Edge

Trying to figure out if this is what I said before looked like walkways across... can you tell us a bit about this one Mott?

So much mystery! LOL I wish we could all get a guided foot tour from someone who used to work there back then.

You better hurry up and find someone to do that tour for you. They are quickly dying off in nursing homes. The grand opening for the new Studebaker Museum featured some of the dwindling number of people who used to work at the Studebaker plant back in the day. Just as this plant has slowly eroded away, so do the aging people who made and worked within it. Irony. The sad reality of our existence... as I often quote... everything is on its way to somewhere... myspace.com/andrewwalz

My first posting to your site. Thank you for this great series of shots! I was able to also "visit" this building a few years ago and have some great video. Only a few stills. My parents met and married while working at Studebaker during WW2. They were at Studebaker Aviation (known as the Chippewa Avenue plant)then, not these buildings. Dad worked in many areas later. His last jobs were in the body plant which is still there as of now I believe. I do not know if he ever worked in these buildings, and they are both gone now. Mom left shortly after the war ended, Dad till the last day of auto production in this complex. This "hall" was created by adding a roof between two earlier buildings. It was obviously a later vintage roof system than the buildings. This also explains the windows facing the "hall". I did not notice the gantry crane then but see it now at the far end of this shot. It consists of two beams running left and right. It would be supported by a track on either end so it could move toward and away from this viewpoint. If you look just below the suspended light fixture you will see a "bump" on the beams. That is the trolly for moving the load left and right. I think I can see the hook but not sure. It is probably still there in this shot.

abandon ship.

This reminds me of science class when we were learning about metal alloys. Truly fascinating. Mott, you are my true scientific hero.

Ok... The "balconys" in this room were used for fast shipping. An example would be: they put a crate of fenders on one "balcony", the over head crane would then come and lift it off and set it on the ground level. The crate would then be loaded into a train car that ran through the "pitt" in the floor to be moved to other parts of the plant, or the other way around. The plant also had its own rail way system and rail yarl just out behind these buildings, but thats another story.