Henry Ford's parents left Ireland during the potato famine and settled in the Detroit area in the 1840s. Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863. He was the first of William and Mary Ford's six children. He grew up on a prosperous family farm in what is today Dearborn, Michigan. Henry enjoyed a childhood typical of rural nineteenth century, spending days in a one-room school and doing farm chores. At an early age, he showed an interest in mechanical things and dislike for farm work. The farm work consisted of growing wheat and hay, tending to horses, sheep, cows and pigs, cutting wood, pruning apple and peach orchards, smoking bacon, salting pork, digging and filling vegetable pits for the winter, fishing and hunting, and tanning skins.

In 1879, sixteen-year-old Ford left home for the nearby city of Detroit to work as an apprentice machinist, although he did occasionally return to help on the farm. For years there were stories told that Ford ran away, but all the evidence shows an old and familiar American pattern. The son who has his own ideas for his life rejects the only life his father knows, and then the father who can't quite

During the Model T era, Ford bought out his shareholders so he had complete financial control of the now vast corporation. He continued to innovate, but the competitors who were growing more powerful, though fewer in number, began to cut into Ford's market.

In 1937, supporters of unionization were physically beaten near a Ford plant by people suspected to be members of Ford's security office. In response, the National Labor Relations Board cited the company for unfair labor practices. In 1941, following a massive workers' strike, Henry Ford agreed to a contract that met workers' demands and recognized the United Automobile Workers of America as the collective bargaining representative for all Ford Motor Company employees.

The company began construction of the world's largest industrial complex along the banks of the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan during the late 1910's and the early 1920's. The massive Rouge Plant included all of the elements needed for automobile production: a steel mill, glass factory, and an automobile assembly line. Iron ore and coal were brought in on Great Lakes steamers and by railroad, and were used to produce both iron and steel. Rolling mills, forges, and assembly shops transformed the steel into springs, axles, and car bodies. Foundries converted iron into engines. By September 1927, all steps in the manufacturing process, from refining raw materials to final assembly of the automobile, took place at the vast Rouge Plant, characterizing Henry Ford's idea of mass production.

3 A.M., but with his head filled with the mechanical wonders of Detroit.

"The house was like a watch without a mainspring."

Henry Ford was not yet thirteen when his mother died suddenly. She was only thirty-seven years old. Ford said later making the most powerful comparison he knew:

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Approximate Word count = 2830
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)