The Ford Piquette plant in Detroit – birthplace of the Model T – hasn’t produced anything in a very long time, but the historical site remains a popular tourist attraction, regardless. Following a year-long renovation project, the first floor of the Ford Piquette plant officially opened to the public for the first time in decades back in 2023, and last year, the site was awarded a $500,000 Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to further help with its revamp. However, that grant has now been rescinded.
According to Automotive News, NEH canceled the grant that was previously awarded to the Ford Piquette plant, and as a result, that site has “indefinitely tabled accessibility and preservation improvements.” That $500k in funds was going to be used for the installation of restrooms on each floor, as well as a new elevator designed to help reduce the usage of the plant’s historic freight elevator.
“Your grant no longer effectuates the agency’s needs and priorities and conditions of the grant agreement and is subject to termination due to several reasonable causes,” Acting Chairman Michael McDonald said in a letter sent to the facility’s nonprofit operator, the Model-T Automotive Heritage Complex Inc. “Please remember that your obligations under the grant agreement continue to apply. Additionally, an audit may be conducted by the [National Endowment for the Humanities] after the termination of your grant.”
Piquette President and CEO Jill Woodward isn’t exactly sure what the reasoning behind this decision was, either. “We are excellent at compliance, thanks to our volunteers … I’m stunned that this has happened,” Woodward said. “It’s very difficult for an organization of our size with our bandwidth to raise $500,000. When the federal government says we believe your project is valuable to the community … that inspires donor confidence. We spent so much of our human capital to get to this point. To have it yanked out from underneath you is just devastating.”
Comments
I maybe that Train Station restoration wasn’t such a good idea after all…..
What a “crappy” break. Oh well, life has its “ups and downs”……😂
I was there in 2023, spectacular piece of history. Don’t cry, there is no need of public bathrooms or an elevator, c’mon, people! Who put those $500K, we, the tax payers? No way, increase the entrance fee and that’s all. If they need the bathrooms and elevators to accommodate weddings and parties (there was one planned the day I visited), just make that somewhere else and use the museum for the main purpose, that’s all you need.
One could go on about why the National Endowment for the Humanities pulled its grant. This is politics, this is agendas, this is many things. Possibly this is about the nature of the Ford Motor Company in general. It’s in the name. they make cars and trucks. There may well about a slackening enthusiasm for the five billion dollar EV debacle that will never turn a profit because not enough people will buy them and there many reasons for that. GM and Chrysler entered bankruptcy, Ford doesn’t want that. As in other areas, these charitable organizations are not promoting charity but a kind of obliteration of history replaced by the NEH’s grim controlling future. The NEH may not want to see the survival of motoring but its ruin. They don’t like the image. As the son of Ford autoworker who was an employee of the Ford Hospital while studying at Wayne State, I could see the change toward different goals. The Ford Foundation is in New York City and has essentially abandoned Detroit. The company has created Ford Philanthropy focused on the city. Piquette represents the robust history of a company that created millions of jobs, a good place to live, and affordable essentials. The NEH doesn’t find that attractive never mind glamorous and elevated work. Ford should move on, there must some organization or philanthropist they could. I would contact Jay Leno…