Henry Leland in His Office with Wilfred Leland, Jr., Detroit, Michigan, circa 1922

Henry Leland grew up in Vermont and learned the importance of precision manufacturing in New England's state-of-the-art factories. He relocated to Detroit and produced Oldsmobile engines and gears before founding Cadillac Motor Car Company in 1902. Following a dispute with Billy Durant, whose General Motors corporation acquired Cadillac in 1909, Leland resigned and founded Lincoln Motor Company in 1917.