The Inspiring Life of Henry Ford (Narrative Essay Sample)

Henry Ford invented the first affordable automobile for most Americans after many years of hard work. His life was one of the most unique and inspiring journeys in history. From the time he was first inspired by mechanics, to the advancement of an innovative industrial revolution, Henry Ford impacted the world and the way we live today. His father wanted him to work on the family farm at a young age, but he was drawn to mechanics.

Henry Ford was born on April 7, 1947, near Dearborn Michigan. His parents were William and Mary Ford, he attended a one-room schoolhouse for eight years when he wasn’t helping on the family farm. It didn't take long for him to find out that he was attached to mechanics. At age thirteen he was given a time watch for his birthday and he kept taking it apart and reassembling it over and over again. Soon all the neighbors on the block wanted him to fix their time watches also. He was spending most of his spare time in a mechanical area, and that is when he knew he wanted to be a mechanic and an inventor. 

When he was 15 he constructed his first steam engine automobile, his father wanted him to stay on the family farm but his talents were for an engineering field. After he constructed his first automobile he went to find work in Detroit's machine shops, he found work as a machinist but three years later he returned home to work on the farm. His father gave him forty acres of land to work on, he decided to use this land to build a first-class machinist’s workshop, there he constructed the quadricycle. This was his first attempt to create a gasoline-powered automobile, he sold his quadricycle and used the money to build his second car. 

Before age thirty he found a job at Thomas Edison’s Electric Illuminating company in 1891, he proved he had talent and ability for engineering work. In 1893 he was promoted to chief engineer, ten days later he left the company and he wanted to start his own horseless carriage company. He was not a good businessman and had many struggles early on, his first and second motor company failed. In June 1903 he found some investors to start his third and final motor company. In July that same year, he was selling the Model A with the Ford Motor Company. 

Most of the workers disliked the assembly line and wanted to work elsewhere. So to keep his workers loyal to his company he raised his wage to $5 a day, this was over half of what they were getting paid. Thousands of men sought employment in the factory, but your wage would only rise if you were considered “qualified”. In 1908, he introduced the Model T, this automobile was highly successful because of its low cost, and its durability. In 1913 he modified an assembly line that reduced the time to assemble an automobile to about 8 hours. More than 15 million Model T’s were assembled and sold at the Ford Motor Company. Henry once said a customer can have a car painted any color he wants as long as it's black. He sold millions of automobiles and became a world-famous business leader.

At this time Edsel Ford was the president of the Ford Motor Company, which meant that Henry had lots of time to do what he desired. So in 1922, he worked with Samuel Crowther and he wrote My Life and Work. This book tells exactly how Ford invented and came up with everything in terms of not only manufacturing but also economies and organizational behavior. This book is said to be one of the best business leadership books ever written. He wanted to give more information about his life so in 1926 he published the book Today and Tomorrow, which gives information about manufacturing and how to start a successful company. It also tells about the production system and gives many useful methods for an engineer. He still had more stories to tell so in 1931 he wrote Moving Forward, in this book he talks about many manufacturing issues he crossed and how he solved them. On May 26, 1943, something very tragic happened.

His kid, Edsel Ford died of stomach cancer. After his death, Henry Ford ordered that all of the Ford Motor Companies would be shut down and observe a moment of respectful silence for his kid’s death. Henry Ford spent most of his time helping Edsels Ford’s oldest son succeed in the engineering world until Henry passed away at 11:40 AM on Monday, April 7, 1947. He died at the age of 83, and the Rouge River flooded the grounds of Fair Lane, it cut off the electric power, and old-fashioned lamps and candles were the only sources of light in the house, it created a scene similar to his birth. His last words were rumored to me “I’ll sleep well tonight”. His funeral was held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Detroit, Michigan. He was buried to rest in the family cemetery at St. Martha’s Episcopal Church. 

If Ford wasn’t inspired by mechanics at a young age, we wouldn’t have today’s innovative industrial revolution. Henry Ford changed the world and the way we live. He was a great mechanical engineer and reduced the time to create an automobile to an astonishing record. Someone once asked him why he was so carefree with his money and his quote was “Money is like an arm or leg - use it or lose it.” He was able to change a city’s economy, but he certainly changed the way we travel today. This was one of the most unique and inspiring journeys of all time.

References

Biography. “Henry Ford.” Biography, 5 Sept. 2019, www.biography.com/business-figure/henry-ford.

Burgan, Michael, et al. Who Was Henry Ford? DGS, Penguin Workshop, 2014.

“Henry Ford Assembly Line.” YouTube, 8 Oct. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z3xJJxOx6E.

“Henry Ford’s Biography · Henry Ford, His Life and How He Changed Manufacturing · The Making of the Modern U.S.” The Making of the Moder U.S., projects.leadr.msu.edu/makingmodernus/exhibits/show/henry-ford-assembly-line/henry-ford-s-biography. Accessed 12 May 2021.

Innovative History. “Henry Ford - History Cartoon.” YouTube, 20 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9OgpHGxDbY.

History.com Editors. “Henry Ford.” HISTORY, 26 Mar. 2020, www.history.com/topics/inventions/henry-ford.