Detroit's Empty Packard Plant

damn shame, good catch OP

YEp

I really love industrial archeology, which is my name for this:

searching for America's industrial past.

Thank you for this post.

So the original article thinks the Packard Plant has to go?

why? I like it as a reminder that things DO NOT have to be the way they are now.

We can recreate a country that makes what it uses.
My guess is that people will not like it, as it will mean using less.

But self-sufficiency is not a bad thing.

thanks again for posting.

blacks have been squatting the plant for years now

It still looks about the same.

self sufficiency is not only not a bad thing, it is the only way a nation survives, or in its lack, perishes.

A nation that cannot provide for its own needs for its own reasons is not a nation for very long

I've been through that plant several times. I can tell you that nobody is squatting there. Even the homeless have moved on. I don't even think Chemical Processing is still there anymore. It's done, as is most of the neighborhood surrounding the plant.

Some of the buildings have been knocked down, and the rest are in an advanced state of deterioration, which is why it needs to go. The older section (the part toward the top of the first photo) is actually collapsing under it's own weight, and the scrappers and arsonists have really taken their toll over the years. You have to remember, the last Packard rolled down the assembly line there in 1956.

It was a magnificent plant in it's day, and so massive that it takes the better part of a day to walk through it, even now. I wish I had been around to see it (and the rest of Detroit, for that matter) in it's prime.

Excellent catch, OP.

Last Edited by peckerhead on 12/02/2012 10:04 PM

these pictures bring tears to my eyes

I worked at manufacturing plants for most of my life

I have seen the pride that skilled workers have in their work

I have seen the good middle class wages that these factories brought to the workers

going ... going .. gone

damn shame

Last Edited by Mr. Predictor on 12/02/2012 10:07 PM

Does San Francisco have a "Packer" plant too?

Good post.

Very sad seeing Detroit go down the tubes. I worked in
auto manufacturing for years and those plants I worked in
are gone. Sad, just sad