The Henry Ford
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| Edison Institute | |
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| (U.S. National Historic Landmark District) | |
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| Location: | The Henry Ford 20900 Oakwood Boulevard at Village Road Dearborn, Michigan  United States |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1929 |
| Architect: | Robert O. Derrick |
| Added to NRHP: | December 21, 1981 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 69000071 |
The Henry Ford, a National Historic Landmark, (also known as the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, and more formally as the Edison Institute), in the Metro Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, USA, is the nation's "largest indoor-outdoor history museum" complex. [1] [2] More than a museum, it is a museum-entertainment complex where patrons can take a ride in a Model T, ride the train, visit an IMAX Theater, or see a live show. Named for its founder, the noted automobile industrialist Henry Ford and based on his desire to preserve items of historical significance and portray the Industrial Revolution, the property houses a vast array of famous homes, machinery, exhibits, and Americana. The collection contains many rare exhibits including John F. Kennedy's limousine, Abraham Lincoln's chair from Ford's Theater, Thomas Edison's laboratory, the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, and the Rosa Parks bus.
Henry Ford said of his museum:
- "I am collecting the history of our people as written into things their hands made and used.... When we are through, we shall have reproduced American life as lived, and that, I think, is the best way of preserving at least a part of our history and tradition..."
Contents |
[edit] History
The Edison Institute was dedicated by President Herbert Hoover to Ford's longtime friend Thomas Edison on October 21, 1929 – the 50th anniversary of the invention of the incandescent light bulb. Of the 260 people in attendance, some of the more famous were Marie Curie, George Eastman, John D. Rockefeller, Will Rogers, and Orville Wright. The dedication was carried on radio with listeners encouraged to turn off their electric lights until the switch was flipped at the Museum.
The Edison Institute was originally composed of the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, and the Greenfield Village Schools (an experimental learning facility). Initially, Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum were used as a laboratory for the school which included practical work in the machine shops. Admission to the Village was free to the public for the first few years. By 1937, the school had 300 students ranging from kindergarten to college age. The last original school on the grounds closed in 1969 although informal community education classes and school field trips continued. The Henry Ford Academy opened in 1997 and is now a 400-student secondary level charter school with admission open to all county residents by lottery. Students have classes in a glass-walled section of the Museum, a converted carousel building and in Pullman cars on a rail siding, feet away from the active Village railway.
Lovett Hall in the complex is a formal dance hall named for Henry Ford's dance master Benjamin Lovett. Ford was interested in preserving the dances of his youth in the age of jazz, and made contra dancing required for his executives and for the Village school students. Local public school students were also taught with 22,000 participating at the program's peak. Contra dances occurred monthly at the hall until early 2005; at present there is no public contra dancing offered at the museum.
The Henry Ford is still closely tied to the Ford family which still provides museum board members and the Ford Motor Company which cooperates with the Henry Ford to provide the Ford Rouge Factory Tour and is a sponsor of the school. The Henry Ford is sited between the Ford test track and several Ford engineering buildings with which it shares the same style gates and brick fences.
[edit] Museum
Henry Ford Museum began as Henry Ford's personal collection of historic objects, which he began collecting as far back as 1906. Today, the 12 acre (49,000 m²) site is primarily a collection of antique machinery, pop culture items, automobiles, locomotives, aircraft, and other items:
- A model of the nuclear-powered Ford Nucleon automobile.
- An Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
- The 1961 Lincoln Continental that President John F. Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated.
- The rocking chair from Ford's Theater in which President Lincoln was sitting when he was shot.
- George Washington's camp bed.
- A ten-person safety bicycle made in 1896
- A collection[3] of several fine 17th and 18th century violins including a Stradivarius.
- Thomas Edison's alleged last breath in a sealed tube.
- Buckminster Fuller's prototype Dymaxion house.
- The bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.[4]
- Igor Sikorsky's prototype helicopter.
- Fokker Trimotor airplane that flew the first flight over the North Pole.
- Bill Elliott's record-breaking race car clocking in at over 212 MPH at Talledega in 1987.
- The Newcomen type engine from Cobb's Engine House in England[5].
[edit] Greenfield Village
Greenfield Village is considered the first and largest outdoor museum in America. Nearly one hundred historical buildings were moved to the property from their original locations and arranged in a "village" setting. The museum's intent is to show how Americans lived and worked since the founding of the country. The Village includes buildings from the 17th century to the present, many of which are staffed by costumed interpreters who conduct period tasks like farming, sewing and cooking. A collection of craft buildings such as pottery, glass-blowing, and tin shops provide demonstrations while producing materials used in the Village and for sale. Greenfield Village has 240 acres (970,000 m²) of land of which only 90 acres (360,000 m²) are used for the attraction, the rest being forest, river and extra pasture for the sheep and horses.
The transportation system provides rides by horse-drawn omnibus, steam locomotive, a 1931 Model AA bus (one of about 15 left known to exist), and authentic Ford Model Ts. Steam locomotives in operation include the Torch Lake, an 1873 0-6-4 Mason Bogie which is one of the oldest operating steam locomotives in the U.S., and the Edison, a Baldwin 4-4-0.
Some of the most notable homes and buildings include:
- Noah Webster's Connecticut home.
- the Wright brothers' bicycle shop and home from Dayton, Ohio.
- Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory from New Jersey.
- Henry Ford's birthplace
- Henry Ford's prototype garage where he built the quadricycle
- Harvey Firestone family farm
- William Holmes McGuffey's birthplace
- Luther Burbank's office
Summer events
Memorial Day
Each year the Village celebrates the Memorial Day weekend with its Civil War Remembrance. This event features several hundred Civil War Reenactors who are invited to camp in the Village over the weekend. Attractions include infantry, cavalry, and artillery demonstrations, as well as a reenactor's ball, and special memorial events to commemorate the sacrifices of United States Military Veterans.
Motor Muster
Motor Muster is one of two car shows that takes place annually in Greenfield Village. Motor Muster is traditionally held on Fathers Day weekend. This event currently features cars built from 1934-1977, and features between 500-700 cars. Special attractions include car judging, pass in review.
Salute to America
For four nights around the Fourth of July, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performs a patriotic concert on Walnut Grove in the Village. Attendance ranges from 5000-9500 per evening.
Ragtime Street Fair
This event was innaugurated in 2007 and is slated to return in 2008. The Street Fair features several live performers along with recorded music from the Ragtime era (ca. 1900-1917). Dancing lessons are provided free of charge at this event.
Old Car Festival
Features cars from 1890-1933 and is the event from which Motor Muster was spun off. Old Car Festival has been held on the first weekend after Labor Day since 1955. This event features 500-700 cars. Special events include car judging, pass in review, gaslight tour (Saturday night only), and car races on Walnut Grove.
[edit] Rouge Tour
The Ford Rouge Factory Tour is a first-hand journey behind the scenes of a modern, working automobile factory. Boarding buses at the Henry Ford Museum, visitors are taken to the River Rouge Plant and Dearborn Truck Plant – an industrial complex where Ford has built cars since the Model A and which once employed 100,000 people.[6]
[edit] Other
Behind the scenes, the Benson Ford Research Center uses the resources of The Henry Ford, especially the photographic, manuscript and archival material which is rarely displayed, to allow visitors to gain a deeper understanding of American people, places, events, and things.
The museum also features an IMAX Theater, which shows scientific, natural, or historical documentaries; as well as major feature films.
Michigan native and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney formally announced his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States at The Henry Ford on February 13, 2007.
[edit] Gallery
 Wilbur and Orville Wright's house and bicycle shop. |
 The Wright Brothers house. It originally stood in Dayton, Ohio and was removed to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. |
 The bus that Rosa Parks was arrested on. Her arrest was an important milestone in the Civil Rights Movement. |
 The house that belonged to Noah Webster. |
 A garden and covered bridge at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. |
 A house at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. |
 Upstairs at Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory. |
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 Three crucibles in Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory. At the left is a boiler and a small steam engine. The laboratory was removed to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. |
 Charles Proteus Steinmetz maintained a small cabin overlooking the Mohawk River near Schenectady, New York. It was removed to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. |
 An 1896 Ford Quadricycle. |
 A 1916 Anderson. |
 The first 1965 (per museum web site, NOT a 1964) Ford Mustang. |
 A Ford Model T giving rides at The Henry Ford. |
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 Interior of The bus that Rosa Parks Arrested On. |
 A Douglas DC-3 Once owned by Northwest Airlines. Now on display at The Henry Ford. |
 The Fokker F.VIIa/3M - Richard E. Byrd |
[edit] See also
- Architecture of metropolitan Detroit
- Automotive Hall of Fame
- Fair Lane (Henry Ford's estate)
- Henry Ford Academy
- Tourism in metropolitan Detroit
[edit] References
- ^ America's Story, Explore the States: Michigan (2006). Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village Library of Congress
- ^ State of Michigan: MI Kids (2006).Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village
- ^ Pic of the Month
- ^ Rosa Parks Bus FAQ.
- ^ Listed Buildings in Rowley Regis.
- ^ Ann Brigham, “Behind-the-Scenes Space: Promoting Production in a Landscape of Consumption,” pp. 207-223 in The Themed Space: Locating Culture, Nation, and Self, ed. Scott A. Lukas (Lanham, MD, Lexington Books, 2007), ISBN 0739121421
[edit] External links
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