Renowned scientist George Washington Carver and Henry Ford became friends in 1936 and shared an interest in developing synthetic rubber and plastics from soybeans, peanuts and cotton. In 1942, Ford built Carver a research facility in this former waterworks building with food and chemical laboratories, a library and an experimental kitchen. Carver spent two weeks working there, but died a few weeks later in Alabama. The lab closed in 1944. In Dearborn, Henry Ford and George Washington Carver also explored using goldenrod plants to produce rubber.