A Unique Museum Of America
Henry Ford and his wife Clara lived at the
Henry Ford Estate, from 1915 until their deaths in 1947 and 1950 respectively. The Estate
has become a National Historic Landmark, which is situated in the campus of the University
of Michigan, Dearborn. The success of the Ford Motor Company brought a rush of uninvited visitors to the doors of Ford’s Edison Avenue Detroit Mansion. The
Ford family was deprived of the privacy by the reporters, salesmen and job seekers. So
they wished to make a new house, one removed from the rapidly expanding city, where they
could satisfy their love of nature, gardening and bird watching. Ford family was never at
ease with the noisy lifestyle of urban Detroit society. So they chose their hometown of
Dearborn, two miles away from the farm where Henry Ford was born.
Between 500 to 800 masons, wood carvers,
and artisans worked for a year to complete the Estate as quickly as possible. It was built
up with rough – hewn Ohio limestone, which harmonized with the surrounding
countryside and reflecting Henry’s love for nature.The Estate was designed by noted
landscape architect, Jens Jensen. Henry cautioned the architects against building
lavishly, the residence’s total cost was not to exceed $ 250,000. Despite it, when
the building was completed, the cost was $ 1,875,000 plus additional decorating cost of $
175,000. The property development and landscaping cost was $ 370,000. By January 1916, the
Ford family shifted to an estate at Fair Lane.
The Fair Lane included a
powerhouse, summer house, man-made lake, staff cottages, guesthouse, greenhouse, skating
house, vegetable garden, thousand-plant peony garden, ten thousand plant rose garden, pony
barn, a ‘Santa’s Workshop’ for Christmas celebrations, maple sugar shack,
agricultural research facilities, working farm for Henry’s grandchildren and five
hundred birdhouses. Henry enjoyed living in the Estate for over thirty years. The Henry
Ford Estate, including 72 of the original 1300 acres, was designated a national Historic
Landmark in 1966, nineteen years after Henry’s death. It was opened again for the
tourists in 1970s. When someone asks, "What is unique about America ?" The
answer can be found at Greenfield village and the Henry Ford Museum.
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