|
In 1919, the city of Dearborn, Michigan, set about to widen a number of streets. This development put Henry Ford in a difficult position, because his beloved boyhood home stood directly in the path of road construction. Ironically, the house would be destroyed due to the increasing traffic he helped to unleash.
The resourceful Ford quickly found a solution. He moved the entire house and soon afterward decided to completely refurbish the structure. This highly personal project was the genesis of a one-of-a-kind village which today contains over 70 buildings. When he wasn't collecting buildings for this village, Ford was gathering objects from wrist watches to 600-ton locomotives and thousands of objects in-between. As a result, we have the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village which has been aptly named the "Smithsonian of the Midwest."
A thought-provoking exhibit called The Automobile in American Life, opened in 1987, brings together all the components of our car culture and its unprecedented impact on our society. The idea came about when the museum curators decided the time had come to redesign their "parking lot" of classic cars. Rather than row upon row of vehicles with only dry facts and figures for explanation, the new plan would put the automobile into a real-life context.
Because of the automobile, the display points out, the American landscape was transformed by infinite ribbons of highway, which in turn produced the need for fuel, food and overnight accommodations. Seeing the candy-apple red gas pumps, vintage McDonald's golden arches and the reconstructed Holiday Inn room certainly makes one pause to consider what America would look like had the car not been invented. For better or worse, the accouterments of our motorized civilization are everywhere.
Yet another product of our mobile society is the roadside diner. Take a look at Lamy's Diner, painstakingly refurbished down to the unbelievably low prices on the menu board. This gem, relocated from Massachusetts, is so true-to-life, visitors frequently try to order lunch. Thorough as always, the curators asked the original owner of the diner to supervise details such as the proper location of the griddle.
Not all the vehicles are in The Automobile in American Life exhibit. Among the array of Presidential vehicles is the Lincoln in which President Kennedy was riding in Dallas on the day he was assassinated. Visitors respectfully speak in hushed tones when they get near this automobile.
But don't get the wrong idea. Cars represent only a portion of this 12-acre museum. One section contains pewter and silver pieces, which include six works by Paul Revere, crafted between the years 1755-65. On the opposite end of the historic timeline you can study a lunar rover, up close and personal. You can find ceramics, clocks, glassware and furniture. For more on machines the museum has trains, airplanes and antique farm machinery. You soon realize, Ford collected the same way he built cars, on an unparalleled scale.
Ford acquired the rocking chair in which Abraham Lincoln sat at Ford's Theater (no relation to Henry Ford) on the night he was fatally shot. Dark patches still stain the red fabric. Nearby is a camp bed used by George Washington and yes, it can be truthfully said, George Washington slept here! Somewhat odd are test tubes containing the dying breaths of Thomas Edison.
Adjacent to the museum is Greenfield Village, Ford's collection of buildings. Pack your walking shoes, this community covers eighty-one acres.
The dedication ceremony for the village was planned for 1929, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Edison's world-changing invention of the electric light. The guest list at the prestigious ceremony reads like a Who's Who of American history. Will Rogers, Marie Curie, George Eastman, John D. Rockefeller and Orville Wright, were among the 260 people in attendance. Of course, the grand old man himself, Thomas A. Edison was there and the President, Herbert Hoover, was on hand to make a speech. Henry Ford could also collect a prominent audience when the occasion arose.
The assembled buildings in Greenfield Village are a hodge-podge of time periods and styles. A majority of the structures are historically significant because of the famous people who lived or worked in them. Thus you have the Connecticut home of Noah Webster, the Logan County courthouse where Abe Lincoln practiced law and the Wright Brothers' home and cycle shop.
An English building which caught Ford's attention was the Sir John Bennett Jewelry store in London. Negotiations for this extraordinary structure lasted well over a year. When all the legalities were finally settled, Ford's people ran into another setback. Due to city regulations, the building could only be dismantled on Sundays, so the task took much longer than anticipated. In the end though, Ford got his jewelry store and it's as unique as it was troublesome.
Henry Ford admired Thomas Edison above all men and so in tribute to Edison, Ford refurbished and transplanted his Menlo Park Laboratory, originally located in New Jersey. The lab, given the name "the invention factory" was the spot Edison perfected his electric light, the phonograph and hundreds of other devices. This is one place you can say history happened here and absolutely no one would argue.
The other legacy of Henry Ford goes beyond the ingenuity of the moving assembly line and the boundless thrill of driving the open road. His legacy inspires people to learn from and appreciate the past with a view to shaping a better tomorrow.
| 
