Rosie The Riveter's Factory To Be Demolished Unless Millions Are Raised: Detroit Factory Symbol Of American Industry--And Decline

Rosie the Riveter's WWII factory may unfortunately bite the dust.

The Detroit-area factory where Rosie got her start will be demolished unless millions are raised by Thursday.

The factory in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan was where Rosie showed that women could do a "man's work" buy building bombers and tanks during World War II. It may be demolished.

The The Willow Run Bomber Plant, a 332-acre former Ford Motor Co. factory west of Detroit, produced 9,000 B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II.

Sadly, though, the plant will be torn down unless a preservation group can raise 3.5 million by Thursday. They are hoping to save the plant from demolition and convert it into a new, expanded home for the Yankee Air Museum.

Rose Will Monroe worked in the factory during WWII. Throughout the war, thousands of women throughout the country performed what were once male-dominated roles....and a Willow Run worker caught the eye of a Hollywood producer who was casting a government film that needed a "riveter". Rose Will Monroe was a Kentucky native who'd moved to Michigan during the war to work. She starred in the film as herself and became an iconic figure for female empowerment, even generations later.

"The younger generation needs to know what people went through and be able to go and see what they did and how they did it for our country," Larry Doe, a 70-year-old Ypsilanti Township resident. Doe has given to the effort to save Willow Run, Rosie the Riveter's factory, and got to take a trip on a B-17 with other donors for his efforts.

Unfortunately, the Rosies were let go after the war ended-but they'd proven that they were capable of doing "men's jobs". And Rosie the Riveter is still an important symbol for women and feminists today.

After the war was over, the Willow Run factory went back to making cars for General Motors until it was shuttered in 2010.

A civic group hope to take some of the structure to convert it into a museum. The original museum was burned down, so it's hosted at a temporary space nearby at the Willow Run Airport.

"We now have the opportunity to actually take a piece of this plant. It's due to be demolished over the next two or three years," said Dennis Norton, president of the Michigan Aerospace Foundation. "There's no further use for it. It's too big. It's too old to be used in modern-day manufacturing."

Organizers have raised 4.5 million of the 8 million they need. The "Save the Willow Run Bomber Plant" campaign  plans to buy part of the plant and re-establish water and electric power.

They're hoping for major donors. In the wake of Detroit's bankruptcy filing, some are worried it could impact them negatively-but Dan Pierce, a spokesman, doesn't think so.

"We have not heard this from any prospective donors and don't think we will," he said.

They still have a significant amount of money" to raise, he said.

"However, if we didn't think we could do it, we wouldn't have started it in the first place."