Henry Ford's village industries plan brought this early-1920's complex to a rural setting, where Detroit architect Albert Kahn designed a factory with hydroelectric generators, a dam, and a water filtration plant that supplied water to the village. A 1926 newspaper announcement predicted that Flat Rock would grow like a forest fire, and the availability of hydroelectric power and factory jobs did help spur the town's growth and sustain it during the Depression. Between 1923 and 1938, fifty-two million lamp assemblies were made here, and the factory produced a variety of lamps and lighting systems for automobiles and World War II vehicles before ceasing operations in 1950. By about 1954, the pedestrian bridge over the Huron River connected Downtown Flat Rock with Huroc Park, and Flat Rock's location along the National Huron River Water Trail, Downriver Linked Greenways, and Iron Belle Trail made it a recreational hub for regional connections. As development, pollution, and neglect threatened the natural areas of southeast Michigan during the Depression, Prohibition, and Industrial Revolution, studies concluded that recreation and preservation of natural features were increasingly needed. Through the dedicated work and collaboration of numerous communities and agencies in southeast Michigan, the Huron-Clinton Metroparks were formed; the first Metropark opened in 1948, Oakwoods Metropark was added in 1975, and today the system includes over 25,000 acres with thirteen parks spread across five counties.