Ford City is the name of the area that lies south of the Detroit River and east of Wakerville, immediately surrounding the Ford of Canada plant and many other auto plants. It developed in the early twentieth century as an industrial site where many new immigrants, particularly Eastern Europeans, settled. They joined the French Catholic rural community which had been established in the area since the 1750s. They came or the relatively good wages the auto industry offered, and built houses in the immediate vicinity of the plants. At the same time, they formed their own distinct social, religious, and ethnic communities that were united by their common experiences of working in the auto indusry. Ford City developed in a piecemeal fashion, criss-crossed and sandwiched between railway racks that led to the plants. The plants themselves were built on a north south axis, like two thick industrial spines, parallel to Drouillard and Walker Roads. Drouillard was the main street and the centre of the working-class, resdential neighbourhood that sprang up. The close relationship that existed in this area between the industrial and residential acets of the community makes Ford City a fascinating historical urban-industrial landscape.

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