Ford Motor Co. Not Likely in Morgan County

Visions of a giant Ford Motor Co. assembly plant in Morgan County near Jasper’s northern border have dimmed markedly with word that the state has not exercised an option to buy what was widely speculated to be a prospective plant site.

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the State Properties Commission has let expire an option it held to land from Jeffer-son Lamar Banks in Morgan County. The size of the site covered by the option was not specified.
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For months local and state industrial officials have been on tenterhooks over the prospect that Ford was planning a new plant, with the Morgan County site and one in Meriwether County identified as likely locations.

Neither the company nor state industrial development officials formally confirmed the reports, though they were substantiated by reliable sources.

Ford reportedly was considering replacing a plant in Hapeville that employs more that 2,300, but close enough to Atlanta that workers currently employed could easily move or commute to the new site.

According to the Atlanta newspaper report, both the Morgan and Meriwether sites are no longer in contention for a new facility, at least not for now. It is considered possible, even likely, that the company will make some sort of move later.