Chrysler bought the facility in 1938 to use as a parts depot.[2]
Construction began in January 1951 for a plant to produce tanks with the first M48 Patton driven to Army Ordnance on 11 April 1952.[3] A total of 11,703 M48s were built at the plant between opening and 1959.[4] A five-year phase-out after the Korean War brought the facility and tank production to an end by 1961.[2] The plant also produced M103 heavy tanks.[5] Initially named T-43, they were designed to use some components and systems of the M-48.[6] Three hundred were built in Newark, but field experience showed that the heavy tanks required upgrades and retrofits of the medium-weight components.[6] As of June 1954, the production of additional tanks was moved to General Motors in Detroit.[6][7]
The facility was used for the production of Plymouth and Dodge automobiles starting in 1957. By 1961, construction began on a 1,500,000 sq ft (140,000 m2) Plymouth plant where the Chrysler A platform was used to build Dodge and Plymouth compacts.[2] During 1969, the facility made 186,177 full-size Plymouth, Dodge, and Chrysler cars.[1]
During the 1990s, a recycling initiative was implemented to reduce the factory's environmental impact and improve the facility's reputation. This resulted from several fires and air pollution from the plant, for which the Environmental Protection Agency fined the automaker.[8]
To prepare the Newark plant for the production of the 1997 Dodge Durango, a sport utility vehicle (SUV), a $623 million investment included a new training facility, production simulation building, a paint shop, as well as upgrades to the 1.2-mile (2 km) test track, a new material handling fleet, and new controls on the assembly line.[2]
On 14 February 2007, DaimlerChrysler announced that the plant would lose one working shift in 2007 and that it would be scheduled to be shut down entirely in 2009.[9]
In October 2008, the company announced that the closure would be moved to the end of 2008, citing a slowdown in the economy and demand for large vehicles.[10] The Newark assembly plant, built the slow-selling Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen meaning the closure also ended the hybrid models Durango and Aspen, the only hybrid versions that Chrysler marketed.[11]
Production ended and the neighboring Mopar parts distribution center also closed in 2008.[12][2]
By May 2009, Chrysler was negotiating with The University of Delaware about the property.[13] Newark was one of fifty members of the Mayors and Municipalities Automotive Coalition (MMAC) working to put closed plants into use.[13] Newark officials were trying to attract businesses that would follow a possible move of U.S. Army facilities to Maryland but establishing operations in Delaware in light of the state's favorable tax policies.[13] City leaders were not looking not at the loss of 950 blue-collar assembly jobs and wishing another automaker to take over the facility, but also at the opportunity to gain a high-tech park associated with the university.[13]
On 24 October 2009, The University of Delaware announced it had signed a deal to buy the 272-acre (1.10 km2; 0.425 sq mi) Chrysler facility for $24.25 million.[14] The property is next to the university's south campus (the main campus is a 0.25-mile (402 m) to the north and usually accessible by bus by students). Plans are to use it as a research and development site and for the university's future expansion.
Demolition of the buildings began in November 2010, and the process was expected to take a year to 18 months.[15] Only the former Chrysler Administration Building near the front of the facility will remain.[15] Approximately 90% of the material on the site was recycled.[16]
The development plans call for about 16,000 jobs at the property, focusing on research and collaboration between the public and private sectors.[15] The first was the new Science, Technology, and Advanced Research (STAR) campus.[17] In 2012, Bloom Energy, makers of the Bloom Energy Server held a groundbreaking for a new manufacturing plant at the former auto assembly site.[18] In 2014, the first tenant of the revitalized Chrysler administration building will be the College of Health Sciences and a health-related complex.[19]
On 19 November 2015, the Digital Infrastructure Management company SevOne announced its move to the STAR Campus [20]
The history department at the University of Delaware and the Hugh M. Morris Library used a class of graduate and undergraduate students to conduct interviews of eleven former autoworkers employed at the Newark Assembly plant.[21]
Products
[edit]Facility viewed from Amtrak train (May 2010)
^The J-body Chrysler LeBaron coupes and convertibles were produced in St. Louis Assembly from 1987 until 1991. In 1992, production was shifted to Newark until production ended in 1993 for the coupe and 1995 for the convertible.
^Dodge Intrepids and Chrysler Concordes were only built in Newark Assembly from 1994 to 1996. During those years, Newark was an overflow plant for Brampton Assembly.
Media related to Newark Assembly at Wikimedia Commons
