Henry Ford's The Mangoes in Fort Myers, Florida Photo: Ileana Johnson 2017 |
Thomas
Edison and Henry Ford met in 1896 at a convention when Ford was working as
chief engineer at the Detroit Edison Illuminating Company. “Sixteen years later
the two men would meet again to discuss using Edison’s storage battery for the
Model T.”
Edison
invited Ford and his family to go camping in the Everglades in 1914; it was the
first time Ford visited Fort Myers. He was so enchanted with the area that he
purchased three acres of riverfront property adjacent to his friend’s estate
and a Craftsman-style bungalow, The
Mangoes, for $20,000, which he sold in 1945 for the same price.
River view from Ford's porch
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2017
The two
industrialist friends spent many winters exploring Florida, relaxing, bird
watching (one of Clara and Henry’s favorite activities), fishing, and planning
business strategies, new inventions, and innovations. Their lengthy discussions
and planning yielded products and innovations that would change the world.
The Mangoes living room
Photo: Ileana Johnson
Few know for
example that the Ford Motor Company sold soybean flour among other products.
Henry Ford created a suit and an entire car body using experimental soybean
products. Ford had built in 1930 an
experimental soybean lab in Dearborn, Michigan.
Statue of Henry Ford at the edge of his estate
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2017
According to
the museum archives, by 1936 Ford had tested 300 varieties of soybeans on 8,000
acres of farmland for industrial uses, spending $1.2 million in the process. “Ford
manufactured soybean-based paints, lubricants, and plastics such as gear shift
knobs, horn buttons and door handles.” In 1940 Ford created a soybean car.
Kitchen at the Mangoes
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2017
Trying to
find a natural source of domestic rubber, Ford, Edison, and Harvey Firestone
partnered in 1927 and formed the Botanic Research Corporation located in Edison’s
winter estate in Fort Myers. Ford planted experimental rubber crops in the
adjacent Hendry County. Additionally, Ford spent $20 million to start a massive
rubber plantation along the Amazon River in Brazil.
The Mangoes bedroom
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2017
Henry Ford
(July 30, 1863-April 7, 1947), his son Edsel, and wife Clara explored southwest
Florida in the Model T Touring car that Ford gave to Edison.
Ford secretary's bedroom with the typewriter
Photo: Ileana Johnson
The Model T
changed how America traveled and developed into towns and suburbs. This vehicle
freed America to develop and explore the wide-open roads and areas less
traveled. Americans were able to visit their beautiful country even in remote
areas but they had to be able to make quick fixes to the car themselves. To
help them do that, the early Model T came with a tool box that fit under the
driver’s seat: pliers with screwdriver blade on handle, gas gauge, transmission
and combustion wrenches, monkey wrench, grease gun, Ford oil can, and spark
plug cylinder head bolt wrench.
Ford's personal Model T in Fort Myers
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2017
-
Set
parking brake, throttle and spark lever
-
Get
out of car, pull out choke, turn crank slowly, push in choke
-
Get
in car, turn key
-
Get
out of car again and turn crank quickly
-
Get
in car, adjust spark lever until engine runs smoothly. (Museum Archives)
Born on a
farm, Ford did not have much use for farming even though his father was
disappointed that Henry was fascinated by mechanics and left the farm in 1879.
The future machinist repaired pocket watches in 1876.
He started
repairing watches at the age of thirteen as a hobby. He would scour the
neighborhood for watch parts. This hobby helped him develop his future skills as
a machinist and engineer. Taking a fine watch apart is easy, putting it back
together to make the intricate mechanism work, is much harder.
“My father
was not entirely in sympathy with my bent toward mechanics. He thought I ought
to be a farmer,” said Ford.
He founded
in 1902 the Henry Ford Automobile Company and began producing the Model T. By
1914, he was paying his employees $5 wages. In 1919 he became the sole owner of
the Ford Motor Company and his son Edsel Ford was named President. After the
death of Edsel Ford in 1943, Henry Ford resumed the presidency until 1945 when
he transferred it to his grandson, Henry Ford II.
When Ford
purchased it in 1916, the estate in Fort Myers was surrounded by many citrus
plants. There were 100 grapefruit and 50 orange trees, mangoes, paw-paws,
lemons, limes, guavas, tangerines, coconuts, and bananas. The property was
called The Mangoes because it held so
many mango trees.
Henry bought
The Mangoes fully furnished. Killian
Melber, a local florist who was preparing the home for the arrival of the
Fords, told Henry that “all they needed was silverware, bedding, and table linens.”
The
Caretaker’s Cottage “evolved from a garage built in the style of the Ford house
with accommodations for a good-sized car, a sleeping room for staff, a tool
room, and a storeroom overhead.”
The Biggar
family bought the estate from Henry Ford in 1947 and added a building to house
the Edison/Ford antique car collection and other memorabilia.
Ford's memorabilia and his Stradivarius
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2017
It was a lucky
strike for our modern mobility and urban development that one farmer’s son out
of six siblings chose to become a machinist instead of a farmer like his dad and
matured into the titan of America’s automobile industry.
A very nice piece of American history.
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