Ford recently hosted more than 20 F-150 Lightning customers at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center located at the historic Dearborn complex. Future owners of the electric-powered pickup were able to tour the factory floor and learn all about their trucks. The invitations harken back to a long-established Ford tradition of inviting the public to see the interworking of the assembly process at the Rouge.

Construction of the Rouge started as early as 1917, expanding over the years into a massive, self-sustaining complex. Early tours were informal strolls, with plant employees serving as guides when crowds were large. In 1924, a more formal program was established, with a group of 31 people accounting for the first official tour. A stop along the final assembly line was added in 1927, when Ford brought its all-new Model A to the Rouge, revolutionizing automobile production.

Led by Ford guides, the tours of the 1960s included stops in the engine plant and steelmaking operations, where visitors could see glowing steel ingots and rolled ribbons of sheet steel. The Rouge became one of the world’s most popular industrial tour destinations, a centerpiece of a “Dearborn Holiday” for visitors from around the world. U.S. presidents and vice presidents, foreign dignitaries, members of royalty, athletes and entertainers were also known to make the trip.

Rouge tours were a popular destination for school fieldtrips, local residents and civic groups, with out-of-town guests reaching an all-time one-year record of 243,175 in 1971 after more than a decade of surging attendance. The tour program expanded and, for a time, included a trip to the dynamometer building on Ford’s research and engineering campus.

The plant averaged more than 150,000 visitors a year, reaching 4 million total guests by 1963, when one teacher remarked: “No film or lecture could ever make as great an impression on the high school students as the actual sight, smell and feel of the industry portrayed at the Rouge.”

After more than 7 million visits, the Rouge tours were discontinued in 1980, reportedly due to financial concerns, but resumed in 2004 after a $2 billion update to the facility and a joint partnership with The Henry Ford. Previews of the new tours were offered as part of Ford’s centennial celebration in 2003. Today, the one-third-mile walking tour at Dearborn Truck Plant offers participants an overhead view of the final assembly line, where all the parts and pieces of the manufacturing process culminate with employees producing one of the company’s best-selling F-150 pickups every minute.

The self-guided tours were updated in 2015 with the launch of the aluminum-bodied F-150. Now, tours feature a peek at the plant’s living roof, as well as two theater experiences. Click here for more information or to purchase tickets for a tour of the historic Rouge complex.