Famous people's places / Hamtramck
Dodge Main
Closed – archive entry · 1980
The Dodge brothers' Hamtramck automobile plant, closed in 1980 and demolished for GM's controversial Poletown assembly plant.
01 / The story of this place
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Dodge Main was the sprawling automobile plant that brothers John and Horace Dodge built in Hamtramck starting in 1910, after breaking away from their contract work supplying parts to Henry Ford. At its peak the complex employed tens of thousands of workers making Dodge cars and trucks, and it became one of the defining industrial landmarks of the Detroit area alongside the immigrant community that grew up around it. Chrysler, which had absorbed Dodge, closed the aging plant in 1980, and it was demolished the following year. General Motors then acquired the roughly 190-hectare site and much of the surrounding Poletown neighborhood through eminent domain, displacing thousands of residents and demolishing homes, churches and a hospital to build the Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly Plant, now known as Factory Zero and used to build GM's electric vehicles.
- Built by the Dodge brothers starting in 1910 as their own factory
- Employed tens of thousands of workers at its peak
- Closed by Chrysler in 1980 and demolished in 1981
- Site became GM's Poletown plant after a controversial eminent-domain clearance
- Today the site is GM's Factory Zero electric-vehicle plant
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 5
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Walter P. Chrysler 1875–1940 · founder of Chrysler Corporation
Related place
He acquired the plant with Dodge Brothers in 1928; it closed in 1980 and was razed in 1981.
- Horace Dodge 1868–1920 · machinist, automobile manufacturer, co-founder of Dodge Brothers
Founded
The brothers' giant Hamtramck plant, closed in 1980 and razed in 1981; GM's Factory Zero now occupies the site.
- John Dodge 1864–1920 · machinist, automobile manufacturer, co-founder of Dodge Brothers
Founded
The brothers' giant Hamtramck plant, closed in 1980 and razed in 1981; GM's Factory Zero now occupies the site.
- General Baker 1941–2014 · autoworker, labor organizer, revolutionary activist
Worked here
The Hamtramck Dodge plant where he worked and co-founded DRUM in 1968; closed in 1980 and demolished, its site is now GM's Factory Zero.
- Richard Frankensteen 1907–1977 · UAW vice president, labor organizer
Worked here
The huge Dodge Brothers plant in Hamtramck where he worked from his teens and organized the union; closed in 1980 and demolished, the site is now GM's Factory Zero.
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
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