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Rescued 2 archive links. Wayback Medic 2.5 per WP:URLREQ#nps.gov

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{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Lincoln Motor Company Plant
| nrhp_type = formernhl
| image = LincolnPlant1923.jpg
| caption = Lincoln plant in 1923, showing newer Ford-built addition in rear
| location = 6200 W. Warren Ave., [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]
| coordinates = {{coord|42|20|44|N|83|7|46|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = Michigan#USA
| built = 1917
| architect = [[George D. Mason]], [[Albert Kahn (architect)|Albert Kahn]]
| builder = Walbridge-Aldinger Co.
| architecture =
| added = June 2, 1978
| designated_nrhp_type = June 2, 1978<ref name=nps2/>
| delisted_nrhp_type = April 4, 2005
| area = {{convert|62|acre}}
| refnum = 78001521<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2009a}}</ref>
}}
The '''Lincoln Motor Company Plant''' was an automotive plant at Livernois, 6200 West Warren Avenue [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], later known as the '''Detroit Edison Warren Service Center'''.<ref name="nris"/> The complex was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1978, due to its historic association with [[World War I]] [[Liberty engine]]s and the [[Lincoln Motor Company]]. However, the main structures were demolished in 2003 and NHL designation was withdrawn in 2005.

== Henry Leland's Lincoln ==
[[File:Lincoln6500LibertyEngine.jpg|thumb|left|The 6500th Lincoln Liberty Aircraft Engine produced in the plant; [[Henry Leland]] and his son Wilfred Leland are on left]]
Beginning in 1902, [[Henry Leland]] steered [[Cadillac]] to become a popular, high quality luxury automobile brand.<ref name = "nps"/> 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.<ref name = "nps2">{{cite web | title = Withdrawal of National Historic Landmark Designation: Lincoln Motor Company Plant | publisher = National Park Service | url = http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/DOE_dedesignations/LincolnMotor.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090122094219/http://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/DOE_dedesignations/LincolnMotor.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 22, 2009 | access-date = December 29, 2010}}</ref>

In 1917, Leland established the [[Lincoln Motor Company]] to build [[Liberty engine]]s for fighter planes using [[Ford Motor Company]]-supplied cylinders.<ref name = "nps">{{cite web | title = Lincoln Motor Company Plant | publisher = National Park Service | url = http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/detroit/d35.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071012024036/http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/detroit/d35.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 12, 2007 | access-date = December 29, 2010}}</ref><ref name=Callaghan>{{cite book | last = O'Callaghan | first = Timothy J. | title = The Aviation Legacy of Henry & Edsel Ford | publisher = Wayne State University Press | year = 2002 | pages = 163–164 | isbn = 1-928623-01-8}}</ref> Leland immediately purchased the [[Warren Motor Car Company Building|former Warren Motor Car Company factory]] on Detroit's west side.<ref name = "nps2"/> 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.<ref name = "leland">{{citation | title = Master of precision: Henry M. Leland | author1 = Ottilie M. Leland | author2 = Minnie Dubbs Millbrook | publisher = Wayne State University Press | year = 1996 | isbn = 0-8143-2665-X | pages = 183, 194, 198, 231, 239 }}</ref> The company immediately broke ground for a factory complex of over {{convert|600000|sqft|m2}}, hiring architect [[George D. Mason]] to design the new buildings and the firm of Walbridge-Aldinger to build them.<ref name = "leland"/><ref name = "det1701">{{cite web | title = Lincoln Motor Company Plant | author = Ren Farley | date = May 2010 | publisher = Detroit1701.org | url = http://detroit1701.org/Lincoln%20Motor%20Company.html | access-date = December 29, 2010}}</ref> 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.<ref name = "nps2"/>

In January 1919, after producing 6500 Liberty engines, manufacturing operations were suspended, and the war was soon over.<ref name = "leland"/> Lincoln considered manufacturing automobile engines for other nameplates in the postwar years,<ref name = "leland"/> but soon opted to convert to the production of luxury automobiles.<ref name = "nps"/> However, production delays and the postwar recession of 1920 hurt sales, and the company eventually went into receivership.<ref name = "leland"/>

{|class="wikitable unsortable"
! style="background:light gray; color:black"|Early images of the Lincoln Plant Interior
<gallery>
File:LincolnPlantDimensionalControlCenter.jpg|Dimensional Control Center
File:LincolnPlantInspectionRoom.jpg|Inspection Room
File:LincolnPlantInspectionPoint.jpg|Inspection Point
File:LincolnPlantGearInspection.jpg|Gear Inspection
</gallery>
|}

== Henry Ford's Lincoln ==
[[File:Lincoln Plant Remains Detroit MI B.JPG|right|thumb|A remnant of the Lincoln Plant Complex: A Building on Warren in 2010]]
In 1922, [[Henry Ford]] purchased the company for $8,000,000,<ref name = "leland"/> turning the Lincoln into [[Ford Motor Company]]'s luxury brand.<ref name = "nps"/> Leland retained his management post after the sale, but the strong-willed Leland and Ford immediately clashed, and Leland resigned after a few months.<ref name = "nps2"/> Ford immediately began refurbishing the plant layout and manufacturing.<ref name = "leland"/> Ford also added onto the size of the complex, hiring architect [[Albert Kahn (architect)|Albert Kahn]] to design some of the many buildings along Livernois,<ref name = "det1701"/> adding over {{convert|300000|sqft|m2}} to the plant.<ref name = "ft">{{citation | title = Lincoln Addition Effects Many Changes in Plant | date = September 15, 1923 | periodical = Ford News | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nrvhAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> The [[Lincoln Zephyr]] and [[Lincoln Continental]] were made in the factory until 1952,<ref name = "nps"/> when production facilities were moved to [[Wayne, Michigan]] The new Wixom plant opened in the fall of 1957.<ref name = "nps2"/>

== The Lincoln Plant after automobiles ==
Ford kept some offices in the plant, and leased out portions to other companies after manufacturing operations were relocated to the new [[Wixom Assembly Plant]] .<ref name = "de"/> In 1955, [[Detroit Edison]] bought the complex for $4,500,000,<ref name = "de">{{citation | title = The force of energy: a business history of the Detroit Edison Company | author = Raymond Curtis Miller | publisher = Michigan State University Press | year = 1971 | page = 165 | isbn = 9780870131646 }}</ref> renaming it the Detroit Edison Warren Service Center.<ref name="nris"/><ref name = "nps"/> The company consolidated many of its services into the facility, but later used it primarily as a storage yard.<ref name = "det1701"/>

In recognition of its importance in automotive history, the Lincoln Motor Company Plant was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978.<ref name = "nps2"/> However, nearly all of the plant buildings were demolished in December 2002 and January 2003, including the main Buildings A, B, C, and D.<ref name = "nps2"/> A small portion of the Factory G was retained, as well as other scattered support structures; however, because of the substantial loss of historic integrity the plant's National Historic Landmark designation was withdrawn on April 4, 2005.<ref name = "nps2"/>

Building H, located along Warren Ave adjacent to the former Building A, was demolished in 2020. DTE Energy currently uses the Warren Service Center site as the location of its main distribution warehouse, fabrication shops and equipment storage.{{citation needed||date=October 2024}}

{|class="wikitable unsortable"
! style="background:light gray; color:black"|The Lincoln Plant Location 2010
<gallery>
File:Lincoln Plant Remains Detroit MI E.JPG|Former location of Administration Building on Warren and Livernois
File:Lincoln Plant Remains Detroit MI D.JPG|Former location of factory on Livernois
File:Lincoln Plant Remains Detroit MI C.JPG|Ford-built factory additions on Livernois, north end of property
File:Lincoln Plant Remains Detroit MI A.JPG|Newer office building on Warren, east of original Administration Building site, demolished in 2020
</gallery>
|}

== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Ford factories}}
{{National Register of Historic Places listings in Wayne County, Michigan}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan}}

[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Detroit]]
[[Category:Ford factories]]
[[Category:Industrial buildings and structures in Detroit]]
[[Category:Former National Historic Landmarks of the United States]]
[[Category:Motor vehicle manufacturing plants on the National Register of Historic Places]]
[[Category:Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 2003]]
[[Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Detroit]]

Lincoln Motor Company Plant - Revision history

imported>GreenC bot: Rescued 2 archive links. Wayback Medic 2.5 per WP:URLREQ#nps.gov