Henry Ford's Village Industries During World War II

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Starting in 1919 automobile pioneer, Henry Ford ordered an exploration of sites that could be set up for small factories thought Southeast Michigan. This was called Henry Ford's Village Industry Experiment.

Many of the plant sites were former locations of grist and sawmills from Michigan’s earliest settlements. The goal of having a locally generated power from water turbines was a primary concern of being self-sufficient. Several other locations had small scale plants built and architected by legendary architect Albert Kahn.

Ford's reputation as a large-scale industrialist and creator of the modern assembly line is well known. T the contradiction of creating this dispersed small-scale system has puzzled many historians. One hypothesis is that Ford wanted to support the rural communities that many were fleeing to work in the auto plants. Another theory was to dilute the effectiveness of organized labor attempting to unionize this far-flung location. Some plants had as few as a dozen workers.

The full story of the 19 village industries was acquired by Henry Ford. All the plants converted to wartime production during World War II.

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