By rights, Henry Ford probably should have been a farmer. He was born in 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan, on the farm operated by his father. Even as a boy, young Henry had an aptitude for inventing, and used it to make machines that reduced the drudgery of his farm chores. At the age of thirteen, he saw a coal-fired steam engine lumbering along a long rural road, a sight that galvanized his fascination with machines. At sixteen, against the wishes of his father, he left the farm for Detroit, where he found work as a mechanic's apprentice. Over the next dozen years, he advanced steadily, and became chief engineer at the Edison Illumination Comapny. (Gross, 76)
Top Left Picture: Edison Illumination Company
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/sjb4photos/5243699113) Top Right picture: In this early factory there are no signs of mass production. (Barry 26) Bottom Left Picture: Henry Ford on his 1896 Quadricycle (Wiki) Bottom right Picture: Ford Motor Company, Cleveland, Ohio (Wiki) |