Happy Birthday Henry Ford!
July 1, 2012
July 30th marks the 149th birthday of Henry Ford and the Edison and Ford Winter Estates is celebrating the day with antique car programs, lectures, and Museum demonstrations throughout the day.
As an industrialist, Ford is most noted as the father of the automobile. He was one of the greatest innovators and inventors of our time holding 161 US patents. He was also a filmmaker, who was the largest producer and distributor of films; an early pioneer in sustainability and “green science” methods; as well as a collector; accomplished dancer; and marketer whose business practices set the standard for advertising and marketing today.
Ford Facts:
The Ford Motor Company was formed in 1903 and Ford created an assembly line which revolutionized car production, making automobiles affordable for middle class Americans to own, forever changing where people lived and how they traveled.- In 1920 Henry Ford developed charcoal briquets under the brand name Kingsford. Ford built a charcoal plant after turning wood scraps from the production of the Model T’s into charcoal briquets.
In 1929, Henry Ford established the Edison Institute in Dearborn Michigan, today named The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village, with his personal collection of historic objects which he began collecting as far back as 1906. The Museum and Village boasts rare collections of famous homes, machinery and Americana including the original Edison Electric Laboratory from Fort Myers.- As an early American “green scientist,” Ford patented a plastic bodied car in 1942 using soy based plastics in hopes to use agricultural plastics to promote other markets for farmers to sell their crops.
- In 1905, Henry Ford served as Vice President of the Society of Automotive Engineers when the organization was founded to standardize US automotive parts.
On July 30, 2012 join Edison Ford curatorial staff at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. for a presentation on The Legacy of Henry Ford’s, Cars and Engines in the Edison Ford Museum.
Lectures are FREE to the public with admission.
