In 1966, the plant now known as the General Motors Lordstown Complex opened on the site of an 1,100 acre farm where Ellsworth-Bailey Road crosses the Ohio Turnpike.
The plant was said to be unique and an industrial engineer's dream. The first car off the line was the Impala, but it wasn't too many years before the infamous Chevrolet Vega was produced in enormous quantities.
The Vega was GM's response to the influx of small foreign cars. It was the speed of the assembly line in those years that began a period of worker rebellion and wildcat strikes.
By the 1980s, the J-cars, also known as the Chevy Cavalier and the Pontiac Sunfire, were the main products out of Lordstown. The exploding minivan movement of the '90s dealt a fatal blow to Lordstown's full-size van plant.
In the late '90s, GM announced that a successor to the J-Car was in the works. Virtually the entire Valley joined together in the "Bring it Home" campaign designed to lure the new car to Lordstown.
The Cobalt and Lordstown had become a showcase for General Motors. In April 2006 word came that General Motors was cutting a shift and more than a thousand jobs at the Lordstown Plant.
Two years later, GM made the announcement that Lordstown would add a third shift and a new car. GM invested more than $350 million at the Lordstown Complex.
This summer, the Cobalt was phased out and production ramped up for the Cruze. The Cruze is touted as a compact car with much more, having 10 standard air bags, fuel economy of up to 40 miles per gallon, and a 5-star crash test rating, just to name a few of the cars features.
The first Cruze rolled off the line during a special ceremony Wednesday morning.
