Lincoln Motor Company Plant
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Lincoln Motor Company Plant
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Lincoln plant in 1923, showing newer Ford-built addition in rear
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| Location | 6200 W. Warren Ave., Detroit, Michigan |
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| Coordinates | 42°20′44″N 83°7′46″W / 42.34556°N 83.12944°WCoordinates: 42°20′44″N 83°7′46″W / 42.34556°N 83.12944°W |
| Area | 62 acres (25 ha) |
| Built | 1917 |
| Built by | Walbridge-Aldinger Co. |
| Architect | George Mason, Albert Kahn |
| NRHP Reference # | 78001521 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 2, 1978 |
| Designated NHL | June 2, 1978 |
| Delisted NHL | April 4, 2005 |
The Lincoln Motor Company Plant was an automotive plant at 6200 West Warren Avenue (at Livernois) in Detroit, Michigan, later known as the Detroit Edison Warren Service Center. The complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, due to its historic association with World War I Liberty engines and the Lincoln Motor Company. However, the main structures were demolished in 2003 and NHL designation was withdrawn in 2005.
Beginning in 1902, Henry Leland steered Cadillac to become a popular, high quality luxury automobile brand. Leland sold the company to General Motors in 1908, but continued his association with Cadillac until the mid-1910s, when he resigned because of the company's unwillingness to transition to World War I wartime production needs.
In 1917, Leland established the Lincoln Motor Company to build Liberty engines for fighter planes using Ford Motor Company-supplied cylinders. Leland immediately purchased a small factory on Detroit's west side. However, he quickly realized the facilities were not sufficient to house the engine production envisioned, so he purchased a 50-acre plot of land at Warren and Livernois. The company immediately broke ground for a factory complex of over 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2), hiring architect George Mason to design the new buildings and the firm of Walbridge-Aldinger to build them. By the end of the war, the plant complex contained the Administration Building and Garage (Building A), the machine shop (Building B), the main Factories (Buildings C and D), a power house, a heat treatment plant, a motor testing building, and other minor structures.
In January 1919, after producing 6500 Liberty engines, manufacturing operations were suspended, and the war was soon over. Lincoln considered manufacturing automobile engines for other nameplates in the postwar years, but soon opted to convert to the production of luxury automobiles. However, production delays and the postwar recession of 1920 hurt sales, and the company eventually went into receivership.
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