Henry Ford

**detroitbob** · April-08-10, 12:45 AM

Regarding the Ford Family burial ground...although the Episcopal diocese agreed with the vestry of St. Martha's request to close the church due to lack of attendance they continue to conserve the property and have built a senior complex in partnership with another concern on the west end of the site. The property would reportedly revert back to the Ford family if the charitable use of the land was discontinued. Some sort of Ford family endowment, however, maintains the grounds and the graveyard.

LDoolan · April-08-10, 01:26 AM

Originally Posted by detroitbob

Regarding the Ford Family burial ground...although the Episcopal diocese agreed with the vestry of St. Martha's request to close the church due to lack of attendance they continue to conserve the property and have built a senior complex in partnership with another concern on the west end of the site. The property would reportedly revert back to the Ford family if the charitable use of the land was discontinued. Some sort of Ford family endowment, however, maintains the grounds and the graveyard.

Curious as to what's gonna happen with the bible Henry Ford gave Clara. Clara donated it to the church before she died.

**stromberg2** · April-08-10, 12:58 PM

Keep em coming, folks! One of the best threads ever.

Stromberg2

**satellite beach** · April-08-10, 02:54 PM

I was always told when I was a kid that the cemetary was at the back of the Ford farm and the Henry Ford trust foundation owned the property. The oldest grave I see on the burial plot is Sam Ford 1842.

LDoolan · April-08-10, 03:49 PM

Here's a photoset I found on Flickr of the POEE/EEE building...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorikin...7605045656849/

**lalynch** · April-08-10, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by LDoolan

Here's a photoset I found on Flickr of the POEE/EEE building...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorikin...7605045656849/

Great photos! The fireplace by my old cubicle is featured there!

I remembered that I had an article from when POEE closed. I attached it here.

LDoolan · April-08-10, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by lalynch

Great photos! The fireplace by my old cubicle is featured there!

I remembered that I had an article from when POEE closed. I attached it here.

Very interesting article! For someone that never got the chance to go into the building, it's a great read.

I'm assuming that Greenfield Village/HFM has taken it over by this point?

**mpf** · April-08-10, 08:29 PM

Found it late summer '09...300 miles from me, did a weekend
"old car/manufacturing" jaunt. It's on Joy rd., west a mile or so from 39, if memory serves correctly. Ghetto area. Myself, a WASP, carried "backup" !
Where is the POEE bldg.?
Is that the "automotive hall of fame" place?
[[1st. post, pics OK, or frowned upon?? I resized them 800x600)

**lalynch** · April-08-10, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by LDoolan

Very interesting article! For someone that never got the chance to go into the building, it's a great read.

I'm assuming that Greenfield Village/HFM has taken it over by this point?

I am assuming so on The Henry Ford taking over POEE i.e. EEE building. The facilities person I knew who was originally our facilities person at POEE took a buyout in early part 2007. And then I was cut in June 2008 as an agency employee.

The last time I was by the building it appeared that all the workstations were still up on the 2nd floor because I could see an overhead bin just driving by.

**lalynch** · April-08-10, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by mpf

Found it late summer '09...300 miles from me, did a weekend
"old car/manufacturing" jaunt. It's on Joy rd., west a mile or so from 39, if memory serves correctly. Ghetto area. Myself, a WASP, carried "backup" !
Where is the POEE bldg.?
Is that the "automotive hall of fame" place?
[[1st. post, pics OK, or frowned upon?? I resized them 800x600)

sounds like a great trip!

POEE is on Oakwood, next to The Automotive Hall of Fame and behind Greenfield Village/The Henry Ford Museum. Its just south of Michigan Avenue. There is a large pond out front and I think there is a tall wrought iron fence around it as I recall.

**mpf** · April-08-10, 10:54 PM

Originally Posted by lalynch

sounds like a great trip!

POEE is on Oakwood, next to The Automotive Hall of Fame and behind Greenfield Village/The Henry Ford Museum.

Thanks...It was a great trip, did Piquette, packard, hudson, caddy, etc. Had both hands on the wheel most of the time.
2008 we did HF and greenfield, then rencen.

**Hermod** · April-09-10, 05:31 AM

David Halberstam's book "The Reckoning" has some descriptive vignettes of Henry Ford's financial management methods which almost drove Ford into bankruptcy and which necessitated the coup de etat by which Henry the Deuce ousted Old Henry and his henchmen. It also tells about how McNamara and the Whiz Kids had to straighten the place out.

**kryptonite** · April-09-10, 07:16 AM

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right"

-Henry Ford

[[quote from my 2010 calendar)

I thought maybe the Ford fans on this blog might enjoy the quote. He was quite an amazing person.

**jgavrile** · April-09-10, 07:51 AM

Hermod, the story that Ford was going bankrupt after WWI is all bunk. Henry Ford II didn't know diddly crap about making cars or running a business and he hired these Whiz kids to help him run it. Clara forced the hand of old man Ford to put the Duece in there, as Old Henry was getting ill and had had a stroke or two and she was worried about him
The Whiz kids also didn't know crap about the auto business. Old man Ford didn't get all that way by being stupid . These guys invented a story to make themselves look good.
Do you remember Macnamara he was the main cause of the losses in Vietnam. He just died recently and before he died he apologized for all his mistakes.That guy and his buddies were a bunch of assholes.

**Hermod** · April-09-10, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by jgavrile

Hermod, the story that Ford was going bankrupt after WWI is all bunk. Henry Ford II didn't know diddly crap about making cars or running a business and he hired these Whiz kids to help him run it. Clara forced the hand of old man Ford to put the Duece in there, as Old Henry was getting ill and had had a stroke or two and she was worried about him
The Whiz kids also didn't know crap about the auto business. Old man Ford didn't get all that way by being stupid . These guys invented a story to make themselves look good.

Do you remember Macnamara he was the main cause of the losses in Vietnam. He just died recently and before he died he apologized for all his mistakes.That guy and his buddies were a bunch of assholes.

The Whiz Kids weren't "car guys" and really had no feel for cars. If McNamara had his way, the company would have only produced black ford Falcons with rubber floor mats. Iacocca had to hide the Mustang prototypes from McNamara because he knew that McNamara would have ordered the project terminated. Ford needed McNamara and his crew immediately after WWII to put the company on a sound accounting basis [[which they did).

McNamara leaving Ford to join the JFK administration was a good thing for Ford [[maybe not so good for the armed services). McNamara wasn't so much the "creator" of the Vietnam War as he was the general contractor of the conduct of the war. I personally hold Maxwell Taylor as the real cause of our involvement in Vietnam and, secondarily, the Bundy brothers. Every time Bobby Kennedy would get "wobbly" on Vietnam, the Bundys would send Taylor over to "stiffen" Bobby up. Bobby was in awe of Taylor and his reputation. McNamara's sin was that he always thought there was a "formula" for victory and if he just got enough "data" he could figure it out.

Henry the Deuce still had to pull off a "coup" because the old man's henchmen were opposed to him taking over from Old Henry and destroying their little fiefdoms. Some of Old Henry's satraps packed heat and it was a bit of a dangerous situation for the Deuce and his guys on the takeover. No one ever said that "the Deuce" was a "car guy" but he did run the company and balanced off the car guys against the bean counters and kept Ford Motor going at a time when GM was running roughshod over everybody.

.

**jgavrile** · April-09-10, 09:26 AM

Its funny, the only time that the Duece ever set foot into the EEE bldg was in 1972 when us engineers got caught doing unscheduled maintenance on emission test vehicles, and the government [[EPA) was trying to fine us.
He considered the EEE bldg. his Grandfather's playhouse, where the old man and Edison fooled around on useless projects.
He pretty much did not like his Grandfather.
I think he blamed the old man for harassing Edsel and causing him to feel unwanted. Ultimately leading to his death.
The Duece liked to undue many of the things his Grandfather did

I always heard that ,where the pilot plant is now, I-94 and Oakwood ,use to be buildings filled with just about one of evry kind of car built,that the old man had collected.When the Duece took over.he had them destroyed as useless junk. He had no interest in any kind of history. He liked to play tennis and drink a lot. His younger Brother William Clay was more of a car guy and had an interest in the history of the company. William Clay was the Grandchild that enjoyed spending time with Grandpa.

**Hermod** · April-09-10, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by jgavrile

Its funny, the only time that the Duece ever set foot into the EEE bldg was in 1972 when us engineers got caught doing unscheduled maintenance on emission test vehicles, and the government [[EPA) was trying to fine us.
He considered the EEE bldg. his Grandfather's playhouse, where the old man and Edison fooled around on useless projects.
He pretty much did not like his Grandfather.
I think he blamed the old man for harassing Edsel and causing him to feel unwanted. Ultimately leading to his death.
The Duece liked to undue many of the things his Grandfather did

I always heard that ,where the pilot plant is now, I-94 and Oakwood ,use to be buildings filled with just about one of evry kind of car built,that the old man had collected.When the Duece took over.he had them destroyed as useless junk. He had no interest in any kind of history. He liked to play tennis and drink a lot. His younger Brother William Clay was more of a car guy and had an interest in the history of the company. William Clay was the Grandchild that enjoyed spending time with Grandpa.

The Deuce's mother saw how the old man was destroying Edsel and did everything in her power to separate the Deuce from and shield him from his grandfather, Old Henry.

**DetroitHabitater** · April-09-10, 10:10 AM

I also worked in EEE at various times from 2001-2004. A vast sea of cubicals with a low drop ceiling. It was in rough shape. I always wondered what those vaulted glass ceilings would look like.

LDoolan · April-09-10, 10:28 AM

HFII destroyed alot of files from the Ford Archives towards the end of his career. Most of it was personal and medical files of his fathers.

When Harry Bennett was interviewed in the mid 70's he said about HF II, "He just came in and made all these changes, I thought he was doing it out of spite. He also went to Mommy with everything."

**jgavrile** · April-09-10, 10:52 AM

I found this picture of when it was new inside
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/BT/...AD/0425-75.jpg

and this video in the 30's has some shots

http://blog.thehenryford.org/2010/03...ng-laboratory/

Toolbox · April-09-10, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by lalynch

Originally Posted by LDoolan

Here's a photoset I found on Flickr of the POEE/EEE building...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorikin...7605045656849/

Great photos! The fireplace by my old cubicle is featured there!

I remembered that I had an article from when POEE closed. I attached it here.

I can see my old cube and some familiar faces in those pictures. I was out of EEE in one of the '04 purges. I see The Fedman was given a thanks in the article.

**lalynch** · April-09-10, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by jgavrile

I found this picture of when it was new inside
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/BT/...AD/0425-75.jpg

and this video in the 30's has some shots

http://blog.thehenryford.org/2010/03...ng-laboratory/

Wow, hard to believe it is the same building.

I am sure that I spotted Bill Ford Jr. sitting in a conference room along "executive row" at POEE while I was there.

**lalynch** · April-09-10, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by Toolbox

I can see my old cube and some familiar faces in those pictures. I was out of EEE in one of the '04 purges. I see The Fedman was given a thanks in the article.

I got cut from my POEE job on the morning that Bill Ford Jr. did his Way Forward speech! And I was so looking forward to hearing it with our group! Then the cut from my second group in Electrical Systems, Building 5, came June 26, 2008. And I am still out of work!

**DetroitHabitater** · April-09-10, 01:58 PM

great photo. hahahaha looks nothing like when i was there.

So if i'm correct in saying this, this is looking down the front length of the building and the main entrance would be on the left halfway down?

would be awesome if the museum could restore it to look like that and use it for additional floorspace

**jgavrile** · April-09-10, 02:04 PM

We all got screwed at Ford in the end. I started in 1968,at engine division, quit for a while in 1980 ,came back and worked in powertrain electronics. then I got shifted to that damm Visteon, against my will.,I told them I hired in to work for Henry Ford not some guy named Visteon. It was all down hill from there.In 2005 they stuck me over onto fuel rails at Rawsonville for ACH. Then I got transfered back to ETC bldg. working on steering of all things. In the end they took away a lot of benfits, retirement,insurance, etc. I will never buy another Ford car again. They took the spirit I had for Ford away. I use to love that company. They turned into assholes. They finally P-3'd me last April and I retired with 31 years.