Founded by automobile industrialist Henry Ford, the institution grew from his personal collection of historic objects, which he began assembling as early as 1906. Ford described the project as a means of reproducing American life through the things people made and used. Architect Robert O. Derrick designed the museum building, which features a 523,000-square-foot exhibit hall and a façade spanning 800 feet that incorporates facsimiles of Independence Hall, Old City Hall, and Congress Hall from Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park.
The complex was originally known as the Edison Institute. It was dedicated on October 21, 1929 — the 50th anniversary of the first successful incandescent light bulb — by President Herbert Hoover in honour of Ford's longtime friend Thomas Edison. Attendees included Marie Curie, George Eastman, John D. Rockefeller, Will Rogers, and Orville Wright. The Institute was initially a private educational facility; it opened to the general public on June 22, 1933. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1981.
The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation covers 12 acres. Key exhibits include the 1961 Lincoln Continental SS-100-X in which President John F. Kennedy was assassinated; the rocking chair from Ford's Theatre in which President Abraham Lincoln was shot; the bus on which Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat, triggering the Montgomery bus boycott; a replica of Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory; the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop and home, moved from Dayton, Ohio in 1937; the Fokker Trimotor that flew the first flight over the North Pole; and the 1987 race car driven by Bill Elliott that recorded over 212 mph at Talladega. The collection also includes the Toyota Prius, the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, and the Allegheny-class steam locomotive No. 1601, described as the third most powerful steam locomotive ever built.
The Benson Ford Research Center holds the Ford Motor Archives and photographic and manuscript material not ordinarily displayed.
On August 9, 1970, a fire destroyed the East Wing of the Mechanical Arts Hall, including the "Street of Shops" exhibit and a collection of Ford Motor Company production records. In September 1977, a Brewster Chair purchased in 1970 for $9,000, believed to be a 17th-century piece, was identified as a modern forgery created in 1969 by Rhode Island sculptor Armand LaMontagne; the museum retained it as an educational tool on forgeries.
Greenfield Village is the outdoor living history section of the complex, covering 240 acres of land (90 acres developed). Dedicated in 1929 and opened to the public in June 1933, it was the first outdoor museum of its type in the United States. Nearly one hundred historical buildings were moved from their original locations. Visitors are served by authentic Ford Model Ts, a 1931 Ford Model AA bus, horse-drawn omnibuses, and the Weiser Railroad — a two-mile, standard-gauge steam railway with a direct connection to the US National Railroad Network via the Michigan Line used by Amtrak's Wolverine service.
The complex hosts several recurring public events: Motor Muster (Father's Day weekend, 600–800 cars from 1932–1976); the Old Car Festival (held since 1955 on the first weekend after Labor Day, featuring 500–700 vehicles from the 1890s through 1932); the World Tournament of Historic Base Ball (August, played by 1867 rules); Civil War Remembrance (Memorial Day weekend, over 400 reenactors); and Salute to America (patriotic concert series performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra around Independence Day).
The Ford Rouge Factory Tour takes visitors from the Henry Ford Museum to the River Rouge Plant and Dearborn Truck Plant, which reopened in 2003 following renovation as a LEED Gold building designed by William McDonough.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
