Ford City

Ford City was a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within the municipal boundaries of Windsor. The community was founded by the Ford Motor Company in the early 1900s as a separate company town where Ford had a big plant at the corner of Riverside Drive and Drouillard Road, which at one point employed 14,000 people.

The boundaries east to west were Pillette Ave to Walker Road, and the north and south boundaries were Riverside Drive to Grand Marais Boulevard. Ford City's downtown main street was Drouillard Ave. The last remaining building of Ford is the engine plant. In 1935, Ford City merged with the City of Windsor, along with the towns of Sandwich and Walkerville.

The area is also famous for the historic 99 day 1945 Ford Strike during which the workers fought to be unionized, and set up a blockade around the plant. The Rand Formula was created at the end of the strike where workers would have to pay union dues for having a union in their workplaces, which set the standard for all unions in Canada. Ford left Windsor for Oakville in 1953, closing the Riverside Dr. plant and leaving thousands unemployed as only the casting and engine plants remained. (Source: wikipedia.org)