In 1941, Henry Ford’s giant factory on the River Rouge in Dearborn was one of the industrial wonders of the world. Here’s a guided tour.

This fine old factory film from 1941, produced by the Ford Photographic Film Laboratories and narrated by Lowell Thomas, is apparently a re-edited version of the 1938 movie entitled The Ford Rouge Plant: A Story of Men, Methods, and Motor Cars. We don’t know why the film would be repackaged, but we can take a guess. In ’41, the Rouge plant and its workers were in the midst of an ugly and violent labor dispute, and maybe the film distribution was intended to apply some positive spin to the troubling news from Dearborn. Henry Ford would eventually lose this battle with the United Auto Workers union when his wife Clara, appalled by the bloodshed, ordered him to end the strike. On June 20, 1941. Ford Motor formally recognized the UAW and signed its first labor agreement with the union.

The film’s introduction features some mind-boggling statistics for the colossal Rouge factory: 1,096 acres; 7.25 million square feet of floor space; 90 miles of rail track; 80,000 workers. A pioneering attempt at vertical integration in manufacturing, the Rouge plant would, in theory, allow iron ore, lumber, and other raw materials to enter at one end of the facility and complete automobiles to emerge from the other end. While the plant was first built in 1917, automobile assembly did not take place there until the Model A went into production in late 1927.

This approach to automaking never completely caught on, but in more recent times, Tesla Inc. has adopted the strategy for reasons of its own: to develop and control its own unique vehicle technology. So far, the method has proven quite effective for the electric car maker, and we’ll be watching with interest. By the way, the Ford Rouge plant is still in operation today, but in a more modest form. Anyway, Here’s a fascinating look at how it was done in 1941. (Note: Don’t forget to click and subscribe to our YouTube channel, where we host our videos and feature tons of great content. Thanks!)