Henry Ford Biography

Throughout American history, innumerable companies have risen and fallen. It would be impossible to document each and every strategy, business deal, and product. In fact, surprisingly few individual corporations are widely remembered considering what a huge role industry has played in the development of our country. Without the large amount of trade and commerce that helps to define America, not only would our economy suffer but also our very culture. It can be argued that the radical leaders in manufacturing and production transformed not only the world of business, but also America itself. No single man personifies this concept better than Henry Ford, who almost singlehandedly brought our country into an era of ease, prosperity, and consumerism while totally revolutionizing commerce, creating principles and ideals that have stuck with us to this day.

Childhood and Young Adulthood

It seems every historic, trailblazing American tycoon was born on a family farm in the country. Well, throw Henry Ford into the mix. In the summer of 1863, Ford was born into the simple family of an Irish farmer near Detroit, Michigan. Growing up in the care of an orphaned mother who had been raised by childhood neighbors, Henry learned from an early age the importance of community and interdependence. He lived happily for many years on the quiet Michigan farm, where he developed his intense interest in engineering by dismantling and recreating pocket watches in his teens. By the age of fifteen he had established a small business of repairing watches for his neighbors. During his early years, he had wholeheartedly planned on inheriting the farm from his father. But when his mother tragically died when Ford was twelve, he entered a deep state of depression and alienated himself from the family business, claiming he had only loved the farm because his mother had lived there. As he grew older and became more and more mature, he confessed to his father that he loved the city of Detroit.

By the time Ford was sixteen, he had moved into Detroit to work as an amateur mechanist in a machine shop, fixing watches by night and struggling to make ends meet. Despite his best efforts to stay in the city, however, he was forced to move back to his father’s farm in 1882, but even there he continued to challenge himself by familiarizing himself with such mechanical advancements as power plants and steam engines and developing original machines which would benefit farm work. Ford also built himself his own workshop where he experimented with spare parts. He worked hard on the farm, knowing any and all savings would help propel him towards his dream of working with machines. 

Early Career Beginnings

In the year 1896, Henry Ford was consumed day and night by one thing: automobiles. Although he still lived on his father’s farm, he spent every waking moment thinking and planning, and eventually was able to design, engineer, and create his very own “horseless carriage” in the workshop, giving a jumpstart to his career. In the blink of an eye, he had received a job in a successful mechanical company, giving him the funds he needed to finally leave the farm behind and follow his dream into the city of Detroit and continue experimenting. In the span of three years he was the chief engineer at the Detroit Automobile Company, a widely respected engineer and businessman whose ideas were not only heard but respected throughout the industry. Unfortunately, the company did not survive long enough to serve any purpose other than to make Ford’s name widely known.

Because of his new fame and admiration, a new company was organized in his name in 1901. Suddenly, Henry Ford found himself in the Henry Ford Company, where he was set to be a legitimate mechanical engineer with a secure, profitable, respectable job for the rest of his life. He left the company, which was later renamed the Cadillac Motor Car Company. Ford left because although he was interested in creating a fast racing car like many others he left behind, he was convinced he could create such a car at such a low price it would be available to the general public. Although he left many in the automotive industry puzzled after his shocking decision, Ford knew he could someday create a car that allowed each and every American family easy transportation, not just the high upper class.

Ford Company and the Model T

On June 17, 1903 Ford Motor Company was founded with Henry Ford sitting proud as the vice president in charge of design and production. John S. Gray, the company’s president, shared Ford’s vision of an easily accessible car available to the average American. The company was a small one, with only twelve shareholders betting on Ford’s success. They were not disappointed as the company slowly began to take off; beginning with the very first sale a little more than a month after the company was founded. Ford was delighted to be creating and selling his own inventions, and bit by bit he began to take more responsibility for the company as the whole – buying out most of the other shareholders and becoming more powerful inside the enterprise. By 1906, he had become president of the company as well as the primary shareholder. During this time the business continued to produce traditional Model A cars, but Ford used his newfound freedom to develop the idea of the perfect middle-class car.

Two years later, Ford Motor Company, which was capitalized at two million dollars, was finally ready to start production of the Model T. The Model T was a simple, lightweight car intended for middle class families to afford. Ford was able to produce the cars cheaply by introducing the assembly line method. This allowed an extremely efficient mass production with a very low cost and workers that didn’t have to know anything about how cars work. Because of this industry revolution, a car was suddenly available to almost every family in America.