By
Terry Shea
—
Updated
in Car Culture, Classics, Events
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Photos courtesy Ford Motor Company.
Born July 30, 1863, Henry Ford had an incredibly profound effect on industry and society that reverberates even today. More than just an automaker, he was an innovative industrialist who changed the course of world history simply by putting it on wheels. So with the 150th anniversary of Henry Ford’s birth fast approaching, both the company and the museum that Ford founded have planned a number of celebrations to take place both this weekend and all year long.
This Saturday, Ford, via the Henry Ford Estate, will put on a big show for the anniversary. Family members, government officials and reps from the Henry Ford Estate and the University of Michigan at Dearborn will be on hand at Fair Lane in Dearborn. The event at the Henry Ford Estate is open to the community at large; organizers promise a family-oriented event with cars, music, dancing, farmers and artisans. Historic vehicles from the Ford Motor Company collection will be on display, including the world’s oldest Ford Motor Company vehicle, the 1903 Ford Model A that Bill Ford bought late last year. There will also be a farmers market with locally sourced products, a reflection of Ford’s famous support of farming.
The event also marks the formal transfer of the Henry Ford Estate, aka Fair Lane, from the University of Michigan to the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, a non-profit entity dedicated to education. Authorized by the university in 2010, the transfer ensured “that the legacy of Henry and Clara Ford will be professionally preserved and interpreted,” according to an Edsel and Eleanor Ford House press release. “This, in turn, will allow UM-Dearborn to focus on its mission of providing cutting edge academic programs.” The transfer also allowed the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House to undertake restoration work on the Henry Ford Estate over the last few years.
All year long, The Henry Ford museum, also in Dearborn, has a slate of events – including an exhibit focused on Young Henry and His Machines and a 15-minute play on the Ford Model T – that celebrate the legacy of the man who looms so large over the American auto industry. The Maker Faire Detroit will also take place this weekend on the grounds of The Henry Ford Museum be a part in the festivities.
Original site of Henry Ford’s birth, circa 1880.
Born and raised on the family farm in Dearborn, Michigan, Ford left home at 16 to apprentice as a machinist and soon learned to service steam engines. In the early 1890s, he joined the Edison Illuminating Company as an engineer. His talent and drive earned him the title of chief engineer within three years and when he presented his boss, Thomas Edison, with his plans for a car, Edison encouraged him to start his own endeavors. It wasn’t until he had failed twice that he established the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and five years later introduced the Model T.
A photo of a young Henry Ford, circa 1883.
More than just an inventor, engineer and fabulously successful industrialist, Ford was a complicated man, paternalistic with his employees and anti-Semitic to the point of distributing ludicrous propaganda with his cars. He was as admired by Hitler as he was by the average American. Anti-union, he also did care deeply for his employees, instituting a $5 daily wage and a 40-hour work week in the United States long before anyone else. By 1920, more than half the cars on the road in the country were Fords. Ford’s influence on American industry, which experienced exponential growth in the early part of the 20th century, can not be overstated. Henry Ford died in 1947, but the Blue Oval remains.
Workers line up to apply for jobs at Ford after the announcement of five dollar per day wage in 1914.
Henry Ford stamps the serial number on the first production flathead V-8 in 1932.
The Henry Ford Estate’s show will take place from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. this Saturday, July 27. For more information, visit HenryFord150.com.
UPDATE (29.July 2013): Jay Leno’s Garage had Henry Ford III on to discuss the latter’s new book, “Driving America.”
