Economic Influencers Between 1900 and 1929 Blog Post.

 Henry Ford was born just outside of Detroit Michigan during the Civil War. At the age of sixteen he leaves his family behind to pursue his interests in machinery in Detroit. By no means does Ford strike it rich initially in the postbellum economy. In 1879 he is only earning roughly $2.50 a week shaping brass valves. A true innovator, he spends every waking moment while also growing his young family in a rented house in Detroit, toying with his invention of the quadricycle. His hard work and determination pay off and in 1896 his first automobile creation, the Quadracycle, is driven by him through the streets of Detroit. Just at the turn of the twentieth century, he is able to form his Detroit Automobile Company. His financial backers all grew tired of his attempts to constantly update his automobiles and constant desire to push the market forward through innovation. While his financial backers grew tired of his constant attempts to update his automobiles and make them more innovative and cutting edge, they would eventually appreciate his tenacity. In 1901, Ford entered one of his automobiles into a ten mile car race in Grosse Pointe. When his car wins, it makes him the talk of many automobile circles. He builds a new racer called the 999 soon after that sets new speed records for the time period of five miles in five minutes and twenty eight seconds. This speed record was set in October 1901. By the 1920's Henry Ford's car business would be booming and the automobile industry in America would never be the same. 

By 1903, Henry Ford had incorporated his Ford Motor Company with a 28,000 dollar investment. Between 1903 and 1908, Ford's business significantly takes off. He manufactures nine different cars during this time period and the model N is the most popular. By 1908, his automobile business was booming and he introduced his model T known as Tin "Lizzie." Within months of introducing the Model T, Ford and his company is forced to put new orders on hold because the demand is so high. By the Fall of 1913, Ford opens a factory that is employing 13,000 men. This was huge as it demonstrated an increase in his production and profits. Ford, always the innovator, introduced the five dollar a day wage in 1914. This wage was not out of the kindness of his heart. It was a strategic move to allow his own workers the ability to save and pay for their own cars that his company produced. He realized also that publicity and affordability was essential for his car business to be successful. Ford, ultimately resigns as President of Ford Motor Company in 1918 and leaves the reigns to his son. However, in just the eighteen years since 1900, Ford was able to build a enterprise that to this day has rarely been rivaled in success. By 1919, Ford announces that he is starting a new motor company that will sell more affordable cars to the general public. Of course, his stunt was to buy all the stock of Ford motor company and allow for the Ford family to own all of the stock in the company. However, the affordable cars were not a stunt and Ford does become increasingly more profitable and thus rich by making a car that is affordable at 250 to 300 dollars a car. This is still extremely affordable when we adjust for inflation to 2024. By today's standards this means that Ford's cars were only about five thousand dollars in today's money. You would be hard pressed to find a car for that price today, especially a new car. From 1900 to 1927, Henry Ford experienced exponential growth in his own personal wealth as well as his company's wealth. For, by 1927, the 15th millionth Model T rolled off his famous assembly line. In 1915, due to his success he was able to move into a 1,300 acre mansion estate in Dearborn, Michigan with his wife. By 1927, he is undertaking a 250 million dollar project to build a new and updated car called the model A. He even expands his ventures to buying land in Brazil to purchase rubber plantations for the manufacturing of tires. This was essential to his vision of a vertical integrated business model. By 1927, he was able to have his dream realized and opened a completely vertically integrated car manufacturing factory called his River Rouge factory. While Henry Ford was largely successful in his business ventures as well as his finances between 1900 and 1929, he was not immune to the ills of the Great Depression. He raised his wages for his workers to seven dollars a day but it was to no avail and he was forced to lay off half of his workforce by 1932. Therefore, Henry Ford came from humble beginnings and started his company literally from scratch while renting a modest home with his family in Michigan. But, he saw great financial success between the years of 1900 to 1929 only to experience great financial distress and business challenges when the Great Depression hit.

Bibliography

Bonville, Frank. What Henry Ford is doing. [Detroit, 1917] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/ca18000226/.

Curcio, Vincent. Henry Ford. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Detroit Publishing Co., Publisher. First and Ten millionth Ford. June 4, 1924. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016816959/.

Laird, Robert A. and Thomas N. Sherratt. "Economics of Evolution: Henry Ford and the Model T." Oikos 119, no. 1 (2010): 3-9.