Henry Ford: Portraits

Henry Ford was born July 30, 1863, and he was no more than three years old when he posed for his first photographic portrait. His parents, William Ford and Mary Litogot Ford, had lost their first son at birth in January 1862, but Henry arrived safe and sound. He was followed by five siblings: John, Margaret, Jane, William, and Robert.

Henry Ford struck out on his own, at age 16, in December 1879. In quick succession, he worked for Michigan Car Company, James Flower & Brothers Machine Shop, and -- at nights -- Magill Jewelry where he repaired watches. From 1880 to 1882, he apprenticed at Detroit Dry Dock Company. Each job provided him with new skills and experiences.

Having worked as a machinist in Detroit as a teenager, and then operated mobile steam traction engines throughout southeast Michigan, Henry Ford took over a 40-acre farm from his father in 1886. Rather than farm the land, though, Ford operated a modest lumber business using the property's trees. All the while, he courted Clara Bryant. The two married in 1888.

Edsel Bryant Ford, the only child of Henry Ford and Clara Bryant Ford, was born November 6, 1893. Here two-year-old Edsel poses for the camera on his father's lap. The photo was taken outside the Bagley Avenue duplex that Henry and Clara rented in Detroit. In the shed behind the house, Henry built his Quadricycle in 1896.

After his Detroit Automobile Company failed in November 1900, Henry Ford devoted much of 1901 to restoring his reputation through racing. Early in the year, he began work on his "Sweepstakes" race car. That October, he faced accomplished driver Alexander Winton in a ten-mile race at Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Ford won and, in November, formed Henry Ford Company, his second firm.

Edsel Bryant Ford, only child of Henry Ford and Clara Bryant Ford, was born November 6, 1893. Here eight-year-old Edsel poses with his father in a series of studio portraits. Perhaps not surprisingly, young Edsel was obsessed with automobiles. By age ten he could drive a Model A, the first car built by his father's Ford Motor Company.

Henry Ford sat for the official Ford Motor Company portrait in 1904. The company was his third. Ford had success in building cars, but his first company failed and he was forced out of the second. By the time this portrait was taken, Ford Motor Company had survived its first year and was selling its first cars, the Model A.

This was a pivotal time in Henry Ford's life. Ford, in his early 40s, urged his Ford Motor Company partners to support production of a "light, low-priced car," believing higher sales would increase profits. The introduction of the Model N in 1906 proved him right. It was more affordable than previous models and quickly became America's bestselling car.

In 1907, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company enjoyed continued success with the four-cylinder Model N, which sold 8,423 units in the 1906-1907 sales period. The N's comparatively large production and sales volumes allowed Ford to price it at a low $600. Throughout 1907, a small team worked in secrecy on the Model N's eventual replacement: the Model T.

The popularity of Henry Ford's Model T continued to grow in 1912. Annual production topped 68,000 units, and the price for a two-person runabout fell to $590. Ford had a virtual monopoly in the low-price field, building some 96 percent of American cars priced at $600 or below. Ford's Highland Park plant ranked among the best industrial facilities in the world.

Henry Ford was near the peak of his manufacturing creativity when this portrait was made in 1913. The Model T, his car for the masses, was a tremendous sales success. The moving assembly line, which allowed Ford to build cars in unprecedented numbers, was being implemented. The Five Dollar Day, which revolutionized worker pay, was just on the horizon.

The moving assembly line, first experimented with by Henry Ford and his managers in April 1913, had by mid-1914 reduced the build time for a Model T from 12-1/2 hours to 93 minutes. The need for additional workers -- and to temper worker dissatisfaction with the new process -- prompted Ford to offer an unprecedented $5 daily wage in January 1914.

Henry Ford's career soared in 1915. Ford Motor Company built 534,108 Model Ts in the 1915-16 model year. The assembly line yielded ever-greater production gains. Ford himself had become a household name. But there were limits to Mr. Ford's abilities. His ill-conceived attempt to end World War I with his "Peace Ship" that December was a notable failure.

Henry Ford's career soared in 1915. Ford Motor Company built 534,108 Model Ts in the 1915-16 model year. The assembly line yielded ever-greater production gains. Ford himself had become a household name. But there were limits to Mr. Ford's abilities. His ill-conceived attempt to end World War I with his "Peace Ship" that December was a notable failure.

Carl Bennett Linder was a New York-based painter who specialized in portraits of industrialists. He was a favorite of Mrs. Clara Bryant Ford, who attended his 1925 one-person exhibit at the Knoedler Gallery in Manhattan. Soon after she commissioned him to paint the entire Ford family. Linder painted multiple portraits of Henry and Clara Ford, the last of which is dated 1936.

The year 1927 was a pivotal one for Henry Ford. Model T production ended in May after 19 years and 15 million cars. Its replacement, the Model A, was introduced to critical and commercial success in December, but only after a difficult six-month shutdown of Ford Motor Company plants for re-tooling.

Henry Ford's reluctance to replace the aging Model T eroded his company's sales in the mid-1920s. Chevrolet, which offered fresher styling and more advanced engineering at a comparable price, beat Ford to become the bestselling car in the United States in 1927. Ford Motor Company regained the lead in 1928 after the introduction of its new Model A.

After the introduction of the Ford V-8 in 1932, Henry Ford became less active in Ford Motor Company's day-to-day business. He devoted more time to outside interests like Greenfield Village and his Edison Institute museum, the traditional fiddle music and folk dances of his youth, and philanthropic activities like his support of Berry College in rural Georgia.

In the 1910s, many wealthy Detroit citizens abandoned the city for eastern suburbs. Henry and Clara Ford sought a different path. They selected 1300 acres of farmland in Dearborn (west of Detroit) as the site for their final home. For this circa 1935 photograph, Henry Ford posed on the sun porch at Fair Lane--overlooking the rambling grounds of his estate.