The Henry Ford, also called the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, and Edison Institute, is a history museum located in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, which is part of Metro Detroit. The museum has many important items on display, including the presidential limousine used by John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln's chair from Ford's Theatre, Thomas Edison's laboratory, the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, the bus that Rosa Parks rode on, and other historical exhibits.

It is the largest museum in the United States that includes both indoor and outdoor areas. Each year, more than 1.7 million people visit the museum. In 1969, Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum were added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1981, the Edison Institute was named a National Historic Landmark.

Background

Named after its founder, Henry Ford, a business leader known for his work in the automobile industry, the museum was created to protect important historical items and show the Industrial Revolution. The site includes homes, machines, displays, and American memorabilia, such as both significant historical objects and everyday items. These items help explain the way people lived in early America. It is one of the largest collections of this kind in the United States.

Henry Ford said of his museum:

History

Architect Robert O. Derrick designed the museum with an exhibit hall that covers 523,000 square feet (48,600 m²). This hall stretches 400 feet (120 m) behind the main entrance. The entrance itself is 800 feet (240 m) long and includes copies of three buildings from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia: Old City Hall, Independence Hall, and Congress Hall.

The Edison Institute was officially opened by President Herbert Hoover on October 21, 1929. This date marked the 50th anniversary of the first working incandescent light bulb. The event included important people such as Marie Curie, George Eastman, John D. Rockefeller, Will Rogers, Orville Wright, and about 250 others. The ceremony was broadcast on the radio, and listeners were asked to turn off their lights until the museum’s switch was turned on.

At first, the Edison Institute was a private place used only for education. Later, because many people asked about it, the museum opened to the public on June 22, 1933. It originally included the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, and Greenfield Village Schools, which was a place for testing new teaching methods. At first, Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum belonged to the Ford Motor Company. Today, Ford Motor Company supports the school and works with the Henry Ford Museum to offer the Ford Rouge Factory Tour. The Henry Ford Museum is located between the Ford Dearborn Development Center and several Ford engineering buildings, which share the same gate and fence styles.

On August 9, 1970, a fire damaged the East Wing of the Mechanical Arts Hall in Greenfield Village. This wing had an exhibit called the "Street of Shops." The fire destroyed Ford Motor Company production records. That same year, the museum bought what it thought was a 17th-century Brewster Chair, made for a Pilgrim settler in Plymouth Colony, for $9,000. In September 1977, experts found the chair was a fake made in 1969 by sculptor Armand LaMontagne. The museum keeps the chair to teach about forgeries.

In the early 2000s, the museum added an auditorium to the building’s south side. This space had an IMAX theater until January 2016, when the museum decided to change the format to better match its goals. The renovated theater reopened in April 2016.

Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation started as Henry Ford's personal collection of historical items, which he began gathering as early as 1906. Today, the 12-acre (49,000 m²) site is mainly a collection of antique machines, pop culture items, cars, trains, planes, and other objects:

• The museum includes a 4K digital theater that shows scientific, natural, or historical documentaries, as well as major movies.
• An Oscar Mayer Wienermobile
• The 1961 Lincoln Continental, SS-100-X, which President John F. Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated.
• The rocking chair from Ford's Theatre where President Abraham Lincoln was sitting when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth.
• George Washington's camp bed.
• A collection of several fine 17th- and 18th-century violins, including a Stradivarius.
• A sealed tube containing Thomas Edison's alleged last breath.
• Buckminster Fuller's prototype Dymaxion house.
• The bus where Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat, which led to the Montgomery bus boycott.
• Igor Sikorsky's prototype helicopter.
• A Fokker Trimotor airplane that made the first flight over the North Pole.
• Bill Elliott's race car that set a speed record of over 212 miles per hour at Talladega in 1987.
• Fairbottom Bobs, the Newcomen engine.
• A steam engine from Cobb's Engine House in England.
• A working piece of the original Holiday Inn "Great Sign."
• Chesapeake & Ohio Railway 2-6-6-6 "Allegheny"-class steam locomotive #1601, built by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio. The Allegheny was the third most powerful steam locomotive ever built, after the Union Pacific Railroad "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4 locomotive and the Pennsylvania Railroad Q2-class 4-4-6-4 locomotive.
• A Toyota Prius sedan, the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle.

Behind the scenes, the Benson Ford Research Center uses the resources of The Henry Ford, especially its photographic, manuscript, and archival materials, which are rarely displayed, to help visitors learn more about American people, places, events, and objects. The Research Center also holds the Ford Motor Archives.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the Henry Ford Museum displayed many artifacts and media about the Titanic's journey and sinking. The exhibit ran from March 31 to September 30, 2012.

• Airplanes
• A replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer
• The 1926 Fokker F.VIIa /3M flown over the North Pole by Richard E. Byrd
• Byrd Arctic Expedition exhibit
• A 1939 Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-3

• Agriculture
• Fordson Tractor No. 1
• Steam Tractor Engine

• Automobiles
• The 1896 Ford Quadricycle
• 1908 Stevens-Duryea Model U limo (brown) and 1915 Chevrolet Royal Mail Roadster (green)
• A 1916 Apperson Touring Car
• 1928 Model A Ford
• 1939 Texaco tanker truck by Dodge
• A 1949 Volkswagen
• 1952 Oscar Mayer Wienermobile
• The first production Ford Mustang
• The bus where Rosa Parks was arrested, which started the Montgomery bus boycott

• Presidential limousines
• The Sunshine Special, the official car used by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
• The SS-100-X used by John F. Kennedy

• Made In America
• Watt Canal Pumping Engine (1796)
• Thomas Horn Engine (1850)
• Water Engine and Electric Generator, Spokane, Washington (1903)
• 1831 DeWitt Clinton train replica
• Chesapeake and Ohio Railway locomotive C&O 1601
• McDonald's, A&W, and White Castle signs

Greenfield Village

In 1929, Greenfield Village, the outdoor living history museum part of the Henry Ford complex, and the nearby Henry Ford Museum were officially opened. It welcomed visitors in June 1933. It was the first museum outside in the United States and set an example for other outdoor museums.

Visitors enter through the main gate, passing the Josephine Ford Memorial Fountain and Benson Ford Research Center. Nearly 100 historical buildings were moved from their original locations and placed in a "village" setting. The museum aims to show how Americans lived and worked since the country was founded.

The Village includes buildings from the 17th century to today. Many of these buildings have staff dressed in period clothing who perform tasks like farming, sewing, and cooking. Craft buildings, such as pottery, glass-blowing, and tin shops, offer demonstrations and produce items used in the Village and for sale.

The Village uses both costumed and plain-clothed presenters to share stories and information about the attractions. Some presenters, like those at the "games on the green" area, only work during the summer. Greenfield Village covers 240 acres (970,000 square meters), but only 90 acres (360,000 square meters) are used for the museum. The remaining land includes forests, rivers, and pastures for sheep and horses.

Key buildings and attractions in the Village include:

• Noah Webster’s Connecticut home, which was used as a dormitory for Yale students from 1918 to 1936. Henry Ford moved it to Greenfield Village and restored it.
• The Wright brothers’ bicycle shop and home, which Henry Ford bought and moved from Dayton, Ohio, in 1937.
• A replica of Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory from New Jersey. It was rebuilt using exact measurements from the original site and furnished with original or similar items.
• The Edison Homestead, built in 1816 in Vienna, Ontario, and moved to Greenfield Village in the 1930s.
• Henry Ford’s birthplace, which was moved from Greenfield and Ford roads in 1944 and furnished as it was during his mother’s time.
• Henry Ford’s prototype garage, where he built the Ford Quadricycle.
• Harvey S. Firestone’s family farmhouse from Columbiana, Ohio. His two sons gave it to the Village in 1983. It was rebuilt over two years and has operated as a working sheep farm since 1985.
• The Logan County, Illinois, courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law.
• William Holmes McGuffey’s birthplace.
• Luther Burbank’s office.
• J. R. Jones General Store, built around 1857 in Waterford, Michigan. Henry Ford bought it in 1927 and moved it to Greenfield Village. It was the first structure placed at the Village site.
• Ackley Covered Bridge, a wooden bridge built in 1832 in Pennsylvania. It was moved to Greenfield Village in 1937.
• Cape Cod Windmill, originally built in 1633 on Cape Cod. It was moved to Greenfield Village in 1936.
• A structure identified as the home of Stephen Foster. It was moved from Pittsburgh to Greenfield Village in 1935. The claim that it was Foster’s birthplace was later withdrawn.
• A 1913 Herschell-Spillman carousel with a replica Wurlitzer organ.

The Village offers historic transportation rides, including Ford Model T cars, a 1931 Ford Model AA bus, horse-drawn omnibuses, and trains powered by steam locomotives on the Weiser Railroad.

The Weiser Railroad’s track originally ran straight along the northern edge of the museum property since 1929. It was later expanded into a loop around the museum by 1972. The track is 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long and has four stations. One station includes the relocated Smiths Creek Depot, originally built in 1858 for the Grand Trunk Railway.

The railroad uses a modern replica of a Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad roundhouse built in 1884. A hand-operated turntable from 1901 is also used. The Weiser Railroad connects to the United States National Railroad Network. It links to a section of the Michigan Line owned by MDOT, used by Amtrak’s Wolverine service between Chicago, Illinois, and Pontiac, Michigan. Amtrak’s Greenfield Village station was merged in 2014 with the John D. Dingell Transit Center, which is near the Henry Ford Museum complex.

Greenfield Village gallery

• General Displays
• Noah Webster's home in New Haven, Connecticut
• A garden and the Ackley Covered Bridge
• The Burbank cottage (left) and Garden House Shop
• Charles Proteus Steinmetz owned this small cabin that overlooked the Mohawk River near Schenectady, New York
• The original Postville Courthouse

• Thomas Edison Displays
• The upper level of Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory
• Three crucibles in Thomas Edison's Menlo Park Laboratory. To the left, there is a boiler and a small steam engine.

• Wright Brothers Displays
• Wilbur and Orville Wright's house and bicycle shop
• The Wright Brothers' house relocated from Dayton, Ohio
• The Wright Cycle Company building

Signature events

Each year, the Village honors the sacrifices and achievements of those who fought in the American Civil War. The Civil War Remembrance event happens during Memorial Day weekend (Saturday–Monday) every year. About 750,000 people died during the Civil War. The event includes hundreds of Union and Confederate reenactors, musicians, and historic presenters. More than 400 reenactors spend the entire weekend in the Village. Greenfield Village offers many ways to learn about the Civil War, such as exhibits, presentations, battle reenactments, concerts, short plays, hands-on activities, and Q&A sessions with historians.

Motor Muster is one of two car shows held annually in Greenfield Village. It is usually held on Father’s Day weekend. This event features cars built between 1932 and 1976, with between 600 and 800 cars displayed. Special activities include car judging and a Pass in Review, where experts discuss highlights of the cars.

Every summer, the Henry Ford hosts a Summer Camp inside Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum from June to August. It is for children in grades 2 through 9. Each grade level has a different theme. Children can explore the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village from new perspectives. Activities include apprenticeships, canoeing, glass blowing, and other age-appropriate tasks.

The World Tournament of Historical Base Ball happens every year in August. Guests experience a two-day event that brings the rules of 1867 base ball to life. Vintage base ball clubs from across the country compete in games, batting, and throwing. Admission to Greenfield Village includes entry to this event.

Around Independence Day, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performs a patriotic concert on Walnut Grove in the Village for four nights. Each evening has between 5,000 and 9,500 attendees.

In July, the Ragtime Street Fair was first held in 2007 and continued annually through 2015. The event featured live performers, silent movies, phonograph demonstrations, a cake walk, a cutting contest, and a musical revue in Town Hall. It also included a display of the 1912 presidential campaign of Theodore Roosevelt. Free lessons on the ragtime one-step were offered.

The Old Car Festival happens every year in September, starting the first weekend after Labor Day. Since 1955, the festival has filled Greenfield Village with the sights, sounds, and smells of hundreds of authentic vehicles from the 1890s through 1932. Between 500 and 700 cars are displayed. Special events include car judging, Pass in Review, a gaslight tour, and car races on Walnut Grove field. Guests can take self-guided tours, talk to car owners, and watch a Model T being assembled. Presentations and expert talks about vintage vehicles are also available.

The Village’s Halloween celebration includes decorations, a headless horseman, witches, costumed characters, treats, and activities. It takes place on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings in October.

Greenfield Village is popular during the Christmas season. Many buildings are decorated in period style, and the Village is open for self-guided walks. An ice skating rink is available. Visitors can enjoy live entertainment, costumed presenters, horse-drawn carriages, or Model T rides.

Rouge Tour

The Ford Rouge Factory Tour allows visitors to explore a modern car factory. Buses from the Henry Ford Museum take guests to the River Rouge Plant and Dearborn Truck Plant, a large factory complex where Ford has made cars since the Model A era, when it employed 100,000 people.

In 2003, the Ford Rouge Factory, which produces the Ford F-Series truck, reopened after major renovations. It was redesigned as an eco-friendly building with a Gold LEED certification, led by architect William McDonough. A new visitor center opened at the same time, showing how the factory uses sustainable practices and explaining the history of the plant and how cars are made there. The visitor experience, created by designer Bob Rogers and team BRC Imagination Arts, includes two multi-screen theaters, interactive touchscreen displays, and views of the world’s largest "Green" roof above the factory. Visitors then walk through the active car assembly area.