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles, and the city of Long ...

, at 700 Henry Ford Avenue in

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

, Southern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It operated from 1930 through 1958. The former

Henry Ford Bridge The Henry Ford Bridge, also known as the Badger Avenue Bridge, is a bridge located in Los Angeles County, Southern California. It carries the Pacific Harbor Line railroad across the Cerritos Channel to Terminal Island from San Pedro, to serve t ...

, crossing the Cerritos Channel from the mainland to Terminal Island, was located near the former plant site.

History

The Ford Model A were the first vehicles to be built, with operations beginning in March, 1930. The location was stopped production of the 1959 Fords on March 20, 1959. when underground subsidence caused by oil drilling left the facility unstable. The

Los Angeles Assembly Los Angeles Assembly was a former American Ford Motor Company assembly plant located at 8820 Washington Boulevard and Rosemead Boulevard, in Pico Rivera, southwestern Los Angeles County, California. Ford plant Known as Los Angeles Plant #2, the ...

plant #2 had opened in Pico Rivera in August 1957 producing first the Edsel and in mid-September 1957, the Mercury. 1959 Ford car production resumed at Los Angeles on April 10, 1959. The location was one of several factories designed by architect Albert Kahn who was the chief architect for Ford factories across the US. Through 1948, the location built

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, Mercury and Ford products that were distributed throughout the

American Southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...

. In 1948 a Lincoln-Mercury plant opened in Maywood, called Maywood Assembly. During the Depression of the 1930s, the Long Beach Assembly plant manufactured trucks that were used to build

Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on S ...

. The facility was briefly closed from December 1932 until February 1935. During WWII the location was used as a supply base by the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

, with automobile production resuming in December, 1945. Ford closed earlier

plants that had been operating since 1911: first, at 12th and Olive Streets and after 1914, at East Seventh Street and Santa Fe Avenue. The factory that built

Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...

is still standing, having been converted to apartment buildings.

Gallery

File:LongBeachFord.jpg, 1930 File:Neg. No. F-60, Apr 13, 1930, INTERIOR-ASSEMBLY BUILDING, HOOD CONVEYOR - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-80.tif, Hood conveyor, April 13, 1930 File:Neg. No. F-70D, Apr 13, 1930, INTERIOR-WAREHOUSE, 1ST FLOOR ENGINE STORAGE - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-63.tif, Engine storage, April 13, 1930 File:Neg. No. F-54, Apr 13, 1930, INTERIOR-OIL HOUSE, PAINT CIRCULATING SYSTEM - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-75.tif, Paint circulating system File:OVERALL VIEW TO EAST-NORTHEAST OF ASSEMBLY AREA. - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, CA HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-34.tif, Overall view to east-northeast of assembly area File:VIEW OF WATER TOWER FROM ELECTRICAL TRANSFORMER CAGE AT NORTH END OF SECOND FLOOR WAREHOUSE. VIEW TO WEST-NORTHWEST. - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Assembly HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-4.tif, Water tower and electrical

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

cage File:Neg. No.-none, ca. 1950's, Photographer-Unknown, AERIAL VIEWS OF THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY ASSEMBLY PLANT, SOMETIME AFTER THE ADDITION OF THE NORTHERN WING - Ford Motor Company HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-A-52.tif, Aerial view of plant and Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge, ca. 1950s File:CRANE FROM SECOND FLOOR DECK, LOOKING SOUTH. - Ford Motor Company Long Beach Assembly Plant, Crane, 700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, CA HAER CAL,19-LONGB,2-C-3.tif, Second floor deck

References

Ford Long Beach
Ford factories Motor vehicle assembly plants in California Manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles Companies based in Long Beach, California Terminal Island 1930 establishments in California 1958 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles History of Long Beach, California {{Auto-factory-stub