Developers had planted 3.6 million rubber trees but they were positioned too close together, making them easy targets for blight. The Brazilian workers also objected to the harsh rules imposed by their American managers and staged a revolt that saw them cut telegraph wires and intimidate management. The dispute only ended after the Brazilian Army intervened.

By 1934 the dream was over, and Fordândia lay abandoned. Ford's estate ultimately lost over $20 million, more than $310 million in today's money. Henry Ford's grandson, Henry Ford II, sold the land back to the Brazilian government in 1945, by which time the invention of synthetic rubber was making natural rubber plants obsolete. Today, many of the American-style workers' homes have been reclaimed, but the water tower, sawmill, and workshop still stand empty.

In pictures: 17 empty industrial buildings that once buzzed with life