TIMELINE OF HENRY FORD’S LIFE

1863 Henry Ford is born on July 30 in Dearborn, Michigan

1876 A passing steam-powered “road engine” sparks Ford’s desire to build a self-powered vehicle

1888 Henry marries Clara Bryant

1893 The Fords have their only child, a son named Edsel; Henry tests his first successful gas engine

1896 Ford builds his first car, the Quadricycle

1903 Ford opens the Ford Motor Company

1908 Ford builds the Model T, which becomes the most popular car in the world

1914 Ford increases the pay of most of his workers to $5 a day

1916 Edsel Ford marries Eleanor Clay and they have their first child, Henry II, the next year

1919 Edsel Ford becomes president of the Ford Motor Company

1927 The last Model T is produced

1928 Ford begins building a museum to preserve items from American history

1942 The Willow Run factory opens, where Ford builds warplanes for the US government

1943 Edsel Ford dies

1945 Henry II becomes president of the Ford Motor Company

1947 Henry Ford dies at his home in Dearborn on April 7