Interestingly, Ford wanted to make it something special by involving Hayes B. Whittlesey, a descendant of one of Brownhelm Township’s founders, in the groundbreaking ceremony. Read all about it in the two articles below, which appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal on November 12, 1956.
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Ford Motor Co. Plans To Stage Groundbreaking
Brownhelm Ceremony Is Scheduled
A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at the new multi-million dollar Ford Motor Division Lorain Assembly Plant site in Brownhelm Township on Wednesday, Nov. 21.
Two top Ford Co. officials and a direct descendant of one of the original families which settled in Brownhelm Township 138 years ago will take part in the ceremony.
James C. Wright, assistant general manager of Ford Division; Thomas R. Reid, director of the Ford Company’s Office of Civic Affairs, and Hayes B. Whittlesey, prominent 80-year-old Brownhelm Township farmer, will turn over the first spadefuls of dirt.
The groundbreaking will take place at the southwest corner of the Lorain Assembly Plant site on Routes 6 and 2 at Baumhart Rd., about four miles west of Lorain.
The site is now being cleared for the erection of the giant assembly plant which will contain 1,500,000 square feet of space and is scheduled for completion early in 1958.
The plant will employ 2,500 workers on a one-shift operation, or nearly double that number on a two-shift basis.
Ford officials said the groundbreaking will be held at 10:30 a.m.
Immediately after the ceremony, a press conference will be conducted in the recreation room of the Brownhelm Congregational Church by Wright for newspaper, television and radio representatives.
A 10-year veteran with Ford, Wright formerly was director of purchasing for the company and has had wide experience in the fields of company organization, finance and manufacturing. He is a member of Ford’s administration committee, the firm’s top policy-making group.
Wright assists Robert S. McNamara, vice-president of Ford Co. and general manager of the Ford Division, in the management of the company’s largest end-product division.
He has been with the Ford Co. since January 1946, and has held a number of important posts in the management of the company.
At noon, Ford Division will be host to about 100 guests at a luncheon in the church social room.
The guest list will include representatives of Brownhelm Township families and those business, industrial and civic leaders of Lorain County who played an important role in locating the new Ford Division assembly plant in the township.
Following the luncheon, Reid will express the Ford Company’s appreciation for the cooperation and warm-hearted support the company has received and will speak on Ford’s “Good Neighbor” policy and how it will apply in Lorain County.
Before joining Ford, Reid was a vice-president and director of McCormick and Company, Baltimore, Md.
In addition to his duties at Ford, he is prominent in the affairs of Detroit’s Board of Commerce, Michigan’s Economic Development Commission, the National Municipal League, the Citizen’s Research Council of Michigan, United Community Service of Detroit and the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Introduction of guests will be made by Robert H. Spaethe, executive director of the Lorain County Development Committee.
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Descendant of Settlers To Help Break Ground At New Ford Plant Site
By JACK LaVRIHA
Modest, friendly and possessor of a keen memory, Whittlesey said he was looking forward to the groundbreaking ceremony “with some anxiety.”
Looking more like a retired business executive than a farmer, Whittlesey smiled as he said in a rocker in the comfortable hoe in which he was born, and said with pride:
“The new Ford Division plant is the real beginning of industrial and residential growth for Brownhelm Township. It took a long time to start, but it’s a great beginning.”
Whittlesey owns a 109-acre farm on Foster park Rd. near the north end of the township, east of Baumhart Rd.
The home in which he lives was built in 1836 by his grandfather, Solomon Whittlesey, who was among the first settlers who arrived in Brownhelm Township in 1817.
The settlers came from Stockbridge, Mass., a year after agents of the Connecticut Land Company had surveyed and laid out the township land.
Hayes Whittlesey said his grandfather lived in a log house he had built in the township only a short distance to the east of the present Whittlesey home.
“It was in the log house,” he said, “that a group of residents met in June, 1819, and organized the first church in the township.”
“The church was the forerunner of the present Brownhelm Congregational church,” he added.
Cyrus L. Whittlesey, father of Hayes B., was born in the log house Aug, 8, 1832.
Cyrus Whittlesey married Lucy Bacon, daughter of Samuel Bacon, another early Brownhelm Township settler.
Hayes B. Whittlesey, who still enjoys working on his farm and abstains from drinking and smoking, said, “Brownhelm Township is full of colorful history.”
“I have always had confidence in the growth and expansion of our township,” he declared. “And I had an idea that when it did happen it would be in a big way.”
Whittlesey said he recalls the operation of a stone quarry in the township more than 50 years ago “which was really the first industry in the township.”
He said there were two or three cheese factories, all small operations, which soon disappeared.
Asked how he keeps in good physical condition, Whittlesey said, “It is work on the farm that has done it. Hard work never killed anyone.”
Whittlesey and his charming wife, the former Elsie Cooper, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Nov. 7 of this year.
Mrs. Whittlesey’s grandfather, Anson Cooper, was also a pioneer settler of Brownhelm Township.
The Cooper farm is located on the west end of Cooper-Foster Park Rd.
The Hayes B. Whittleseys have two daughters, Mrs. Lucy Straley, wife of Dr. J. W. Straley, a member of the faculty of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C., and Mrs. Ruth Hite, whose husband Howard operates the Whittlesey farm.
The Straleys have two sons and a daughter and the Hites have a son, Clayton, a junior at Ohio Northern University, Ada.
Mrs. Whittlesey has two brothers, A. J. Cooper, who lives in the Cooper homestead, and E. G. Cooper of Lorain, retired president of Central Bank Co.
Very interesting articles! I grew up on Whittlesey Road and worked for Howard Hite on his farm when I was younger. I have fond memories of Ruth, always in the kitchen, cooking lunch or dinner for Howard and Clayton. She was a sweet lady.
ReplyDeleteDave Beko