Henry Ford

Pioneer of affordable automobiles and Fordism

Ford Motor Company. Photographic Department · via Wikipedia: Henry Ford · Public domain

Henry Ford was an American industrialist and business magnate born July 30, 1863, who founded the Ford Motor Company.^[1] Ford became one of the wealthiest people in the world as sole owner of the company.^[2]

Quick Facts

Born

30 July 1863

Birthplace

Springwells Township, Michigan, U.S.

Died

7 April 1947

Place of death

Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.

Other names

Henry Ford I

Resting place

Ford Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan

Occupation

Engineer
industrialist
publisher
philanthropist

Years active

1891–1945

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

His formal education concluded with the eighth grade at Springwells Middle School, a one-room school, and he did not proceed to high school.^[3][4] On April 11, 1888, Ford wed Clara Jane Bryant; their only child, Edsel Ford, was born in 1893.^[5] After being elevated to Chief Engineer in 1893, he finished building a self-propelled vehicle called the Ford Quadricycle in 1896.^[6] Moving assembly belts were implemented in Ford's factories in 1913, leading to massive production growth.^[7]

In 1914, Ford's announcement of a $5 daily wage—more than double the prevailing rate for his workforce—shocked the world.^[8]

What the cited sources add

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum account notes that Ford was briefly an auto racing competitor as a young man.^[9] Ford set a land speed record driving his "999" on frozen Lake St. Clair on January 12, 1904.^[9] The same source states that Ford did not allow his firm to take part as a competitor in the Indianapolis 500.^[9] A HISTORY article reports that the Model T's production record of 15,007,034 stood until the Volkswagen Beetle broke it on February 17, 1972.^[10]

Multiple inventors deserve credit for the assembly line technology, which had origins in the 19th century.^[10]

References

Wikipedia, "Henry Ford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cwiek, "The Middle Class Took Off 100 Years Ago ... Thanks To Henry Ford?", National Public Radio, 2014-01-27; Goodman, "Lessons From Henry Ford About Today's Supply Chain Mess", The New York Times, 2024-06-10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Henry Ford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chiodini, "Vision and innovation: Lessons from Henry Ford", MSU Extension, 2013-01-18 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Henry Ford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Henry Ford—Biography, Education, Inventions, & Facts" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Henry Ford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nevins and Hill (1954), 1:90. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Henry Ford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Widow of Automobile Pioneer, Victim of Coronary Occlusion, Survived Him Three Years", September 29, 1950; "Edsel Ford Dies in Detroit at 49. Motor Company President, the Only Son of Its Founder, Had Long Been Ill.", May 26, 1943 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Henry Ford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Showroom of Automotive History: 1896 Quadricycle" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Henry Ford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nevins (1954), 1: 387–415. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Henry Ford" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Using the consumer price index, this was equivalent to $111.10 per day in 2008 dollars.; Lewis, Public Image, p. 71.; Nevins, Ford, 1: 528–541.; Watts, People's Tycoon, pp. 178–194.; Ciwek, "The Middle Class Took Off 100 Years Ago ... Thanks To Henry Ford?", NPR.org, January 27, 2014; The Learning Network, "Jan. 5, 1914 : Henry Ford Implements the $5-a-Day Wage", The New York Times, January 5, 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum", Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. facts only, no text reused. imsmuseum.org
"Beetle overtakes Model T as world's best-selling car", HISTORY. facts only, no text reused. history.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Henry Ford (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.