Lives+of+Industry+Leaders

Henry Ford Henry Ford was born to William and Mary Ford in Greenfield Township, Michigan on July 30, 1863. He grew up in Dearborn, Michigan to a wealthy family and went to a one room school. Even as a kid he showed interests in mechanical engineering. He left school at 15 to work on his father’s farm. When he got older he married Clara Bryant in 1888. He supported himself and his wife by running a sawmill. In 1891 he began work at Edison illuminating company and later became the Chief engineer. In 1896 he invented the Quadricycle, a vehicle with four wire wheels- like bicycle wheels-, was steered by a tiller- like a boat-, and only had two speeds and couldn’t go backwards. Henry Ford tried twice to establish the Ford manufacturing company but was unsuccessful until 1903. This is where he created the assembly line which only produced a few cars a day with three or four men working on each car. The Model T an immediate success because it was easy to operate, maintain, and was easy to handle on rough roads. His son Edsel, became his partner and in 1919 was named president of Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford died at age 83 in his Dearborn home in 1947, and the Ford Motor Company is still running today.