Detroit

THIS week, as Washington has tried to decide whether to rescue the automobile industry, Americans have wondered what it looks like when a giant automobile company goes under. The answer can be found in Detroit.

In the summer of 1956, the once-mighty Packard Motor Car Company closed its doors. Its headquarters and chief production complex still stand here, though, and their slowly decaying remains serve as a symbol for the fall of American manufacturing in general and the degradation of the auto industry in particular. The Packard plant sits on East Grand Boulevard on Detroit’s east side. It is immense: 3.5 million square feet of space in 47 connected buildings. The campus stretches for almost a mile north to south.

Since Packard’s departure, there have been attempts to use the plant as an industrial mall, and at times dozens of small and medium-sized businesses operated within its walls. Today there is only one small firm remaining, a chemical processing concern. The City of Detroit and a private company have been fighting a long legal battle for ownership of the complex.