John Francis Dodge was born on October 25, 1864, and died on January 14, 1920. He was an American pioneer in automobile manufacturing and a co-founder of Dodge Brothers Company.

Biography

John Dodge was born in Niles, Michigan, where his father owned a foundry and machine shop. John and his younger brother, Horace, were very close friends both as children and as adults. Earlier, it was believed that the Dodge family had roots in Chicago, where a family home still stands (Halliday Hill Farmhouse in Listed buildings in Stockport). However, recent DNA testing by the Dodge Family Association shows that many Dodge families in the United States are actually descendants of those who moved from East Coker, Somerset.

In 1886, the Dodge family moved to Detroit, where John and Horace worked at a boiler manufacturing plant. In 1894, they began working as machinists at the Dominion Typograph Company in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. John was a natural leader and salesperson, while his brother Horace was a skilled mechanic who loved to experiment with new ideas. In 1897, using a special type of ball bearing that Horace invented and patented, Dodge arranged a deal for the brothers to partner with an investor to make bicycles. After a few years, they sold the bicycle business and used the money to open their own machine shop in Detroit in 1900.

In their first year of business, the Dodge brothers started making parts for the automobile industry. In 1902, they won a contract to build transmissions for the Olds Motor Vehicle Company, which helped them build a strong reputation for quality and service. The next year, they refused a second contract from Olds to retool their Detroit plant to build engines for Henry Ford, which would have included a share in Ford Motor Company. By 1910, John and Horace were so successful that they built a new plant in Hamtramck, Michigan.

For ten years (1903–1913), the Dodge brothers’ business supplied parts to Ford Motor Company, and John worked as vice president of Ford. He left Ford in 1913, and in 1914, he and Horace formed Dodge Brothers to create their own line of automobiles. They began making motor trucks for the United States military during World War I preparations, and in October 1917, they produced their first commercial car. After the war, their company made and sold both cars and trucks.

John Dodge was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1997. Because of his strong personality and sometimes rough behavior, the red-haired Dodge was often seen as unfriendly by Detroit’s wealthy elite. However, his success made him an influential figure in the community, and he became involved in Republican Party politics in Michigan.

Family

The Dodge brothers were the children of Daniel Rugg Dodge (1819–1897), a machinist, and Maria Duval Casto (1823–1906). Maria was Daniel’s second wife. They had an older full sister named Della Lone (1863–1936), an older half brother named Charles Frontier Dodge (1855–1926), and an older half sister named Laura Belle (1858–?) from Daniel’s first marriage to Lorinda Gould (1820–1860).

John Dodge married Canadian woman Ivy Hawkins (1864–1901) in September 1892. Together, they had three children:
• Winifred (1894–1980)
• Isabel Cleves (1896–1962)
• John Duval Dodge (1898–1942)

After Ivy Dodge died from tuberculosis, John secretly married Isabelle Smith, his housekeeper, in Walkerville, Ontario, on December 8, 1902. They separated in 1905 and quietly divorced in 1907. Their marriage remained a secret until after the death of his third wife. Soon after the divorce, John married Matilda Rausch (1883–1967), his secretary. With Matilda, he had three more children:
• Frances Matilda (1914–1971)
• Daniel George (1917–1938)
• Anna Margaret (1919–1924)

In 1908, John Dodge and Matilda bought land for Meadow Brook Farms near Rochester, Michigan. At Meadow Brook, their eldest child, Frances, developed a love for horses. This led her to buy Castleton Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, and turn it into one of the top horse breeding farms in the United States. John’s daughter, Isabel, started Brookmeade Stable, which became a major player in Thoroughbred horse racing. The stable owned several champions, including Cavalcade and Sword Dancer, both inducted into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame. Five years after John Dodge’s death in 1920, Matilda married Alfred Wilson. Together, they built Meadow Brook Hall at the Rochester estate.

John Dodge’s great-grandson is film producer John F Dodge III.

Death and legacy

John and Horace became sick with influenza and pneumonia in New York City during the 1918 flu pandemic. John passed away on January 14, 1920, at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, at the age of 55. He was buried in a family tomb in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery, which was designed in the style of ancient Egypt and included two Sphinx statues as guardians.

Horace died the following December. In 1925, their widows sold the Dodge Brothers automobile business to Dillon Read, a company that helps manage investments, for $146 million (equal to $2.1 billion in 2024). Dodge’s newborn daughter, Anna Margaret, died from measles before reaching the age of five. His son, Daniel, drowned in the waters near Manitoulin Island after falling overboard during a trip to the hospital following an accident involving dynamite. Daniel had recently married at the age of 21.

After Dodge’s death, Matilda married Alfred Wilson and had two children with him, named Richard and Barbara Wilson. Matilda Dodge Wilson briefly served as Lieutenant Governor of Michigan in 1940 under Republican Governor Luren Dickinson.

In 1957, the Wilsons gave their 1,500-acre (6.1 square kilometers) Meadow Brook Farm, which included Meadow Brook Hall, Sunset Terrace, and all its buildings and collections, along with $2 million (equal to $17 million in 2024), to Michigan State University to create an extension campus. In 1963, Michigan State University-Oakland was renamed Oakland University.