OUR HISTORY

For more than a half century, the Chrysler assembly plant in Newark, Delaware provided employment for generations of local residents and was an important economic asset and social presence in the city of Newark. 

Chrysler first bought the land in 1938 for use as a parts depot. In 1951, the first plant was built to product tanks for the U.S. Army. By mid-1952, Chrysler;s 3,000 workers had begun full scale tank production. 

In 1956, after the Korean War ended, the tank plant started a five-year phase-out process, after which a 1.5 million square foot plant was constructed to manufacture Plymouths. 

Plymouth and Dodge production began in April 1957, starting a run of nearly seven million cars, including the LH series, the AA bodies, and the legendary A-body. In 1969 alone, the Newark plant produced 186,177 Plymouth Furys, Dodge Polaras and C-body Chryslers. 

In 1997, Chrysler invested $623 million to reconfigure the Newark plant for production of the Dodge Durango. The plant was closed in December of 2008 due to falling sales of the Durange and Aspen. Chrysler had just started producing hybrid-electric versions of both vehicles. 

In November 2009, the University of Delaware purchased the 272 acre site with the vision of transforming the former automotive plant into a campus of advanced research and technology. 

Teaming with local developer, Delle Donne & Associates, the University formed the first public/private partnership necessary to move a project of this magnitude forward.

Phase 1 involved the construction of the 103,000 square ft. College of Health Sciences building that incorporates rehabilitated portions of the old Chrysler automotive assembly plant and administration building. An addition was added to fulfill the programmatic needs of the University. 

Decommissioning began in early 2011 when more than one million square feet of the assembly plant was taken down and recycled at a rate of 85%. This recycle rate equates to 140 million pounds of recycled steel, 50,000 tons of concrete, 40,000 light bulbs, and 3.8 million pounds of copper, stainless steel and aluminum. In addition, nearly 380 tons of asbestos containing materials were safely removed and abated. 

The Nurse Managed Primary Care Clinic first opened in McDowell Hall in October 2011. The clinic then moved to STAR Campus in early 2014.

The College of Health Sciences held its second annual Gala which focused on the theme of "The Future of Healthcare." The event was held in the empty shell of the former Chrysler assembly plant, a space that in a little over eighteen months would be transformed into a new Health Sciences center. 

Located on the former Chrysler assembly plant site, the STAR Health Sciences Complex opened in 2014 and retained some ceiling beams and brick walls from the original Chrysler Administration Building. The building translates discovery in its lab spaces into delivery in its clinics. The building includes the Nurse Managed Primary Care Center, the Physical Therapy Clinic, and the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinics.

The Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic opened in 2015 to evaluate and treat articulation, voice, language, motor speech, swallowing, cognitive, oral and written communication disorders in people of all ages. The clinic is part of the University’s Speech-Language Pathology master’s program — the first in the state. 

A topping-off ceremony was held at UD's STAR Campus on Aug. 22, 2017 to place the final steel beam on the 10-story Tower at STAR. The College of Health Sciences is the anchor tenant of the 120,000-square-foot building.

The Tower at STAR provides an unparalleled opportunity for UD faculty, staff, students and collaborators to identify, address and help solve some of healthcare’s most pressing challenges. Designed to support novel learning experiences through interdisciplinary collaboration and translation, the Tower at STAR aims to shape the future of healthcare.