Center for the Study of Automotive Heritage

Milan Mill

Ford purchased and renovated an existing mill in 1936 in the Village of Milan, Michigan, as the eleventh village industry site. A new hydro plant building, bridge and dam were also built. The new dam changed the course of the Saline River, creating a small reservoir, which was named Ford Lake.

While the mill was used for processing soybeans, an auto garage on the site was converted into a small factory, which manufactured ignition coils. Soybean oil and mash from the mill were used in the production of foundry cores for the ignition coils manufactured in the adjacent factory. By 1939, Milan Mill employed 150 to 200 men and was producing enough ignition coils to meet the all the needs of Ford Motor Company.

The photo on the right is an ignition coil unit that was produced at the Milan Mill factory between 1937 and 1941. Ignition coils are electrical transformers, consisting of copper wire windings or coils where a low-voltage current is fed through a primary winding which generates high-voltage spark pulses in the secondary winding. The high voltage is needed for the ignition of an engine.

In 1942, Milan Mill joined the War Effort and began production of Ignition Coils for military trucks and Universal Carriers. Women workers were hired for the first time in order to meet war production demands. Ford closed the Milan Mill in 1948. All the machinery, jobs and employees were moved to the Ypsilanti, Michigan plant.

The Center for the Study of Automotive Heritage conducted two sets of oral history interviews with workers from the Milan ignition coil assembly factory.

Milford Mill

Nankin Mills

Phoenix Mill

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Special Thanks to Pat Majher, Curator of Hack House Museum, operated by the Milan Area Historical Society