Long Beach Assembly facts for kids

The Long Beach Assembly plant was a big factory where the Ford Motor Company used to build cars. It was located in Long Beach, right on Terminal Island by the Cerritos Channel. This plant was open for many years, from 1930 until 1958. A bridge called the Henry Ford Bridge was also nearby, connecting the mainland to Terminal Island.

A Look Back: The Ford Long Beach Plant

Building Cars in Long Beach

The first cars made at the Long Beach plant were the Ford Model A cars. Production started in March 1930. This factory was one of many designed by Albert Kahn, a famous architect who planned Ford factories all over the United States.

For many years, until 1948, the plant built cars for Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury. These cars were then sold to people across the American Southwest. Later, in 1948, another Lincoln-Mercury plant opened in Maywood, called Maywood Assembly. Ford also had older factories in Los Angeles that closed when the Long Beach plant opened.

Helping Out During Tough Times

The Long Beach plant did more than just make cars. During the 1930s, a time known as the Great Depression, the factory made trucks. These trucks were very important because they were used to help build the famous Hoover Dam. The plant even had to close for a short time from December 1932 to February 1935 because of the tough economic times.

During World War II, the factory stopped making cars for a while. Instead, it was used by the United States Army Air Corps as a supply base to help with the war effort. After the war ended, car production started up again in December 1945.

Why the Plant Closed

The Long Beach Assembly plant stopped making cars on March 20, 1959. It closed because the ground beneath it became unstable. This was caused by oil drilling happening nearby. Because the ground was not safe, the factory could no longer operate.

Before the Long Beach plant closed, Ford had already opened a new factory in Pico Rivera, California. This new plant, called Los Angeles Assembly plant #2, started making Edsel cars in August 1957 and Mercury cars in September 1957. When the Long Beach plant closed, the production of 1959 Ford cars moved to the Los Angeles plant in Pico Rivera.

Images for kids

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  1930

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  Hood conveyor, April 13, 1930

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  Engine storage, April 13, 1930

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  Paint circulating system

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  Overall view to east-northeast of assembly area

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  Water tower and electrical transformer cage

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  Aerial view of plant and Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge, ca. 1950s

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  Second floor deck