Auto industry / Business & brands
Henry Ford
1863–1947
· automaker, industrialist, founder of Ford Motor Company
The farm boy from Dearborn who built his first car in a Detroit shed, founded Ford Motor Company and turned the region into the world's motor capital.
- Born
Greenfield Township (today Dearborn), Michigan- Died
Dearborn, Michigan
aged 83- Detroit years
- 1863–1947
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ford grew up on the family farm in Greenfield Township, now part of Dearborn, and at 16 went to Detroit to apprentice as a machinist. In 1891 he joined the Edison Illuminating Company, and in a brick shed behind his rented house on Bagley Avenue he built the Quadricycle, which he drove out in June 1896. After two failed ventures he launched Ford Motor Company in 1903 in a small plant on Mack Avenue. The Model T took shape at the Piquette Avenue Plant in 1908, the moving assembly line started at Highland Park in 1913, and the $5 workday of 1914 drew job seekers to Detroit from around the world. His River Rouge complex in Dearborn became the largest integrated factory of its age. His record also has a dark side: he spread antisemitism through the Dearborn Independent and fought unions with force until 1941. He founded Henry Ford Hospital and the museum and village in Dearborn, died at Fair Lane in 1947 and lies in the Ford Cemetery on Joy Road.
Highlights
- Built his first car, the Quadricycle, in a Bagley Avenue shed in 1896
- Founded Ford Motor Company in Detroit on June 16, 1903
- Model T (1908–1927): more than 15 million built
- Moving assembly line at Highland Park in 1913; $5 workday in January 1914
- Founded Henry Ford Hospital (1915) and today's The Henry Ford museum complex (1929)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 10
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1903–1904
Ford Mack Avenue Plant
Demolished · 1903–1904
Ford Motor Company's first plant, a rented wagon shop where the first Model A was assembled in 1903; it burned in 1941, and a replica stands in Greenfield Village.
Worked here · 1904–1910
Ford Piquette Avenue Plant
Ford's second factory, where the Model T was designed and first built in 1908; today a museum of early Ford history.
Worked here · 1910–1927
Highland Park Ford Plant
Closed · 1910–1974
Where the moving assembly line began in 1913; all production ended in 1974. Surviving buildings form a National Historic Landmark.
Founded · 1917–1947
Ford River Rouge Complex
His vast integrated factory on the Rouge River, still a working Ford plant; the Ford Rouge Factory Tour starts at The Henry Ford.
Lived here · 1915–1947
Fair Lane
The Fords' estate on the Rouge River, where Henry died in 1947. The grounds are open; the restored mansion is due to reopen in 2027.
Founded · 1929–1947
Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation
The history museum and open-air village he founded; it holds his Quadricycle and a replica of the Bagley Avenue workshop.
Founded · 1915–1947
Henry Ford Hospital
The hospital he financed and opened on West Grand Boulevard, today the flagship of Henry Ford Health.
Worked here · 1893–1896
Michigan Building (Bagley Avenue Workshop Site)
Demolished
The shed where he built the Quadricycle stood here; the Michigan Building and its theater (now a parking garage) later rose on the site.
Lived here · 1908–1915
Boston–Edison Historic District
The Fords lived in this grand residential district on Detroit's west side before moving to Fair Lane.
Buried here · 1947
Ford Cemetery
The small family cemetery beside the former St. Martha's Episcopal Church, where Henry and Clara Ford are buried.