Edison and Ford Winter Estates celebrates Henry Ford birthday,
The Edison & Ford Winter Estates will celebrate the 146th birthday of Henry Ford and the completion of the restoration of the Ford Estates at “The Mangoes,” the winter home of Henry and Clara Ford on Thursday, July 30 at 9:30 a.m. Admission to the event is FREE.
The celebration will include a tour of the Ford Estate by Mr. & Mrs.
Ford, cake, antique cars, presentations and a performance by the Estates
Wild Wizards.
*At 9:30 a.m., the Estates will begin with a birthday ceremony with
cake at the Ford Estate.
*At 10 a.m., Mr. & Mrs. Edison will lead tours of their newly
restored winter home.
*At 10:30 a.m., a special preview of the new Estates traveling
school presentation, “Invention, Innovation and Green Science: Henry
Ford, Thomas Edison and the Automobile” will begin in the Estates
Museum.
*At 11:30 a.m. the Estates will present a “History of Henry Ford
and the Impact of the Model T” in the Estates Museum.
*Antique Cars from individual collectors as well as a new models
including the new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid from Sam Galloway Ford Lincoln
Mercury will be on display at the Ford estate from 9:30 – 11 a.m..
“Ford’s birthday marks a very important day in American history, and we
invite the public to share in the celebration…. Learn about Henry
Ford…. And visit the beautiful winter homes of one of America’s
greatest industrialists,” says Chris Pendleton, Estates president & CEO.
“Ford’s remarkable history spanned decades and totally changed our way
of life.”
Ford facts include:
*Henry Ford grew up on a typical nineteenth-century farm in
Dearborn, Michigan. At an early age he demonstrated an interest in
mechanics and a dislike for farm work.
*Ford married Clara Bryant in 1888. He would later refer to Clara
as “the Believer” for her faith in and support of his ideas.
*In 1891 Ford became an engineer for the Edison Illuminating
Company, and was soon promoted to Chief Engineer. This position allowed
him time to experiment with the internal combustion engine. Ford
idolized Thomas Edison and met him during an 1896 company convention in
New York, where Ford relayed his ideas for the engine. Ford recalled the
importance of Edison’s encouragement: “[O]ut of the clear blue sky the
greatest inventive genius in the world had given me complete approval.”
*In 1896, at the age of 33, Ford completed the Quadricycle, a
self-propelled vehicle with four wire wheels which was steered with a
tiller and had two forward speeds. Ford traveled around Detroit in his
“horseless carriage,” to the amazement, as well as disdain, of its
citizens.
*The Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 with the Model
A. In 1908 Ford introduced the Model T, realizing his lifelong dream of
a vehicle that was easy to operate and maintain and able to handle the
rough roads of the era. The Model T quickly became a huge success, with
more than 10,000 sold in 1909.
*Ford is considered the father of modern manufacturing. As the
popularity of the Model T escalated, Ford devised a system that combined
division of labor, standardized and interchangeable parts, and the
assembly line. This revolutionized automobile production by reducing the
amount of time involved in automobile manufacturing and consequently
lowering production costs. Mass production was born. By 1913 some 1000
cars were produced in a typical eight-hour shift.
*By the late teens, Ford was an American celebrity and the public
could not seem to get enough of him. Ford came into his office one day
and said, “You know, I think I ought to get a pair of whiskers.
Everybody seems to spot me.”
*In 1914 Ford made his first visit to Fort Myers at the
invitation of his friend Thomas Edison. From there the two embarked on
an Everglades camping trip. Calling themselves “the Vagabonds,” Ford and
Edison, along with Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs, would make many
more camping trips throughout the next fifteen years. In 1916, Ford
purchased his Fort Myers retreat, The Mangoes, for $20,000 and enlarged
it by adding two family and staff wings.
*Ford was seriously interested in unifying urban and rural
industry. He encouraged the idea of using agricultural products for
industrial purposes. For example, Ford experimented with an automobile
trunk made from soybean-based plastic. He was a partner in the Edison
Botanical Research Lab located on Estates’ property.
*In the mid-1920s the New York Times estimated the assets of the
Ford Motor Company at $1.2 billion, or about $13 billion today. Ford
himself drew an average of about $4.5 million per year during this
decade, or about $50 million in today’s dollars. Said Ford, “I’m in a
peculiar position. There is nothing I want that I cannot have. But I do
not want the things that money can buy. I want to live a life, to make
the world a little better for having lived in it.”
*In 1928 Ford established and endowed The Edison Institute in
Dearborn, MI (now The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village), an
indoor/outdoor museum created to illustrate and preserve the American
experience and celebrate American ingenuity.
*In 1929 Ford threw a lavish party in Dearborn in honor of the
fiftieth anniversary of Edison’s invention of the incandescent lamp.
Ford presented his friend with a detailed reconstruction of Edison’s
Menlo Park and the original 1887 Fort Myers laboratory at The Edison
Institute. Edison became misty-eyed and remarked that “the memories of
eighty-two years were flooding back.” Ford told reporters at the event,
“We are ahead of all other countries today, simply and solely because we
have Mr. Edison.”
*Ford loved dancing and in the 1920s began a massive effort to
revive old-fashioned dancing. He sponsored a national tour of dancing
master Benjamin Lovett. Dancing was also an important part of Ford’s
social life in Fort Myers.
*Henry Ford earned the American Legion Distinguished Service
Medal for his efforts on behalf of disabled veterans in both World Wars.
In 1997, Life Magazine named him one of the “100 People Who Made the
Millennium,” and in 2000 Time Magazine named him one of the “100 Most
Important People of the Century.” In 2000 Forbes Magazine called him the
“#1 Industrialist of the Century.”
*Ford returned to The Mangoes only sporadically after Thomas
Edison’s death in 1931. In 1945 he sold it to Thomas and Gladys Biggar.
In 1988, the City of Fort Myers purchased Henry Ford’s estate for $1.5
million, restored it to its historic appearance and opened it to the
public in 1989.
*Henry Ford’s Fort Myers estate is open daily and now managed by
the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, Inc., a non-profit organization.
*On July 30, 2007 a statue commemorating Henry Ford’s
achievements and time in Fort Myers was created by D. J. Wilkins and
donated by Orvall McCleary to the Estates.
The Estates is open daily from 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. The Estates was
awarded the National Trust for Historic Preservation Award in 2008 and
is an official project of “Save America’s Treasures” at the National
Trust for Historic Preservation, a Florida Historic Landmark and a
National Register Historic Site. For additional information call
239-334-7419 or visit the web site at www.efwefla.org.
Source: Edison and Ford Estates