The colossal Ford Rouge complex through the years

Because Henry Ford was determined to be independent of suppliers, he developed the Rouge into an almost self-sufficient and self-contained industrial city. Construction began on April 1, 1917 and 10 years later the facility contained 93 structures, 90 miles of railroad tracks, 27 miles of conveyors, 53,000 machine tools and 75,000 employees.

Situated on more than 2,000 acres along the Rouge River southwest of downtown Detroit, the complex was built to easily receive iron ore from Upper Michigan and coal from Pennsylvania by ship. Ford had a fleet of three freighters.

Detroit architect Albert Kahn designed most of the complex. Above, a machinist at the Rouge in 1921.

The American architectural photographer Charles Sheeler was one of several notable artists who found inspiration in the Rouge. This photo of criss-crossed conveyors was taken in 1927.

The Ford Rouge steel mill in 1927.

Men work in the steel mill beside a conveyor belt in this undated photo.

The assembly line at the Rouge rolls along efficiently in 1929. Henry Ford's invention of the moving-chassis assembly line in 1913 increased the efficiency of production and lowered costs, enabling Ford to price cars so that average workers could afford them.

Old cars move slowly along a conveyer belt at Ford's Rouge plant while workmen remove tires, glass, roof material, spark plugs and other parts in June 1930.

The rest of the old cars are scrapped at the Rouge in 1930.

The Ford Rouge water tunnel in 1931.

Artist Diego Rivera was inspired by the Rouge complex for his Detroit Industry Murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Rivera saw Detroit, he said, as an expression of the steel that goes into automobiles and skyscrapers. He's seen at work on the murals on Oct. 17, 1932.

A worker at the Ford Rouge complex in 1934.

The drawbridge over Dix Avenue with the Rouge complex in the background, 1934.

Rouge workers board trams into the factories, July 1933. More than 100,000 workers punched in at the complex every day. If the Rouge were a city, it would have ranked as the fourth biggest in Michigan at the time.

Applicants wait in line at the Rouge complex's employment office on October 22, 1935, at the height of the Depression.

The railroad at the Rouge complex in 1935.

Chutes that convey raw materials from ships to the Rouge foundry are seen in 1936.

Railroad lines, center, carry supplies to the massive Ford Rouge complex in 1936.

An aerial view of the Ford Rouge complex in 1937.

The Ford Rotunda, a striking building resembling four gears, was a tourist attraction and special events space. It opened in Dearborn over the river from the Rouge factory in May 1936. In the 1950s, it was the fifth most popular tourist destination in the nation. The Rotunda was destroyed by fire on Nov. 9, 1962.

Three members of Ford's internal security service approach union leaders Walter P. Reuther, third from right, and Richard T. Frankensteen, second from right, who were posing for a photo for Detroit News photographer James Kilpatrick on one of the Ford bridges over Miller Road on May 26, 1937. The ensuing fight became known as the "Battle of the Overpass."

Ford servicemen beat UAW activist Richard Frankensteen after he and other unionists gathered to pass out leaflets.

Walter Reuther, left, president of UAW Local 174, and Richard Frankensteen, UAW-CIO, are bloodied after being beaten by Ford employees in the "Battle of the Overpass," May 26, 1937.

Cars roll down the assembly line in this undated photo.

The Ford Rouge coke ovens in 1937.

Henry Ford and his son, Edsel Ford, talk at a building under construction at the Rouge complex on the 35th anniversary of the founding of Ford Motor Co., in June 1938.

A banner on the exterior of the plant reads "Safety Is Everybody's Business."

The tool and die shop at the Rouge in November 1940.

In the 1940s, all the Detroit automakers joined the war effort, as the city became known as "the Arsenal of Democracy." Here workers assemble airplane engines at the Ford Rouge plant in 1941.

During World War II, Ford Motor Co. helped establish the United States Naval Service Training School at the Rouge, to train sailors to repair engines, work with sheet metal, electrical skills and other trades. By the time the school closed in May 1946 it had trained more than 22,000 young sailors.

Looking up at the Rouge smokestacks in 1941.

The Rouge plant coke ovens in 1941.

The tool and die shop in 1941.

Strikers parade outside the Ford Rouge factories in 1941.

Onlookers examine the overturned car of an African-American man, presumably a strikebreaker, who was attacked by union pickets during the 1941 Ford strike.

Women picket during the 1941 Ford strike.

Strikers attack a man who tried to cross their picket line during the 1941 Ford strike.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning photo vividly captured the emotions of unionists confronting a strikebreaker during the 1941 walkout of Ford's Rouge complex. It was taken by News photographer Milton Brooks and was the first photo to win in the new Pulitzer Prize category for photo journalism.

Strikers at Gate 4 of the Ford Motor Co.'s Rouge plant hold up copies of The Detroit News announcing the end of the wildcat strike that prompted Henry Ford to capitulate to unionzation in April 1941.

Olga Willett machines a bevel gear blank on a Monarch lathe in 1942. Willett, 41, came to Detroit from Colorado to see her son Carl leave for military training at Fort Custer. After bidding him goodbye she applied for work at the Rouge complex, and became one of more than 1,000 women working in the aircraft building during World War II.

Inside the Rouge tire plant in 1942.

After World War II ends in 1945, car production resumes at the Rouge plant.

Workers drop a body onto a chassis, July 1945.

Workers hoist an engine on the assembly line in October 1945.

Seventeen days after his 28th birthday in 1945, Henry Ford II succeeded his grandfather, Henry Ford, as president of Ford Motor Co. Here, a relaxed Ford talks with employees at the company's Rouge complex.

A car makes a run at Ford's proving grounds at the Rouge complex, September 1946.

Lincoln Park students take a Rouge plant assembly line tour in 1946. Tours of the complex were very popular from their beginning in 1924. They continued until 1980, then resumed in 2004.

Assembly line employees are seen at work in 1946.

New cars sit in a Rouge plant parking lot in 1946.

The Rouge coke ovens in 1946.

The Ford assembly line in 1947 was at its height of production. That year, Henry Ford died, bringing on a new era of more widespread manufacturing and a more global outlook.

Rouge metal workers shape car bodies in 1949.

Tourists visit the assembly line at the Rouge in 1951.

Ships pass along the Rouge River in 1952.

In 1954, Delance Shaw works at the Rouge by-products plant, where waste from the coke-making process is used to make ammonia gas.

A worker inspects engines in 1955.

Children play in the pool at the Rouge day camp in 1956.

Gates at the Rouge complex, June 1957.

The company railroad at the Rouge complex in 1957.

Rouge firefighters battle a fire on a Ford freighter in 1958.

The Rouge complex was so large it had a fully staffed hospital, seen in 1958.

Workers run tests in the Rouge hospital lab in 1958.

Inspectors make final quality control checks on the line in May 1958.

Chassis get a close inspection in June 1958.

A workman at the Rouge plant, February 1960.

An aerial shot of steam pipes at the Rouge, 1960.

Ford Mustangs on the Rouge production line in 1965.

Motown singers Martha and the Vandellas pose at the Ford Rouge plant, sitting in a Mustang being assembled on June 15, 1965. They were known for hits like "(Love is like a) Heat Wave" and "Dancing in the Street."

Rolls of steel at the Rouge steel mill in 1973.

A Rouge assembly line in 1979.

A control room at the Rouge complex in 1980.

Massive machinery runs the Rouge steel mill in 1981.

The Rouge powerhouse is seen in 1982.

The Rouge steel mill in 1984.

The Rouge steel mill in 1984.

The Ford Rouge Center gate in 2003.

Ford goes green with a living roof at the Rouge in 2004.

A media tour goes through the final assembly at the Rouge on April 26, 2004. Ford started giving public tours of the Rouge again that year after halting them in 1980.

An aerial shot of the Rouge plant, April 5, 2004.

Engines travel on an assembly line at the Rouge Plant in 2008.

The assembly line at the Dearborn Truck Plant in the Rouge complex in 2013.

Ford Motor Co. CEO Mark Fields and Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. applaud during the announcement of the building of the new 2015 Ford F-150 pickup at the Rouge Plant in 2014.

Ford begins building the new 2015 Ford F 150 pickup truck at Dearborn Truck in the Rouge complex in 2014. The facility’s 7,500 employees work three shifts round-the-clock to manufacture America’s best-selling vehicle.

Visitors can get a feel for what it's like to build a truck while watching a film on the manufacturing process in the Manufacturing Innovation Theater, seen on Feb. 10, 2015.

A Ford F-150 rolls along the line at the Ford Dearborn Truck assembly plant in the Rouge complex on Sept. 25, 2018.