Edison & Ford Winter Estates

2350 McGregor Boulevard

Fort Myers, FL 33901=

239-334-= 7419

www.efwefla.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chris Pendleton, President & CEO

Lisa Sbuttoni, PR Manager (239-334-7419)

Pho= tos attachment: Clara and Henry F= ord at their Fort Myers Winter Home

Edison & Ford Winter Estates Celebrates Henry Ford Birthday,

July 30 with Free Programs

Fort Myers, Florida (July 17, 2009) –The Edison & = Ford Winter Estates will celebrate the 146^th birthday of Henry Ford a= nd the completion of the restoration of the Ford Estates at “The Mangoes,” the winter home of Henry and Clara Ford on Thursday, July 3= 0 at 9:30 AM. Admission to the eve= nt is FREE.

The celebration will include a tour of the Ford Estate by Mr. & Mrs. Ford, cake, antique cars, presentations and a performance by= the Estates Wild Wizards.

At 9:30 AM, the Estates will begin with a birthday ceremony with cake at = the Ford Estate. =
At 10:00 AM, Mr. & Mrs. Edison will lead tours of their newly restored winter home.
At 10:30 AM, a special preview of the new Estates traveling school presentation, “Invention, Innovation and Green Science: Henry Fo= rd, Thomas Edison and the Automobile” will begin in the Estates Museum.
At 11:30 AM the Estates will present a “History of Henry Ford and t= he Impact of the Model T” in the Estates Museum.
Antique Cars from individual collectors as well as a new models including the = new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid from Sam Galloway Ford Lincoln Mercury will be on display at the Ford estate from 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM.

“Ford’s birthday marks a very important day = in American history, and we invite the public to share in the celebration̷= 0;. Learn about Henry Ford…. And visit the beautiful winter homes of one = of America= ’s greatest industrialists,” says Chris Pendleton, Estates president &am= p; CEO. “Ford’s rema= rkable history spanned decades and totally changed our way of life.”

Ford facts include:

Henry Ford grew up on a t= ypical nineteenth-century farm in Dearborn, Michigan. At an early = age he demonstrated an interest in mechanics and a dislike for farm work.
Ford married Clara Bryant= in 1888. He would later refer to Clara as “the Believer” for = her faith in and support of his ideas.
In 1891 Ford became an en= gineer for the Edison Illuminating Company, and was soon promoted to Chief Engineer. This position allowed him time to experiment with the intern= al combustion engine. Ford idolized Thomas Edison and met him during an 1= 896 company convention in Ne= w York, where Ford relayed his ideas for the engine. Ford recalled the importa= nce of Edison’s encouragement: “[O]ut of the clear blue sky the greatest inventive genius in the world had given me complete approval.”
In 1896, at the age of 33= , Ford completed the Quadricycle, a self-propelled vehicle with four wire whe= els which was steered with a tiller and had two forward speeds. Ford trave= led around Detroit in his “horseless carriage,” to the amazement, as well as disdain, of its citizens.
The Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 with the Model A. In 1908 Ford introduced the Mod= el T, realizing his lifelong dream of a vehicle that was easy to operate = and maintain and able to handle the rough roads of the era. The Model T quickly became a huge success, with more than 10,000 sold in 1909.
Ford is considered the fa= ther of modern manufacturing. As the popularity of the Model T escalated, F= ord devised a system that combined division of labor, standardized and interchangeable parts, and the assembly line. This revolutionized automobile production by reducing the amount of time involved in automobile manufacturing and consequently lowering production costs. M= ass production was born. By 1913 some 1000 cars were produced in a typical eight-hour shift.
By the late teens, Ford w= as an American celebrity and the public could not seem to get enough of him. Ford came into his office one day and said, “You know, I think I ought to get a pair of whiskers. Everybody seems to spot me.”
In 1914 Ford made his fir= st visit to Fort Myers at the invitation of his friend Thomas Edison. From there the two emba= rked on an Everglades camping trip. Call= ing themselves “the Vagabonds,” Ford and Edison, along with Ha= rvey Firestone and John Burroughs, would make many more camping trips throughout the next fifteen years. In 1916, Ford purchased his Fort Myers r= etreat, The Mangoes, for $20,000 and enlarged it by adding two family and staff wings.
Ford was seriously intere= sted in unifying urban and rural industry. He encouraged the idea of using agricultural products for industrial purposes. For example, Ford experimented with an automobile trunk made from soybean-based plastic.= He was a partner in the Edison Botanical Research Lab located on Estates’ property.
In the mid-1920s the New = York Times estimated the assets of the Ford Motor Company at $1.2 billion, = or about $13 billion today. Ford himself drew an average of about $4.5 million per year during this decade, or about $50 million in todayR= 17;s dollars. Said Ford, “I’m in a peculiar position. There is nothing I want that I cannot have. But I do not want the things that m= oney can buy. I want to live a life, to make the world a little better for having lived in it.”
In 1928 Ford established = and endowed The Edison Institute in Dearborn, MI (now The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village), an indoor/out= door museum created to illustrate and preserve the American experience and celebrate American ingenuity.
In 1929 Ford threw a lavi= sh party in Dearborn in honor of the fif= tieth anniversary of Edison’s inven= tion of the incandescent lamp. Ford presented his friend with a detailed reconstruction of Edison’s Menlo Park and the original 1887 For= t Myers laboratory at The Edison Institute. Edison became misty-eyed and remarked that “the memories of eighty-two years were flooding back.” Ford told reporters at the event, “We are ahead of all other countries today, simply and solely because we have Mr. Edison.”
Ford loved dancing and in= the 1920s began a massive effort to revive old-fashioned dancing. He spons= ored a national tour of dancing master Benjamin Lovett. Dancing was also an important part of Ford’s social life in Fort Myers.
Henry Ford earned the Ame= rican Legion Distinguished Service Medal for his efforts on behalf of disabl= ed veterans in both World Wars. In 1997, Life Magazine named him one of t= he “100 People Who Made the Millennium,” and in 2000 Time Magazine named him one of the “100 Most Important People of the Century.” In 2000 Forbes Magazine called him the “#1 Industrialist of the Century.”
Ford returned to The Mang= oes only sporadically after Thomas Edison’s death in 1931. In 1945 he sold it to Thomas and Gladys Biggar. In 1988, the City of Fort Myers purchased Henry Ford= 217;s estate for $1.5 million, restored it to its historic appearance and op= ened it to the public in 1989.
Henry Ford’s Fort Myers e= state is open daily and now managed by the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, In= c., a non-profit organization.
On July 30, 2007 a statue commemorating Henry Ford’s achievements and time in Fort Myers was created by D. J. Wilkins and donated by Orvall McCleary to the Estates= .

The= Estates is open daily from 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. The Estates was awarded the Nation= al Trust for Historic Preservation Award in 2008 and is an official project of “Save America’s Treasures” at the National Trust for Hist= oric Preservation, a Florida Historic Landmark and a National Register Historic Site. For additional informat= ion call 239-334-7419 or visit the web site at www.efwefla.org.

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The Es= tates has received grants from the Historical Museums Grants-in-Aid Program throu= gh the Bureau of Historical Museums, Division of Natural Resources, Florida Department of State and Secretary of State and the <= st1:PlaceName w:st=3D"on">Lee County Tourist Development Council.