Henry Ford

[jgavrile]

Lowell , it sounds like you were in Highland Park , to know about the paymaster tunnel at Manufacturers bank. It hand a hand crank that would send a metal paybox under the street over to the Model T plant to pay the workers.

lalynch, I worked at the EEE bldg. later renamed POEE bldg for many years and those tunnels were fascinating to go down into. In later years , there sure were some big rats living down in them. There was also a short tunnel that led from the basement of the EEE bldg out to the parking lot near the power house and unto a freight elevator that was right next to a railroad siding that was brought onto the parking lot. The freight elevator had the two folding metal doors that laid flat in the parking lot and split open as the elevator came up. I think the elevator was taken out in the 80's maybe.
From what I know , when Henry and Clara would go on a train trip in their private railroad car, they would go down the freight elevator that was in the EEE bldg. then walk through the tunnel over to the other freight elevator next to the rail siding and come up next to the railroad car and get in.
Now the EEE bldg. is closed up with Henry Ford's old office inside and the Henry Ford Museum controls the bldg. I am not sure what they are going to do with it.? It was a neat bldg. for sure inside.

[lalynch]

lalynch, I worked at the EEE bldg. later renamed POEE bldg for many years and those tunnels were fascinating to go down into. In later years , there sure were some big rats living down in them. There was also a short tunnel that led from the basement of the EEE bldg out to the parking lot near the power house and unto a freight elevator that was right next to a railroad siding that was brought onto the parking lot. The freight elevator had the two folding metal doors that laid flat in the parking lot and split open as the elevator came up. I think the elevator was taken out in the 80's maybe.
From what I know , when Henry and Clara would go on a train trip in their private railroad car, they would go down the freight elevator that was in the EEE bldg. then walk through the tunnel over to the other freight elevator next to the rail siding and come up next to the railroad car and get in.
Now the EEE bldg. is closed up with Henry Ford's old office inside and the Henry Ford Museum controls the bldg. I am not sure what they are going to do with it.? It was a neat bldg. for sure inside.

I had worked on the 2nd floor of POEE or EEE building from about 2004 - 2006. It was the old library, directly above Henry Ford's office. My cubicle was directly across from a wonderful old fire place. There is a story that a dumb waiter existed to bring books down to Henry Ford's office. Along the wall of the fire place was a series of built in closets. I checked each of them for that dumb waiter. LOL.

While I was at POEE I tried to convince the Powertain management as well as Ford Land to get the building on the National Register of Historic Places so that they could take advantage of the tax credits. Ford Land felt it would hinder them from future uses of the building. Of course, once the rumors circulated about the building going to The Henry Ford they became more interested once I pointed out about how a non-profit such as The Henry Ford could sell the tax credits. Rumors at both Ford and The Henry Ford the last few years were that The Henry Ford would get the building and that they were especially interested in the garage area for storage.
While we were at Greenfield Village last summer a Henry Ford employee told us that The Henry Ford had recently discovered some old cars in one of these old tunnels and that they they didn't know the stuff had been stored there or existed.

POEE needs some TLC. I read in a book once on Henry Ford's square dancing that there once existed a ballroom in POEE. It would of been on the first floor down towards the Automotive Hall of Fame.