July 30, 2020 – Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company who put the world on wheels in the early years of the 20th century, was born on this day in 1863. That’s not a typo. Henry Ford was born less than one month after the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Bill Ford, his great-grandson, is currently the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company.

Henry Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan. He grew to dislike the tedious and arduous work in the fields. As a young boy, while his hands plowed fields, his mind focused on the future. He thought of devices and tools that would make life easier for all. The horse as the primary means of transportation for individuals had to go. Horseless carriages were the future, he thought after seeing a small steam engine.

In 1891, Henry moved to Detroit to work as an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company. His plans to make automobiles began. Little did he know that one day he would be friends with Thomas Edison.

After a couple of failed attempts to start an automobile company, on June 16, 1903, he incorporated the Ford Motor Company to build automobiles. Six months later, Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully flew their invention, a heavier-than-air, powered device with wings, an airplane.

In 1937 when Henry Ford developed Greenfield Village in Dearborn, he had the Wright brothers’ boyhood home and bicycle shop moved from Dayton, Ohio to Dearborn. Visitors can tour those iconic buildings today.

World War II (1939-1945)

During World War II (1939-1945), Ford stopped making cars and made airplanes and military vehicles instead. Henry shocked the airplane industry when he said he would build a new airplane factory to make airplanes on an assembly line. It had never been done before. At his Willow Run Bomber Plant near Detroit, Ford produced one B-24 “Liberator” bomber every hour during peak production in 1943 and 1944. Ford revolutionized both automobile and airplane manufacturing.

Ford Motor Company still going strong
The Ford Motor Company celebrated its Centennial in 2003. In 2013, Ford’s 150th birthday was celebrated at his first car factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit.

He and his team of engineers designed the Model T Ford there in 1908 and tested their idea for an assembly line. Workers were stationary while autos were assembled on a conveyor belt. Ford made possible the mass production of autos that even his workers could afford.

After its debut, the Model T became so popular, Ford moved to a larger factory and continued producing the Model T into the 1920s. About 15 million were made in total. The Piquette Avenue plant was saved from demolition in the 1980s and is a museum today. It looks much the same as it did when Henry Ford started his auto empire there.

Henry Ford’s success put Detroit on the map and it became known as the Motor City. Many other car companies and companies that made car parts opened in and around Detroit.

Michigan Central Station: 2019 Winter Festival

Ford is currently renovating the massive Michigan Central Station, the railroad station designed by the same architects who designed New York City’s Grand Central Station. In the 20th century, millions of cars, made by Ford and many other auto companies, were shipped around the world from Detroit. And millions of passengers passed through the railroad terminal.

Michigan Central Station operated from 1913 to 1988. Ford purchased the dilapidated building in 2018.

In January 2019, the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) was held in Detroit. Ford produced a light show on the train station’s facade. The show focused on Ford’s historic commitment to Detroit and their vision for the future. Bill Ford is quoted in the light show and said: “The future of mobility should be created in Detroit.”

Soon hundreds of Ford engineers and other Ford employees will be moving there to work on autonomous vehicles and transportation solutions to revitalize cities. It’s Ford’s vision for the future.

Henry would most certainly agree with his great-grandson that Detroit remain the Motor City. Henry would also be fascinated with advances in autonomous driving technology. No doubt he would suggest producing an autonomous tractor! Oh wait, that has already been invented and is in use on farms today!

Henry Ford died in 1947. He was 83.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Who received the first patent for an automobile?

2. Why didn’t Henry Ford like working on a farm?

3. What was Henry Ford’s first job in Detroit?

4. What innovation did Henry Ford develop that led to mass production of cars?

5. What car did Henry Ford and his team of engineers design at Ford’s Piquette Avenue Plant?

INQUIRY QUESTIONS

1. Why would Henry Ford most likely be very excitied about developments today in autonomous cars, trucks and tractors?

2. How is the renovation of Michigan Central Station both a tribute to the past and a vision for the future?

3. Research and discuss George Selden’s patent and the contentious battle he had with Henry Ford over licensing rights. It’s relevant today as the issues remain the same for inventors and entrepreneurs.

4. Read the headline again. What figure of speech is used?

5. Study the picture in the story of the newspaper headline shown during the light show. Research whether “employes” is misspelled. Discuss.