100 years ago today in Spokane: Proposal floated for a Ford factory in Spokane

Spokane received what appeared to be thrilling economic news: “Ford Will Build Spokane Factory.”

The Spokane Daily Chronicle said Henry Ford himself announced that he planned to build a plant in Spokane for the assembling of Ford’s new pleasure cars as well as Fordson tractors.

The paper rhapsodized that the city was “on the threshold of becoming the location of a vast industry.” Ford had established a new policy, said the paper, of “establishing plants in scores of cities to eliminate the cost of long railway transportation.”

Ford was reported to have said he expected to build at least one plant in every state and that he specifically mentioned Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma.

Further down in the story, however, it was evident that a Spokane factory was not exactly a sure thing. “Water power is desired by the company” and for that reason “Spokane is believed to have an excellent chance of obtaining this industry.”

The Chronicle admitted that details were lacking. The Chronicle’s rival paper, The Spokesman-Review, carried no story about a potential Ford plant that day or the next day.

In fact, no such Ford plant would ever materialize in Spokane. Seattle, on the other had, had opened a Ford assembly plant in 1914 – five years before this article came out.