Henry Bourne Joy

Lore & Background

Joy was born in Detroit in 1864, the son of Michigan Central Railroad president James F. Joy. He began his career as an office boy with Peninsular Car Company, later working as treasurer of the Fort Street Union Depot Company and president of the Detroit Union Railroad Station and Depot Company after his father's death. In 1902, after seeing two Packards chase a horse-drawn fire wagon in New York City, Joy bought the only Packard available there and soon visited James Ward Packard. Joy enlisted investors including his brother-in-law Truman Handy Newberry, and on October 2, 1902, the Ohio Automobile Company became Packard Motor Car Company with Joy's investors holding majority ownership. The company moved to Detroit, where Joy engaged architect Albert Kahn to build the world's first reinforced concrete factory. Joy became president of Packard in 1909 and chairman in 1916, steering the company into motor truck developments, a V-12 engine, and aircraft engine research that led to the Liberty Motor. He served at Packard until 1926, with a temporary interruption for World War I service.

Reader's Guide

Joy's most enduring legacy is the Lincoln Highway, the first concrete road from New York to San Francisco, which he helped organize in 1913 and served as president of the association. Despite a lack of financial support from automotive leaders such as Henry Ford, the project was completed in Joy's lifetime. A monument to Joy along the Lincoln Highway at the Continental Divide was dedicated in 1939 and later moved west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Joy also founded the Henry B. Joy Historical Research Group in 1928, which focused on midwestern railroad history and a biography of Abraham Lincoln, though neither work was published. His testimony to the United States Congress contributed to the repeal of prohibition in 1933, after he had initially supported it through the Anti-Saloon League but witnessed negative consequences such as Treasury agents destroying property on his land and a fatal shooting near his house.

Did You Know?

• Joy served as chief boatswain's mate aboard an auxiliary cruiser during the Spanish–American War alongside his brother-in-law Truman Handy Newberry.
• The airfield Joy established for testing Packard aircraft was later renamed Selfridge Air Base after Thomas Selfridge, the first person killed in an airplane.
• Joy's father, James F. Joy, hired Abraham Lincoln to assist with railroad mergers.
• Joy was a member of St. Anthony Hall while at Yale University.