Henry Ford was born in 1863 and was the first of William and Mary Ford's six children. From the very beginning Henry's parents could tell there was something different about him, he was a go-getter who never seemed to give up. Though Henry grew up to be quite a success story he led a normal life in the late 1860's. Henry Ford spent his days at a small one-room school and the rest of the day doing chores on the family farm. At an early age Henry showed a great interest in all things mechanical and it was obvious from the beginning that he did not want to be a farmer. In 1879 at the age of 16 Henry left home for the nearby city of Detroit to work as an apprentice at what he loved, machinery.
12 years later Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. This job as an engineer opened Henry's eyes and let him know that he had found his niche. Henry Ford loved mechanics, particularly in the industrial fields, and he knew that is where he would make his living.
In 1896 Henry Ford built a self-propelled vehicle known as the quadricycle. This invention had four wire wheels that looked like heavy bicycle wheels, not like the wheels we see on the modern day car. The car had no reverse speed, just two forward.
Though Henry Ford was not the first to build a self-propelled vehicle he was a major player in getting the automobile up and running.
The Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 with Henry Ford as the vice-president. With the introduction of the Model T in 1908 Henry Ford realized his dream of producing a well-priced, reliable, efficient vehicle. By 1918 Ford had hit it big and half of all of the cars in the United States were Model T's. Henry Ford opened up several facilities around the Michigan area to keep up with demand for this great car. With every car that was made Ford found a better and more efficient way of building the next one. Pretty soon Henry Ford had perfected his craft and started what has become one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in the world
Just think, without Henry Ford, there would be no Ford auto centers in every city in America. Henry Ford was a true genius, a self made man and a man that everyone respects. This man brought us the company Ford and for that many people are thankful. It takes one man to make a company but it takes a great man with a great team to keep it running. Henry Ford did both and he did it to great effect. There are a lot of car manufacturers that have gone under because of the way that they presented their business, but luckily for many Ford knew what the market wanted and they always delivered in style.