Relocating to Dearborn
Late in 1934 it was announced that, following the World’s Fair, the Ford Rotunda would be dismantled and shipped to Dearborn, Michigan where it was to act as a visitor center and be reconstructed using more permanent materials. It was constructed on a 13.5 acre site across Schaefer Rd. from the original Ford Administration Building and near the later Ford World Headquarters. It was constructed with a steel framework weighing 1,000 ST with 114,000 sqft of Indiana limestone attached to it, matching the administration building. It stood 10 stories high and measured 210 ft at the base and had a center courtyard with a diameter of 92 ft. Two additional wings were also added to the permanent location in Dearborn that anchored the center section.
The Rotunda had a completely new look after being reassembled at its new location; the building resembled four gears stacked in decreasing sizes. Inside the Rotunda were murals showing the River Rouge assembly line. On the grounds of the Rotunda was a .75 mi track, including 19 reproductions of what Ford called the Roads of the World, including the Appian Way, the Grand Trunk Road, the Oregon Trail, and Detroit’s Woodward Avenue where visitors would be driven in the latest Ford vehicles. The Rotunda was reopened to the public on May 14, 1936 after more than a year of construction. Fred Waring’s band played for more than 22,000 visitors at the grand opening. Movie stars, celebrities, business leaders, heads of state, and millions of people came to learn about and celebrate the Ford Motor Company.
During World War II, attendance dwindled due to gas rationing[4] so the Rotunda was closed to the public and served as office space and a school for the Army Air Corps, with barracks set up across Rotunda Drive. The theater inside the Rotunda was used as a movie hall to entertain soldiers. In 1946, ten young army officers, soon to be known as the Whiz Kids, first met Henry Ford II over lunch at the Rotunda.
In anticipation of re-opening in 1952, the Rotunda underwent extensive remodeling. Seeking to enclose the open center court with a roof, Ford engineers calculated the weight of a conventional steel-framed dome at 160 ST,[5] which the Rotunda structure could not support. In its first real-world application, inventor R. Buckminster Fuller designed a lightweight geodesic dome weighing 18,000 lb, solving the problem, and becoming a tourist attraction in its own right.[6] On June 16, 1953, the rotunda was reopened to the public as a part of Ford’s 50th Anniversary celebration and as a highlight included 50 huge birthday candles, mounted and lit along the rim of the rotunda.
Ford utilized the Rotunda’s popularity to call attention to new model introductions, and was used as a venue to photograph its automobiles and hold special events. The Rotunda was used for dealer presentations, press events and other business meetings. In the first 12 months of re-opening nearly 1.5 million people visited the Rotunda to see the displays, ride the cars, and tour the Rouge. In 1958 the new Lincoln Continental was introduced to the press under a 100 ft model of the Eiffel Tower and in 1959 just after Alaska became the 49th state, a display was built featuring mountains, fisherman and a stuffed grizzly bear in the Rotunda. Flower shows and custom car shows were also held in the Rotunda.[7]
One of the brands introduced at the Rotunda was the ill-fated 1958 Edsel, introduced during the late 1950s, a depressed economic period where buyers wanted smaller, more economical cars. This was the start of the American compact car race and the Edsel division was discontinued shortly after the 1960 models and a production run of two years.[7]
In 1953, the annual Christmas Fantasy was held for the first time at the Rotunda and nearly half a million people visited that year. A 37 ft Christmas tree was displayed. An elaborate Santa’s workshop and a life-size nativity scene that the National Council of Churches called the “largest and finest” in the country, as well as animated characters from children’s stories, a 1/24th scale 15,000-piece miniature circus with 800 animals, 30 tents, and 435 toy figurines of circus performers and customers. The Christmas Fantasy was held for nine years at the Rotunda and in that time nearly 6 million people visited. For an essay/memoir about the Christmas Fantasy years, see Amy Kenyon's "Sally Draper at the Ford Rotunda" in Eclectica Magazine, 2016.
The Rotunda was the fifth most popular tourist destination in the 1950s, after Niagara Falls, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Smithsonian Institution and the Lincoln Memorial. It was more popular than Yellowstone Park, Mount Vernon, the Washington Monument and the Statue of Liberty.
