Looking Back at a Time When Kenosha, Wisconsin, Was a Mo-Town Satellite City

The lens some more auto-inclinced people may view the case through has much more to do with the American auto industry of days gone by. The days when Kenosha wasn't the epicenter of a nationwide culture war. Starting in the mid-1900s and lasting until the late 2000s, Kenosha was home to one of the most vital components of America's fabled fourth big American automaker.

AMC was more than just the company that provided Chrysler Corp with the Jeep brand. A move that would become the cash cow that some would say has kept the brand alive through two near-death experiences in the late 80s and late 2000s. As it was known officially, American Motors Corporation was the scrappy perennial underdog of the domestic car industry. A company that served as the monolithic big-three establishment's all-American alternative.

In the distant past, Kenosha, Wisconson was home to one of AMC's most important assets. A factory that gave the fine folk that call Kensona home something to be particularly proud of. A factory that embodied the essence of the American spirit of rebellion in a way competition like Ford and GM could never, as they're simply far, far too big. The factory served as one of the primary production facilities for AMC and then Chrysler, and put food on the table for thousands of Kenosha residents.

The Kenosha Lakefront plant had its roots in the long-forgotten Thomas B. Jeffery Company, which would become the more recognizable Nash Motors in 1916. By the mid-'50s, AMC had complete control of the facility. Much of the 1,870,000 square foot (174,000 m2) factory floor was dedicated to engine production. Like the venerable and very much missed AMC straight-six engine. The engine made the Jeep Cherokee the mid-sized 4x4 of choice of America in the 1990s.

AMC couldn't make it into the '90s, its fate sealed by a corporate buyout and takeover by Chrysler Corporation in 1988. Still, the Kenosha plant remained open as a Chrysler entity. By the time Chrysler filed chapter 11 bankruptcy and lost its independence to Italian Fiat, and later the Stellantis group, the Kenosha plant was all but excluded from the reconciliation package. One that kept a handful of other Chrysler plants operational.

By late 2011, the former Kenosha factory had everything including the kitchen sink auctioned off for whatever people were willing to pay for it. By spring 2014, the factory was gone. Demolished at the hands of Old Carco Liquidation Trust, the company which purchased the rights to the property from Chrysler.

All the while, Kenosha was in the midst of a blighted economy that was all but lost when industry slowly left the American Rust Belt. An area stretching from Upstate New York to as far west as Minnesota that's now synonymous with poverty, poor job prospects, racial tensions, and most recently, civil unrest.

All things considered, it would be a big stretch to say the demise of the Kenosha plant directly contributed to the current events.  Still, as of the evening of Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal, the world is glued to their TVs and their phones, bracing for potential bad things to come in the aftermath of a case that gripped the nation. Instead of looking at Kenosha as a beacon of the American dream, people now perceive the former mo-town satellite city as a microcosm of everything that's wrong with America today. What an absolute shame.