Molten Metal

Workers in Pontiac tended furnace fires to cast parts for the automobile industry. In the mid-1920s, the Wilson Foundry and Machine Company on the south side of Pontiac was the largest automotive foundry in the world, and to meet demand it actively recruited workers in the Southern States and elsewhere. In 1928, the large Pontiac Foundry opened on the north side of town to make parts for cars and trucks, and by 1941 it was pouring 200,000 tons of iron. Into the 1970s, the foundry supplied parts to various divisions of General Motors, but inability to expand, the cost of modernization, and declining demand led to its closing in 1987. Automotive parts are often cast in grey iron, which mixes in graphite to make them lighter and easier to shape.

Pontiac, Michigan · United States