At Cherry Hill Village, Henry Ford established one of his village industries, a small factory site at the southwest corner of Cherry Hill and Ridge Roads that produced Ford parts with special local workers. Starting in the early 1940s, this plant employed disabled World War II veterans to make car locks. Over time, Ford hired more than 12,000 disabled people to work in village industries throughout the region. He also renovated the nearby creamery south of the factory into a dormitory for many of the disabled workers, bought and operated the one-room Cherry Hill Shool behind the factory, and regularly visited the Cherry Hill Village factory to eat breakfast with the veterans.