{"id":269,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-03-04 21:31:59","latitude":41.5106540000000023837856133468449115753173828125,"longitude":-81.6027629999999959409251459874212741851806640625,"title":"Ford Model T Plant","subtitle":"When Cars Were Assembled in University Circle","fullsize":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/02a3dc63e4c42cec0f1adf65f0213d66.jpg","address":"11610 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH","zoom":12,"creator":["Rory Fabian"],"description":"Ford produced over 15 million Model T cars, making it the most widely sold car in history.  Although most were made in Highland Park, Michigan, more than 100,000 Model Ts were produced  in Cleveland. The Ford Motor Company established a sales and service office on Euclid Avenue in 1906. In 1911, it moved its Cleveland operations to a facility at  East 72nd Street and St. Clair Avenue. And, in 1914, an assembly plant, located at 11610 Euclid Avenue, took parts made in Michigan and assembled Model Ts. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe Euclid Avenue assembly plant included a showroom and sales office on the first floor, facing onto Euclid Avenue. The second, the third, and fourth floors served as the assembly area. The plant was offered to the War Department during World War I and served as a storage depot for war materiel through 1918. By the next year the plant was again producing Model Ts. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn 1923, Ford updated the Cleveland plant to the &quot;improved moving assembly&quot; process, which was already being used in its Highland Park plant. The plant achieved its peak production in 1925, producing 225 vehicles per day while employing 1,600 people. The last Model T rolled off the line on May 31, 1927. Later that year the factory was retooled to produce the new Ford Model A. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn 1932, Ford began producing the Model B, but because of a large drop in sales and large company wide losses, Ford closed its Cleveland branch plant in December 1932. The building continued to serve as a Ford sales office until the beginning of World War II, at which point the company gave the factory to the federal government. The building was sold after the war and used as a warehouse. It has also been used as office space, artists&#039; studios, and a public storage site. It is currently being used by the Cleveland Institute of Art as a studio and classroom space.<br />\r\n","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Closed permanently; repurposed as Cleveland Institute of Art","lede":null,"website":null,"related_resources":["\"<a href=\"https://case.edu/ech/articles/f/ford-motor-co\">Ford Motor Co.</a>\" <em>Encyclopedia of Cleveland History</em>."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/02a3dc63e4c42cec0f1adf65f0213d66.jpg":{"id":2313,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Factory Viewed from Euclid Avenue","description":"This photo is the east facade of the Cleveland Ford assembly plant on Euclid Avenue. The first floor of the building was used as the showroom while the upper floors were used for the assembly of the vehicles. This plant was one of the first multi-story reinforced concrete auto plants in Cleveland.  | <a href=\"https://www.loc.gov/item/oh0114/\">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a> | ca. 1915 | Historic American Engineering Record","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/02a3dc63e4c42cec0f1adf65f0213d66.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/0a780126d8dac39b294343ff5cfaf168.jpg":{"id":2314,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Interior","description":"This is the interior of one of the upper floors of the Ford Model T plant in Cleveland. The plant followed the format of Ford&#039;s Highland Park plant. The upper floor was for storage, the middle floors were used for painting and trim, and the bottom floors (minus the ground floor, which was used as a sales office) made up the space where the actual vehicle assembly took place.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThis photograph was taken after WW II, by which time Ford had moved out of the building.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nImage courtesy of the Library of Congress","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/0a780126d8dac39b294343ff5cfaf168.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/3221725ef28a7fbfb4d03a016ce89ac0.jpg":{"id":2315,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Model T Ad, 1924","description":"This is a Ladies Home Journal advertisment of the Ford Model T from 1924. The Model T was described as a car that anyone could drive. This advertisment was an attempt to show women how the Model T could be used to complete their daily errands. The ad also indicates the low cost and reliablity of the Model T.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nImage Courtesy of the Western Reserve Historical Society","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/3221725ef28a7fbfb4d03a016ce89ac0.jpg"},"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/545544bc4c81e80698cfc44641d51979.jpg":{"id":2316,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Model A Ad, 1931","description":"This is a Ladies Home Journal advertisment for the Ford Model A from 1931. This ad is aimed at the &quot;busy mom.&quot; <br />\r\n<br />\r\nAfter the last Model T rolled off the assembly in 1927, the Cleveland Ford plant retooled to produce the Model A. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nImage Courtesy of the Western Reseve Historical Society","thumbnail":"https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/545544bc4c81e80698cfc44641d51979.jpg"}}}