NORWOOD, Ohio — Ohio was once home to seventeen automobile manufacturing plants. Now nine remain.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Norwood Assembly closed in 1987

  • The GM plant manufactured Camaros and Firebirds

  • Norwood sued GM to demolish their former campus

  • The area has since become office and retail space helping Norwood rebuild its tax base


Dan Edwards, Don Kissenger and Dan Wall were among the 4,200 General Motors (GM) employees left to find new work after Norwood closed its facility in 1987.

The plant specialized in making the Chevrolet Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird—muscle cars you'll find at any classic American car show.

Edwards said anytime he sees one, he has to check the VIN.

“If you see that N, that means the car was manufactured in Norwood,” he said.

He's a proud owner of a piece of history himself; he's held onto a 1985 Chevy Camaro made in Norwood, which is now a piece of nearly faded Ohio history.

Just those cars and a single parking garage remain from the General Motors Norwood Assembly.

From the roof of the garage, Dan Wall can point out where his offices once stood and where railcars used to haul in supplies. His map of the former factory won't show anything like the offices and shopping centers that occupy that space today.

Wall worked in finance at GM. He held the job in Norwood from 1962 until the plant closed. He still remembers what it was like to hear his days were numbered.

"The plant manager called everybody into the train, well, which was a big area in the plant where we could gather," he said. "He swept it all up and we came down there for the bad news and he announced the plant was gonna close.”

As demand for environmentally-conscious vehicles rose, GM tried to adapt its muscle cars to fit new U.S. standards. Foreign cars beat manufacturers to it, and the Camaro and Firebird fell out of popularity.

“Plants were closing production was shrinking volumes were down,” Wall said.

Norwood was one of 10 GM plants to shut down in 1987. At the time, it represented more than a third of Norwood's tax base. Many feared the city wouldn't survive the closure.

Phil Borris, author of Echoes of Norwood, said strong leadership and progressive thinking helped the city beat the odds.

“It’s really an American success story,” he said.

Borris said Norwood built itself around the GM plant so the city believed the company had an implied contract with Norwood. After the plant announced its closure, the city sued, claiming GM breached that contract prompting a legal battle that ultimately forced GM to demolish and raze its property.

“The plant was gone by the fall of 1989, and the area was ready for redevelopment,” Borris said.

Over the next 30 years, the blue-collar town became a business and shopping district with a diverse tax base. Borris said it has allowed the city to insulate itself against another potential disaster.

But for those like Wall, it's strange to see.

"Oh, it’s nothing like it used to be. It’s so quiet,” he said.

Wall has spent most of his life in and around Norwood retiring from GM just years after the plant closed.

“It puts a tear in your eye to think of all the time you spent, people you met, all the good times you had at Norwood and responsible for your livelihood for your family," he said.

Wall said he's happy to see the city building itself back up, but it's hard to let go of the place he knew and the way of life that's not likely to come back to Norwood.

"I think all in all, we did pretty well here in Norwood,” he said.

Borris said the rise and fall of Norwood Assembly offers two major lessons: it's a model for cities looking to recover after industrial giants pull out, and it's a cautionary tale about American manufacturing. He said manufacturers need to constantly work to build the next thing, the next piece of machinery consumers will buy, otherwise other innovators will take over your market.