End of an Epoch
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/06/10/business/ford-plant-demolition-begins-today-in-st-paul
Both of my grandfathers worked at that Plant, as did my father before the War. I leave it to pundits to weigh in on the decline of American manufacturing preeminence; what I mainly recall is two things. During the Armistice Day blizzard in 1940 my Grampap walked home from work across the Ford Bridge as usual, and my grandmother never knew how he made it home alive. And second, when I would bike past the Plant with my girlfriends 50 or so years ago, on our way to the park across the bridge, we would hear a chorus of wolf whistles raised by the guys on the line. Nowadays I suppose it would be labeled sexual harassment, but we just laughed and laughed.
ETA: And a third thing. When my grandfather retired, he bought a car. And he walked down the line checking on it as it was being assembled. Last I heard, one of my cousins' daughters had it and it was still running.
Both of my grandfathers worked at that Plant, as did my father before the War. I leave it to pundits to weigh in on the decline of American manufacturing preeminence; what I mainly recall is two things. During the Armistice Day blizzard in 1940 my Grampap walked home from work across the Ford Bridge as usual, and my grandmother never knew how he made it home alive. And second, when I would bike past the Plant with my girlfriends 50 or so years ago, on our way to the park across the bridge, we would hear a chorus of wolf whistles raised by the guys on the line. Nowadays I suppose it would be labeled sexual harassment, but we just laughed and laughed.
ETA: And a third thing. When my grandfather retired, he bought a car. And he walked down the line checking on it as it was being assembled. Last I heard, one of my cousins' daughters had it and it was still running.