Re: Packard Building Artifacts

Posted by 55PackardGuy On 2011/12/19 14:24:19

The Ford Plant here in St. Paul just shut down Friday after making everything from Model "T"s to practically every one of the Ford Ranger compact pickups since '82, including the last one off the line. There are some nice relief sculptures from the walls and other memorabilia that still exist there, and are being saved. Since it's a Ford plant, of course it will get the full "historic preservation" treatment. The buildings will go, but many fixtures will be saved.

Too bad the Packard plant folded up when everyone was seeking "the look of the future." Also, it went into decline so slowly, that the time to intervene and save some of it never seemed to be clear-cut. It just faded away. The curse of being built to last, maybe. These efforts to save as much as possible even at this late date are encouraging, and a testament to how long a well-built facility can last.