Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik
Landeskunde: ‘The Great Lakes’
WS 2005/2006, 5. Semester

Henry Ford’s Model T and the impact on the lower social classes before 1920

von

Thomas Daßler

Table of Contents

1. Introduction  - 2 -

2. Industrial Influences  - 3 -

3. Henry Ford and the Middle Class - 8 -

4. Conclusion - 12 -

Bibliography - 14 -

1. Introduction

Since the beginning of humanity, mankind was divided into different social classes.¹ What has changed is the way of evaluating these social classes in terms of there definitions and determiners. From the point of view of a sociologist, one defines a class due to economical circumstances, for instance, based on wealth, income, and education. The result is the distinction between a lower and a higher class.²
This paper, however, examines the moto-city of Detroit in Michigan, and how this region was developed and transformed from simple to sophisticated, from an era of poverty to an era of many new industries, particularly the car-industry. It is important to show how fast this development happened and why it changed the lifes of so many people between the years of 1900 and 1920. Responsible for the enormous growth of the area around Detroit was Henry Ford who built his own car company and contributed to form a new middle class³.
This study’s structure includes two major aspects: the first section of this paper will primarily deal with the events and occurrences which happened in the aforementioned area; and Henry Ford’s impact and contributions. It serves as the basis to discuss how his business was able to attract so many people to move to Detroit. The second section, in contrast, is constructed to analyse how, later on, he managed to change the people’s lives and helped to establish a new middle class in Detroit..
For me the topic is worth writing about, because many people have only heard the name Henry Ford and that he once invented the Model T, but do not know what impact his business had on the development of Detroit its people. So, this paper is supposed to inform my reader, to give them new ideas by enriching their knowledge about this influential individual and his achievements.

2. Industrial Influences

The engineer Henry Ford, was born in 1863 in Dearborn, not far away from Detroit. In 1903, he started an automotive business and founded the Ford Motor Company as it is known today.⁴ The city was predestined because of its big iron industry and the availability of a large number of skilled workers.⁵
At first, his company only produced a few cars a day and necessary parts were ordered from other firms within the country. Although his co-partners wanted to build cars for people with great financial resources to earn fast money, Henry Ford focused another direction. He wanted to build a car for regular people being fascinated by the idea that the families could get into the car and make a round trip on their free Sunday-afternoons.⁶
After succeeding over his partners, the company started to expand quickly. Big assembly plants were built, because most parts for the cars were now purchased alone. In addition, roads were improved to help make the business more effective and to provide better conditions for the new cars.⁷ Many new jobs were created as a result. In the beginning Ford employed 125 workers. Although the difficulty of compounding the cars made them expensive, Ford was able to sell them earning good money.⁸ In 1904 nearly 20.000 cars were built that year, and from then on Detroit became the car manufacturing centre of The United States.⁹ Nearly 50 firms rapidly developed and tried to enter the market.¹⁰ In 1907 the Ford Motor Company even started to ship cars to Europe.

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1 Def.: “Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures.” cf. Author unknown. Social class - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 30 January 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_classes>

2 cf. Social class - Wikipedia

3 Def.: “In today′s usage, the term is often applied to people who have a degree of economic independence, but not a great deal of social influence or power in their society. For example, in the United States, a small-business owner who owns her own home and cleans it herself would generally be described as ’middle class’.” cf. Social class - Wikipedia

4 Howard, Rothman, 50 Companies That Changed the World. Incisive Profiles of the 50 Organizations, Large and Small, That Have Shaped the Course of Modern Business (Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press, 2001) 24.

5 Author unkown, Michigan Historical Museum System. Department of History, Arts and Libraries. 03 August 2001. 16 December 2001. <http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/explore/museums/hismus/1900- 75/erlyauto/workforce.html>.

6 Lee, Iacocca, “Henry Ford” Time 100. American Legends, ed. Kelly Knauer (New York: Time Books, 2001) 59-61.

7 David Lee, Poremba, Detroit. A Motor City History (Charleston: Arcadia, 2001) 96-98.

8 Daniel, Gross, Greatest Business Stories of All Time (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997) 79.

9 Poremba 98.

10 Iacocca 59.