John and Horace Dodge, born in Niles in 1864 and 1868, were raised in a family of machinists whose roots there went back to their grandfather Ezekiel’s move from Massachusetts in the 1830s to run a steam engine shop, later operated by their father Daniel. Living in a small house and enduring poverty, the brothers spent their free time in the machine shop, developed an early interest in mechanics, and in Niles built their first vehicle, a high wheel bicycle. After John’s high school graduation in 1882, the family left Niles, and John and Horace moved with them to Detroit in 1886. There, already experienced machinists, they worked in shops in Detroit and Windsor, Canada, until beginning automobile parts production in 1901. Their first major order came from Ransom Olds of the Olds Motors Company for three thousand transmissions. In 1903, they contracted with Henry Ford for 650 chassis and acquired fifty shares of Ford stock worth ten thousand dollars, which they sold back to Ford in 1919 for 25 million dollars. In 1913, they established the Dodge Brothers Motors Car Company, and before the first car rolled off the Hamtramck plant assembly line on November 14, 1914, twenty-two thousand people had applied for dealerships based on the brothers’ reputations. In 1919, they also formed a building and loan association in Niles that built homes for Michigan Central Railroad workers. Both brothers died of influenza in 1920, and their widows later sold the company for 146 million dollars.