Added on July 29, 2019  Sara Swanson

Village Industries Tour highlights Manchester’s place in automotive manufacturing history

Sunday, July 28th, Washtenaw County Parks partnered with the Manchester Area Historical Society (MAHS) to hold a Henry Ford Village Industries Tour with four Ford-related stops in the Manchester area. Participants could visit the stops in any order between 1 and 4 pm, and there was no charge. 

MAHS’ Ray Berg explained the intent of the tour, “The intent was to recreate what Ford’s vision was for these village industries, in his desire to provide manufacturing jobs to local farmers while allowing them to continue living on and working their farms. Exhibits and demonstrations were developed to recall the history of these plants, while having guests tour the preserved sites and equipment. In addition, two local Manchester residents who worked in the Ford Manchester plant in that era agreed to come and speak about their experiences in these plants, along with photographs of the actual plant floor and equipment in the Manchester plant.”

In 1918 Henry Ford, unhappy with what he saw as the role his factories were playing in urbanization, began to establish small rural manufacturing plants known as “village industries.” This decentralization was in an effort to keep young people from abandoning rural areas to move to the city. He hoped that by providing factory jobs in agricultural areas, his factories could help strengthen rural communities instead of emptying them. 

There are twenty locations recognized today as Henry Ford’s Village Industries, and two of those sites are in the Manchester area; one the Ford Building that currently houses Manchester Village offices and the Manchester District Library, and Sharon Mills.

Originally a grist mill powered by the River Raisin, Henry Ford purchased the Sharon Mills property in 1926. Instead of demolishing the mill, he restored it, added a wing, and installed a hydroelectric generator. The plant opened in 1939 and employed an average of 17 workers, making cigarette lighters, ammeters, and switches. The factory was closed in 1947. After a variety of uses, the property was purchased by the Washtenaw County Park Division in 1999.

Washtenaw Parks staffed the mill located within Sharon Mills County Park, the only tour stop not in the Village of Manchester. 

County Park interpreter Cary Church gave tours of the museum area of the mill housing the 40 to 45 horsepower hydro-electric generator which still functions and powers two lights and an outlet. He showed visitors the hand-hewn beams Ford had produced and pegged into place to reinforce the mill and maintain the mill’s authentic 19th century Greek Revival style. He also explained the functioning of the water wheel and generator and the importance of hydroelectric power to Ford, which Ford referred to as “white coal.”

The Village Industries site in the Village of Manchester, now known as the Ford Building, was constructed in a part of the village that was once a separate settlement known as Soulesville, then East Manchester, before becoming incorporated into the Village of Manchester. Originally the site of a grist mill and a saw mill, in 1892 the mill began to produce electricity to power the village. The mill had trouble producing enough electricity to keep up with demand and in 1925 Consumers Power was tasked with supplying the village with electricity. The mill was demolished. In 1936, Ford purchased the site. He considered the Manchester Mill in the middle of the village, but it was too expensive. He spent four years and $831,000 on dam improvements, building a factory, machinery and tools. The plant opened in 1941, and employed on average 150 workers making ammeters, gauges, and instrument clusters. The Ford company closed the factory in 1957, one of the few Village Industries to survive into the 1950s. A variety of factories occupied the building until 2001 when it was purchased by the Village of Manchester to become a village and community building.

The Ford Building tour stop in the Village was staffed by MAHS members. 

Inside the Library portion of the building, Kathleen Graddy greeted visitors with two former employees who worked in the Ford plant, Ethelyn Rhees and Marlene Lentz. Lentz recalls sitting on the railroad track as a child watching the plant being built. Rhees began working there in 1953 right out of high school and Lentz began working there in 1955 at age 22. They both enjoyed working at the factory, and most of Lentz’s family worked there. There were about 150 employees who worked two shifts. Rhees remarked that she remembers being switched back and forth between the shifts and that it was hard to adjust. Both women remembered that there where more women then men working there. In 1957 production was moved to the Rawsonville plant. Both women initially took jobs offered in Rawsonville and even commuted together, but between the long drive and a new family starting, both women moved on.

Berg staffed the control room at the Ford Building. He told the history of the building, and had photos of different stages in its history. He relayed personal stories of Henry Ford that Manchester residents and visitors on the tour had relayed to him. One man, a village resident, came in and stood for a long time in the north east corner of the room, by the river. Finally he explained that he had been the timekeeper for the factory and that spot was where his desk had been. He remembered looking out the window and watching carp jump in the river. Berg counted 90 tour participants who stopped by his location during the tour’s three hours.

The tour did not shy away from discussing Ford’s persistent anti-semitism. In fact Berg relayed a story he had heard from multiple sources of Ford getting quite far in negotiations with a family to rent out manufacturing space inside the Ford Building factory in Manchester only to find out the family was Jewish and to send them away. The story goes that when Ford eventually pulled out of Manchester, the village tried to reopen negotiations with the family. 

The Manchester Historical Society’s John Schneider Blacksmith Shop, and the Kingsley-Jenter House Museum, both on Main Street in the village, made up the two remaining stops and provided additional background relevant to the Ford plants. 

Active blacksmithing demos in the shop that used to be part of a carriage manufacturing facility made for a lively addition to the tour and the many antique Ford cars parked outside a bonus attraction. 

The Kingsley-Jenter House has recently opened its second-floor as a historical museum and has its first few displays completed. “It is just the start,” MAHS member Karen Berg explained. Members Sue LaRocque and Dave Renner have been working tirelessly to gather artifacts and build displays for the museum. Additionally, the Kingsley-Jenter House now features a small gift shop. 

Ray Berg explained that this tour was a pilot of sorts. Washtenaw County Parks is interested in combining the exploration of history and nature together, and in partnering with outside organizations for events like this in the future. It sounds like the collaboration may have been successful as park staff members working the Sharon Mills tour site had between 50 and 60 visitors already after the first two hours, many more than the usual 20 they have during regularly scheduled Sunday open houses.