Henry Ford in Brooklyn

This building is one of the small Village Industry factories Henry Ford built throughout southeast Michigan in the early 20th century. Most of these factories stood on the sites of earlier water-powered mills and used small-town values and work ethics to produce Ford vehicle parts. Here, from 1939 to 1967, as many as 150 local workers produced starter switches, lamp lenses, and assembled distributors. Ford's fascination with renewable energy appears in the building's trademark glass enclosure for its hydroelectric system. The site had previously been occupied by a grist mill that was destroyed by a tornado in 1937.

Brooklyn, Michigan · United States