How Did Henry Ford Change America

Henry Ford was an American industrialist who founded the Ford Motor Company. Ford didn’t invent the automobile or the assembly line, but he changed America with his introduction of the Model T. It was the first automobile that middle class Americans could afford. It all started in 1879 when Ford left home to work as an apprentice machinist in Detroit. The Edison Illuminating Company hired Ford as an engineer in 1891. Two years later he had enough time and money to start working on his own experiments; gasoline engines. Ford worked for many years trying different things, going back and changing things about his models, but by January 1901 his company was not successful. The automobiles he was producing were low quality and high price. Ford

Harold Wills, Henry M. Leland and Tom Cooper. Still it wasn’t quite what Ford wanted. Finally on June 16, 1903, the Ford Motor Company was started. Ford, with the help of some investors worked many years on making an automobile that wasn’t of low quality or high priced. On October 1, 1908 the Model T was introduced. It was an instant hit. It was cheaper than any other automobile around and other companies soon started copying Ford’s idea. Starting in 1908 going through 1920, the price of the Model T fell every year. In 1913 Ford introduced the moving assembly belts into his plants. This caused a great increase in production. Henry Ford dramatically changed the automobile industry in the United States. Not only did he mass produce the first automobile affordable to middle class Americans; but he also introduced a new way of paying his employees. In January

At the annual meeting in 1915, they increased their capital stock from $2 million to $100 million. They also decided to give out a $48 million stock dividend, $15 million which were to be paid to the 300,000 Ford owners. In an interview with the vice president of Ford Motors Company he said, “The high increase in the capital stock was to be a better representation of the value of the company.” One article in the New York Times released in 1915 said that the growth of the company was not a business but a miracle. As the automobile became increasingly popular, the Ford Motor Company continue to grow and grow. By 1918, half of all automobiles in America were Model T’s. All of the new cars were black as Ford was quoted saying, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” We know now the black paint dried quicker, giving Ford the reason for only designing in black. However, after years of the assembly line, they were able to start painting the automobiles different colors, without having a decrease in