The Michigan family whose Model T and moving assembly line put the world on wheels.
Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and revolutionized industry with the moving assembly line, the affordable Model T, and the $5 workday — changes that reshaped manufacturing and modern life.
The family has remained connected to the company for more than a century, through Edsel Ford, Henry Ford II, and William Clay Ford Jr., and established the Ford Foundation, one of the world's largest philanthropies.
Ford's assembly line and affordable cars transformed the 20th century, and the family kept its name on the company for generations — a rarity in American big business. The Henry Ford museum complex in Dearborn preserves the legacy.
The Ford Foundation extended the family's impact into global philanthropy.
The Ford family is based in Dearborn, Michigan. Founders of Ford Motor Company; still involved in the company more than a century later
1903.
Henry Ford — founder of Ford Motor Company; pioneer of the assembly line
Curious about your own family's story? We trace it through the public record and write it up as a documented history.
See how it works →This profile presents only publicly reported facts, drawn from the sources above. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the family or its companies.
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons (public domain or freely licensed).