309 River Rd
Edgewater, NJ 07020, USA

Ford Motor Company Edgewater Assembly Plant, 309 River Rd, Edgewater, Bergen County, NJ

This complex is an excellent example of Albert Kahn`s achievement in industrial architecture, standing midway between the early multi-story plants built in Detroit for Ford and Dodge, and the late 1930`s - early 1940`s broad assembly plants at Willow Run, Michigan, and Baltimore, Maryland, for Ford and Glenn L. Martin. This plant is a landmark in the industrial development of the west bank of the Hudson River and represents a change in the production policies of the Ford Motor Company from industrial concentration in Detroit to decentralization on the East Coast.

Ford Motor Company Edgewater Assembly Plant, Assembly Building, 309 River Rd, Edgewater, Bergen County, NJ

Ford Motor Company built the Edgewater Assembly Plant as the largest of six such plants in the United States c.1928-31, to expand production of the Model A automobile line introduced in late 1927. Albert Kahn, perhaps the most important industrial architect working in the United States c.1903-42, designed all six assembly plants. The Assembly Building at Edgewater was the most architecturally successful of the major structures built during this program, combining elements of classical Prairie, and German industrial styles in a unified exterior wrapped around numerous internal assembly, storage, and distribution functions. The Edgewater plant, operating until 1955 as the longest-used of the c.1928-31 Ford assembly complexes, typified the heavily-conveyorized, densely-packed, horizontally-arranged assembly operations which characterized Ford methods c.1928-50. The Assembly Building was also the largest above-ground structure ever erected on the waterfront in the Port of New York, with a massive, partial pier substructure probably unique within this region.

Ford Motor Company Edgewater Assembly Plant, Substation, 309 River Rd, Edgewater, Bergen County, NJ

Ford Motor Company built the Edgewater Assembly Plant as the largest of six such plants in the United States c.1928-31, to expand production of the Model A automobile line introduced in late 1927. The Edgewater plant, operating until 1955 as the longest-used of the c.1928-31 Ford assembly complexes, typified the heavily-conveyorized, densely-packed, horizontally-arranged assembly operations which characterized Ford methods c.1928-50. The Substation was significant as a component of the complex, supplying power from the local public utility to the Assembly Building , Boiler House and Oil House (see HAER No. NJ-53 and NJ-53-A). Albert Kahn, perhaps the most important industrial architect working in the United States c.1903-42, designed all six assembly plants. Kahn`s exterior for the Substation switchhouse was a scaled-down version of important facade features used on the Assembly Building, which was the most architecturally successful of the major structures built during the Ford branch plant program. Along with the Boiler House and Oil House, the Substation presented a unified set of auxiliary structure facades to complement the much larger Assembly Building.