Locational Patterns of American Automobile Assembly Plants, 1895-1958

Bibliographic Data

ID4043499
AuthorsCharles W Boas (corresponding author)
Year1961
Volume37
Issue3
Pages218
Publication date1961-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomic Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0095 • E-ISSN: 1944-8287
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/142088
OpenAlexW2320938269
LanguageEN
Citations received7

T nHE study of industrial location is a topic of increasing importance and interest in the field of economic geography. Basic to the investigation of the locational characteristics of any industry is an examination of the geographic pattern of that industry. Too often, the locational patterns of the past are not given adequate presentation. Examination of changes in locational patterns over a period of time may reveal much about the locational factors affecting an industry. The data presented herein is an attempt to trace the changing locational patterns of the United States passenger automobile-assembly industry over a period of 63 years. The major purpose of this study is to introduce information not previously considered in geographic studies of the automobile industry. The manufacture of passenger automobiles has been a major segment of the American industrial scene for more than half a century. Few other industries are so closely identified with a single geographic location. The press and public alike consider the city of Detroit to be synonymous with the manufacture, design, and financing of passenger automobiles. While this concept has a degree of validity today, it has not necessarily applied throughout the history of the automobile industry. Passenger automobiles were manufactured in many cities. Several of the larger industrial complexes of the United States have challenged the supremacy of Detroit as the center of the automobile industry. Studies dealing with this industry, geographic or otherwise, have tended to overlook the importance of the total number of automobile manufacturing firms and their widely scattered locational patterns

Business · Economic geography · Geography · Regional Economic and Spatial Analysis · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis · Urbanization and City Planning

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