Technician celebrates 55 years at STP
“I’m just a plain guy. I
come to work, do my
job, and that’s it.”
Eddie Price
STP Technician
Eddie Price, a manufacturing
technician at the Sharonville
Transmission Plant, recently
celebrated his 55th anniversary
working at Ford and doesn’t
understand what the fuss is about.
“I feel lucky,” said Price.
When Price joined Ford in 1961, he
started out as a cleaner/sweeper
before moving to the final
assembly area where he has
worked on the line for the last 54
years.
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LEP honors veterans
Number 19: healing
disabled WWII veterans
The Ford “Village Industries” was a
philanthropic program with the intention to
augment and stabilize the income flow of
local farm workers during the winter
months, when crops were not in season.
After World War I, Henry Ford began
establishing these small rural factories in
Michigan and throughout the country to
produce parts and components for his
vehicles while bringing the local farmers
living away from Detroit the economic
advantages of having an industrial job,
without having to abandon their fields.
Lima Engine Plant veteran Robert Geiger signs a
poster of support during a veteran recognition event
held recently at LEP. Approximately 200 veterans
were recognized at LEP during the month of
November.
Ford’s 19th village industry was such a
place, located at the intersection of Cherry
Hill and Ridge Roads in Canton, Mich.
Originally known as “Ridge,” the small
village changed its name to “Cherry Hill”
due to the wild cherry trees growing in the
area along the banks of the Lower Rouge
River.
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UAW 249’s Community Services Committee hard at work
The Community Services Committee
of Local UAW 249 at Kansas City
Assembly Plant always has a full
calendar during this time of year
while preparing for the holiday
season. The group has been steadily
busy with annual drives to provide
help to under privileged people in the
greater Kansas City community.
come from a big family of six sisters
and these types of ideals were
instilled with me at a young age.
Giving back has always been a huge
part of my life.”
Although it was an unseasonably
warm day when the children
received their winter gear, they were
not concerned and proceeded to
Members recently brought a load of such a discount on the coats,
bundle up in their coats, hats,
winter apparel to a local elementary scarves, hats and gloves.”
scarves and mittens. In addition to
school to keep children warm during Shawn Scanlon, an operator in
the coat distribution day, the group
the winter. “This was my first project Transit Body, finds each project to be also held a turkey drive in which
like this,” said Angela Mattivi, a pipe- satisfying. “It’s awesome to be a part volunteers passed out turkey holiday
fitter in Skilled Trades. “I was so glad of this,” said Scanlon. “Part of the
meal prep kits with all the
to be part of it. And we are grateful
reason I wanted to be on the
Thanksgiving dinner trimmings for
that the JC Penney Company offered committee was to help others. I
those in need.
PRICE
“I’m just a plain guy,” says Price. “I perform, hop back on a flight
come to work, do my job and
home and then go right back to
that’s it.” But Eddie is not as “plain” work.
as he claims.
“There were bright lights, girls. I
Price likes his job, but was almost didn’t realize I had a good job (at
lured away back in the ‘60s. He
Ford) until the leader of the band
was in a band that performed a lot went on vacation,” said Price.
on the East Coast and Caribbean
“That meant no money coming in.
during the weekends. He worked
If you don’t save money, you’re out
the midnight shift at Ford so, after of luck. There are no benefits or
his last weeknight shift, he would
job security (in a band).”
hop on a flight to his weekend gig,
So he decided to stick with Ford.
Price says his co-workers
sometimes make fun of him for
“not doing anything” in his off time,
but he just laughs. “I saw half the
world,” he said. “I just got tired.”
But Price is nothing if not resilient
and he’s already got retirement
plans. “This is my last contract,”
said Price. After that, he plans to
travel again and see more bright
lights.
NUMBER 19
Around 1940, Henry Ford purchased
the land and buildings and opened
the factory in 1944, but this property
was different from the others. Ford
was repurposing the Cherry Hill
property to provide training,
rehabilitation, employment, and a
living place for disabled World War II
veterans who were returning home.
They would supplement production
at the Willow Run Bomber Plant,
which was experiencing labor
shortages.
“This was Ford’s 19th and final
village industry,” said Jill Engel,
executive director, The Partnership
for the Arts and Humanities, a
cultural arts organization in Canton
Township which purchased the
property in 2012. “The vets’
dormitory had been a successful
creamery, which Ford moved to the
south Ridge Road and renovated to
make it a residence hall for the men
working at the village factory,
because this was the only place that
was not employing off-season
farmers who had their own homes,”
she continued.
“According to the archives at the
Benson Ford Research Center, Henry
Ford brought his sons and grandsons
to have breakfast and lunch with the
veterans on the weekends,” Engel
said.
Ford stopped using the village
factory Number 19 by the end of the
war in 1945. He died in 1947 and Ford
Motor Company sold the property in
1950. It has been bought and sold
four times to other industrial
manufacturing companies since
then. These organizations added
and extended the warehouse, which
was demolished last year, because
the structures had been built over
the river and floodplain.
The original Henry Ford Village
Factory, Creamery/Dormitory, and
50,000 square-foot industrial
warehouse building are historical
landmarks. The Partnership for the
Arts and Humanities is bringing back
Ford’s history with WWII veterans in
Michigan with plans to transform the
former Number 19th Village Factory
into a regional arts center.