Cherry Hill Ford Factory project wins honors

State Sen. Dayna Polehanki, State Rep.Kristy Pagan,
 Partnership for the Arts and Humanities Executive
Director Jill Engel  and MotorCities Chairman
Michael O'Callaghan celebrate the honor awarded
to the Cherry Hill Ford Factory Complex.

The Cherry Hill Ford Factory Complex was recently honored  with the Revitalization Award by MotorCities National Heritage Area Partnership as part of the 6th annual Awards of Excellence during Michigan Auto Heritage Day ceremonies at the Capitol Rotunda in Lansing.

The Cherry Hill Ford Factory Complex in Canton, an original Henry Ford village industry factory and dormitory, is being restored by the township Partnership for the Arts and Humanities. The complex will offer veterans programming - the same purpose it served when Ford opened the facility in the 1940s. The Ford Factory Complex was purchased in 2012 and is still in the process of being rehabilitated so that it can supply veterans with transitional housing after serving in the military.
“This picturesque settlement was the site of Henry Ford's final, most unique and least publicized village industry,” said  Jill Engel, executive director of the Partnership for the Arts and Humanities. “Unlike his previous 18 village industries, Henry Ford did not employ local off-season farmers; rather he provided employment and residence opportunities for disabled veterans of World War II.”
In addition, Engel was presented with a special tribute signed by State Rep. Kristy Pagan, State Sen. Dayna Polehanki, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist.
Michigan Automotive Heritage Day and the Awards of Excellence began in 2014 and have become an annual opportunity to celebrate the story that can only be told in Michigan: how this area “Put The World On Wheels.”