2024 Detroit Road Trip: Dearborn, MI and Henry Ford

We spent a day in Dearborn, Michigan (about 20 minutes west of Detroit), immersed in the world of Henry Ford.  We started with a quick early morning stop at the historical estate Fair Lane before proceeding with a full day at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.

We would have allocated much more time to Fair Lane, the home of Henry Ford and his wife Clara, had it not been closed since 2014 for extensive renovations with only the grounds available for viewing.  The 1300 acre estate includes a 31,000-sq foot limestone mansion designed as a mix of Baronial and Prairie styles (with input from Frank Lloyd Wright).  Built in 1913, the house has 56 rooms including an indoor pool, billiards room and bowling alley.  Unfortunately, we were not able to tour inside but will definitely return once this renovation is done.  When we arrived, it appeared as if most of the work on the façade was complete as there was very little scaffolding in place, and we got a good look at the structure from the outside.  Gardeners were hard at work trying to restore the landscape and gardens to the original design by landscape architect Jen Jensen, who also designed Henry’s son Edsel’s home.  Work was also going on inside the house with plans to restore wood finishing and all decorative elements to match the period when the Fords occupied the home.

When we first arrived at the property, we came across the former garage/powerhouse which was large enough that it could have been the main house for a lesser family than the Fords.  As part of the restoration efforts, the building will become an event space and visitor’s welcome centre.  Next to the garage is a smaller potting shed/greenhouse where a head gardener and staff of 25 once maintained the grounds.  Wandering through the various gardens on the grounds, we encountered a life-sized bronze sculpture of Henry standing next to a seated Clara.  The work was unveiled in 2018 as a gift from his great granddaughter to honour the legacy of the couple.

Fair Lane was built along the Rouge River both to take advantage of its power generation capabilities and to create great scenic views and nature walks including a RiverWalk, all part of the landscape design by Jensen.  A lily pond full of blue lilies once received water from a spring-fed cascade and a rock garden reflects the horizontal-slabbed stonework of a boathouse that Jensen designed to appear as if it is a cave imbedded into a limestone rock face.  The Rouge River once flowed into an open channel leading to the boathouse so that the Fords’ boat “Callie B” could be navigated directly into the river.

The grounds of Fair Lane include a large meadow, trail garden that winds through the woodlands, rose garden, English perennial garden, peony garden, tribute garden commemorating Clara Ford's 150th birthday, vegetable and herb gardens, peach orchards and more. During Henry Ford’s time, there was also a skating house, poultry house, pony barn and staff cottages.  Today, turkey vultures are known to frequent the estate, and we saw several of them on our walk around the grounds.  We only explored a small portion of the area since much of it was blocked off due to the ongoing construction.  We look forward to visiting Fair Lane again once all the work is done.

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation is an enormous museum spanning over 523,000 square feet.  It contains a rich collection of interesting artifacts and stories about America’s history, technology and greatest innovations.  It is part of the larger Henry Ford Museum which also includes Greenfield Village, a set of historical buildings including Thomas Edison’s Laboratory and the Wright Brothers’ bicycle shop. Surprisingly, the Innovation Museum has little related to Henry Ford’s own accomplishments, but rather, reflects Ford’s passion for collecting artifacts that represented the technological and cultural advancements in the United States. It was originally opened as the Edison Institute, dedicated to Ford’s friend Thomas Edison. The extensive collection includes everything from planes, trains and automobiles, machinery, agricultural technology, architecture and design, decorative arts, and cultural artifacts relating to American history. 

The first thing that we did upon arriving at the museum was to check out Lamy’s Diner, an old prefab diner that was built for owner Clovis Lamy in 1946 by the Worcester Lunch Car Company.  Clovis selected a diner shaped like a streetcar with 40 seats consisting of 16 bar stools along the lunch counter and six 4-person booths.  The diner was sold and moved several times over the years until it was purchased and relocated to the Henry Ford Museum in 1984, where it was restored to its original condition with its wood counter, red vinyl coverings for its stools and benches, and black and white patterned linoleum flooring.  The nostalgic menu board is typical of those found in old diners with its original prices of hamburgers, hotdogs and sandwiches for 15-35 cents.  On the table of each booth is a personal jukebox machine.  Outside the diner was a vintage neon sign advertising Lamy’s Diner.  Wanting to secure one of the six booths, we decided to have an early meal before the lunch crowd descended.

The current menu for Lamy’s Diner is curated to reflect the offerings of the original eatery in 1946 New England, albeit at today’s prices.  The limited menu had a choice of 3 sandwiches—chicken salad, turkey with bacon and cheese or ham and cheese.  There was also a sloppy joe and daily soup.  The sandwiches came with potato chips or coleslaw and drinks included fountain drinks like frappes and floats.  We each ordered a chicken salad sandwich, shared a chocolate milkshake and a chocolate chip cookie.  The waiters were dressed periods uniforms to fit the era.  This was a fun dining experience to start off our museum visit.

In addition to the Lamy's Diner sign, other vintage neon signs were on display including one for McDonalds Hamburgers, which were selling for 15 cents in the late 1940s and boasted a count of over 160 million sold (that number currently sits over 99 billion).  There were also signs for A&W Root Beer, White Castle, Holiday Inn and Douglas Auto Theatre (aka Drive-in).  These colourful, glowing signs were not just advertisement but rather nostalgic works of art and a marvel of technology when they first came out.

The Ford Museum has a large and very eclectic collection of cars.  I loved the extremely rare 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale with an elephant hood ornament.  It had twice the horsepower of a Rolls Royce.  One of only six Royales built by Bugatti, this one was originally purchased by a German physician in 1932 and has a long-documented history before it ended up in the museum.  The 1951 Beatty Belly Tank Lakester hotrod was billed as “The World’s Fastest Fuel Tank”, using a disposable external fuel tank from a WWII fighter plane as its car body.  For over 25 years, the 1965 Goldenrod held a land speed record for wheel-drive vehicles after streaking across Utah flatlands at 409.277mph.  It is 32 feet long with a wheel base of 17.25 feet and is not meant to make any turns.  The vehicle contains four massive Chrysler engines in its long, slim shaped body, which also minimized wind resistance.  The 1980 “Comuta-Car” was a tiny electric car designed for traveling limited distances within a city.  Demand for this vehicle would rise and fall with constantly fluctuating gas and fuel prices, so it never became very popular.

The 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz was representative of the type of luxury cars that people wanted in the prosperous 1950s when gas was cheap, and the future looked bright.   This 4-speed automotive car is almost 19-feet long, weighed over 2 tons, has a V8 engine, massive tail fins and cost $7400 at the time, which was 1.5 times the average person’s wage.  In a special interactive display, we were allowed to climb into and sit in a 4-cylinder 1917 Overland Touring Automobile, giving us the chance to inspect the seats, steering wheel and dashboard up close. The most unique vehicle in the collection had to be the 1952 version of the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, which was used both as transportation and promotion of the company and its products.  Newer versions of these vehicles continue to be used today as marketing tools for Oscar Meyer.  The museum has a collection of model car prototypes including concept cars such as a green 1952 Lincoln Futura model that became the inspiration for the Batmobile in 1960s Batman TV series with Adam West. A 1987 model named Mazda RX-44 includes four bubbles on the roof that are a visual reference to the four engine rotors for this vehicle.

An interesting subset of the museum’s car collection is a set of Presidential Limousines, which illustrated an ongoing battle between presidents wanting to be seen while in their vehicles, and their secret service wanting to protect them.  Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1939 Lincoln Sunshine Special was the first car built specifically for presidential use and was customized with back doors hinged at the rear to facilitate getting the paralyzed president in and out of the car.  There were extra wide platforms with chrome handles at the rear corners to accommodate Secret Service agents, a special compartment in the front seat for firearms, bullet-proof glass and tires and steel armor plating for extra security during WWII.  Dwight Eisenhower’s 1950 Lincoln Convertible had a distinctive removable plexiglass bubble top so that the president could be seen, even in inclement weather.  There was also a folding bug shield to protect the president’s face when he was standing during parades.  John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Lincoln Continental (known as the X-100) is the vehicle which he was riding in with the roof open when he was assassinated in 1963.  Following the tragedy, the car was rebuilt with a permanent roof, bullet-proof glass and tires, an armored steel body and a gas tank filled with foam to prevent explosions.  Further presidents used the modified version of the car until 1977.  Ronald Reagan ‘s 1972 Lincoln (originally used by Nixon) has a sunroof panel that opens to allow two people to stand up and wave to the crowds while most of their bodies were still protected within the vehicle.  In addition to all standard bulletproof glass and tires, armoured body, and platforms for the secret service, the vehicle has PA system for the president to speak within the car and fluorescent lights so that the occupants can be seen through the windows.

There is some beautiful ceramics and pottery on display including both vintage ones from the 1930s-50s and contemporary works from the past few decades.  The “Lorelei vase” (cira 1930-50) by Van Briggle Pottery Co. in Colorado looks like an open-mouth fish from far away but up close, you can see the figure of a woman with flowing hair.  I liked several vases from the Roseville Pottery Company from Ohio (1945-50) including two with floral designs and one with a tree motif.  As expected, there were examples of Detroit’s own Pewabic Pottery including a classic design from around 1903-1907.  Newer pieces included a 1991 orange/gold glazed teapot from Adiran Saxe of California that looks a bit the Genie lamp from Aladdin, and a “New Vision Vessel Cup” (1997) by Les Lawrence that has black and white images printed on it including one of the Mona Lisa.  From far away, the work seems like it is covered with newsprint.

The collection of glass art is equally beautiful and much larger since it encompasses an entire room in the Davidson-Gerson Modern Glass Gallery as opposed to just a few display cases for the ceramics.  This gallery focuses on the studio glass movement that started in the 1960s and highlights the evolution of glass as a medium for fine art.  There is a larger gallery in Greenfield Village which follows the history of American glassmaking from the 18th Century to the present.  We did not include Greenfield Village in our visit as we did not have enough time, but really enjoyed the beautiful pieces in this gallery which ranged widely in colour, texture, design, technique and subject matter.

I really liked the work of Emily Brock who makes sculptures out of glass. Her “All Night Takeout” (1999) depicts an old-styled Deli in such detail that there are tiny glass sausages hanging on the back wall, the breads, cheeses, meats and wines in the display cases, and the décor of red table and bar stools with a checkered black and white floor.  Another of Brock’s pieces called “Intimate Encounter” (2007) depicts a girl on a bridge peering down on a pond that contains large pink water lilies.  I also liked Paul Stankard’s glass designs that included flowers, inspects, fruits, plants and even humanoid figurines into his paperweights.

An exhibit called “Miniature Moments: A Journey Through Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments” consists of a room full of almost 7000 Hallmark ornaments made between 1973 to 2009.  There are ornaments for traditional holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Halloween, as well as specialty sets for TV shows, movies, comic characters, sports figures, cars, houses and more.

The “Fully Furnished” exhibit is a collection of furniture that is both unique and historic.  The Vanderbilt Rocking Chair (1865-1875) owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt (once one of the richest men in the world) is made from intricately entwined tree roots and branches.  The “Tete-a-Tete” Settee (1895-1915) was created during a time when rules of propriety dictated that young people of the opposite sex be physically separated when seated.  This ingenious design allowed them to be close enough for private conversations without breaking social decorum. Philco’s Predicta Television Receiver (1958-60) was marketed as the first swivel TV screen, featuring a futuristic green-hued picture tube that was separate from the rest of the cabinet.  Unfortunately, this was a black and white TV set and the trend was to move to colour TVs, so the production run was just 3 years. A wooden Sheet Music or Print stand (1865-75) was painted black to simulate ebony, then overlaid with bright colours and pictorial marquetry to emulate Italian Renaissance designs. The Exploded Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman (2006) turns the iconic furniture into a sculptural art piece by separating and suspending each component so that you can see the complex way that the plywood, rosewood shell, plush leather upholstery and aluminum frame come together to form the iconic chair.

A permanent exhibit called “Mathematica: A World of Numbers and Beyond” tries to make math accessible through interactive displays and visual mathematical models.  A Probability Board (1960), designed by Charles and Ray Eames (designers of the Eames chair) with funding from IBM, drops balls down a vertical board lined with horizontal rows of pegs, to show the central limit theorem that eventually a bell curve will be formed. A “Minimum Length” demonstration dips hollow metal shapes into soap suds, using the soap films to form minimal surfaces.  A Multiplication Cube shows how multiplication works in 3-D. A Stretched String exhibit shows that surfaces, even curved ones, can be formed using straight lines.

A section called “With Liberty and Justice For All” contains some important historic artifacts that had major impact on America’s past.  We were able to board the infamous bus where Rosa Parks made her stand for equality by refusing to give up her seat towards the front of the vehicle.  In the same vein, we also saw a “coloured only” water fountain and segregated restrooms.  Another highlight in this collection was the rocking chair from the Ford’s Theatre in Washington that President Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was assassinated in 1865.  Other exhibits in this area included artifacts from the Womens’ Suffrage period.

For us, the highlight of the museum was the Dymaxion House, an innovative architectural concept developed by inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller in the late 1920s.  His futuristic-looking prefab homes were meant to be mass-produced, easily shipped and assembled in the desired location.  Each house consisted of a modular circular-shaped structure made from aluminum alloys and other lightweight metals with plastic, plexiglass windows around the circumference and synthetic rubber for the flooring.  The structure was around 36 feet in diameter, providing 1017 square feet of living space and had a central stainless-steel beam supporting it.  The roof and floor were suspended by cables. The design incorporated energy efficiency from the dome effect, a rainwater collection system, power generation and efficient water use.  Fuller coined the name Dymaxion as a portmanteau of the words “dynamic”, “maximum” and “tension”.  The homes did not come furnished but were meant to hold modular furniture that could be easily rearranged to fit residents’ needs.

Fuller made two protypes but never mass-produced the structures because of engineering challenges and lack of funding after investors deemed the endeavour as too risky.  Fuller’s employee William Graham bought the two prototypes and used parts from them to create his own Dymaxion-based home which he used as an extension of his ranch house.  He and his family occupied their Dymaxion house between 1948-1970.  In 1990, the Graham family donated their Dymaxion House to the Ford Museum. After extensive restoration, the house opened for tours in 2001. The furniture on display was added as part of the restoration process and aimed to reflect the original designs based on available documentation and photos of the prototype.  There aren’t fixed rooms in the circular structure, but moveable walls and the layout of the furniture implicitly delineates the various spaces.  Walking around the prototype, we found a living area with a sofa, coffee table and fireplace, a dining table and chairs and buffet, a bed and nightstand, built-in shelves and revolving hangers in closets, a bathroom that included a septic system and a kitchen with appliances including an electric refrigerator, deep-freeze storage unit, stove/range and sink.  It was quite the unique experience to walk through what almost looked like a spaceship from afar. While the Dymaxion did not endure, the concept of “prefab”, modular homes did.

I usually don't particularly like museums that are not focused on art, especially those filled with antiquities and chards of broken glass or pottery.  But I really enjoyed the wide variety of interesting objects that filled this museum, and all the fascinating stories behind them.