The Henry Ford museum

[Travis Butler]

First in a series of many posts on the Henry Ford museum... took more than 400 pics and it's taking a while to sort through them all. (Not to mention several hundred pics at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, Mackinac Island and the Michigan Flight Museum... was a tiring but very photo-heavy week!)

This is the first set of related pics I finished and pulled together... the Dymaxion House. After World War II, the United States was experiencing a housing crunch. Buckminster Fuller, relatively early in his career, started putting together designs for houses that would be relatively fast to build, designed to work with the environment; these designs came to fruition in the Dymaxion House, an effort to meet the post-war demand. The house would be put together from pre-fabricated aluminum elements that could be built by aircraft companies that were idled by the end of the war, and could be assembled by ten men in a few days. The curved design would be resistant to the high winds and severe weather of the plains states, and utilized convection cooling to reduce energy use.


20250527-SDIM5999 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, OM Zuiko 24/2.8

Fuller worked with the Beech Aircraft company in Wichita, making it a semi-local connection for me.


20250527-SDIM6003 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Two prototypes were built, and a Wichita local combined them into a house he lived in for 30 years. Unfortunately, things ended there and the house never made it to full production. In 1990, the family donated the house to the Henry Ford museum; the museum refurbished the parts to reproduce the prototype as closely as possible.


20250527-SDIM6014 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6019 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
TTArtisan 11/2.8 Fisheye


20250527-SDIM6024 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6036 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The interior reminded me of a mobile home, and not necessarily in a good way. Floors and walls were made of stamped metal, and you could occasionally feel the flex as you walked around. On the flip side, rotating drawer mechanisms like the one at right packed a lot into a small area.


20250527-SDIM6039 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Rooms were designed to be space-efficient but often felt cramped.


20250527-SDIM6041 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

It reminds me a lot of some of Frank Lloyd Wright's houses - a forceful design philosophy with a very definite idea on how space should be used, innovative but not very flexible. If it fit the way you wanted to live, it was great; not so much if it didn't.


20250527-SDIM6028 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6045 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Credit to the museum for its restoration and presentation!

(The museum itself is generally delightful, but there's some weird frisson with Henry Ford the man. Ford undoubtedly revolutionized industry with the assembly line; he revolutionized American transportation with the Model T and the Ford Trimotor. He was also a virulent anti-semite and had regimented plans for how factory workers should live; take a look sometime at his attempt at an industrial colony in Brazil for producing rubber. Yet the museum has a section devoted to the civil rights movement, including the actual bus where Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus boycott.)

 

[The Rigger]

I hope while you were in the Motor City you took advantage of the opportunity to sample another Quality Michigan Product: the coney dog, said to have been invented at Lafayette Coney Island at Woodward Ave and (where else?) Lafayette in the heart of Detroit.

 

[Travis Butler]

I hope while you were in the Motor City you took advantage of the opportunity to sample another Quality Michigan Product: the coney dog, said to have been invented at Lafayette Coney Island at Woodward Ave and (where else?) Lafayette in the heart of Detroit.

Nope, that's one I didn't have time for...

Honestly, I put my priority on the Jackson Dairy. (Technically The Parlour, I know, but my friend introduced it to me as The Jackson Dairy and that's how I've always thought of it.) The new owner is also the owner of a notable coney dog restaurant, but I put my preference in ice cream. (And honestly, I've never been a fan of smothering dogs... the ideal dog for me is grilled, with the skin just going crispy, and a good ketchup with a vinegar tang, in a good sturdy bun - nothing more.)

 

[Travis Butler]

Now for part II, just for @Pete_W... ^_-


20250527-SDIM6197 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, Minolta MD 35-70/3.5 Macro

Nice caboose... what is that thing at left?


20250527-SDIM6200 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Snowplow!

Perhaps you'd prefer more old-school?


20250527-SDIM6202 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6207 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

...no, older school.


20250527-SDIM6206 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6219 by Travis Butler, on Flickr (TTArtisan 11mm fisheye)


20250527-SDIM6240 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Why, yes, it is Rocket Engineering!

Continued next post...

 

[Travis Butler]

I can tell, you want something even bigger.


20250527-SDIM6214 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, TTArtisan 11mm fisheye


20250527-SDIM6213 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
It needs to be Fed.


20250527-SDIM6221 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Too big to fit in the frame all at once.


20250527-SDIM6225 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Or even all at twice! (Hey, look at all the little people!)


20250527-SDIM6237 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
It's big. (MD 35-70/3.5)


20250527-SDIM6242 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
It's not intimidating at all!


20250527-SDIM6250 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
It's the Allegheny Steam Locomotive! One of the biggest steam locomotives ever built.


20250527-SDIM6252 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Though it's willing to share space with the older DeWitt Clinton.


20250527-SDIM6255 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

It dominates the museum... is what I'd like to say. But while it's big...


20250527-SDIM6259 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The museum's bigger.


20250527-SDIM6262 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Still much more to see!

(There's a lot more on the Henry Ford's website... I never knew about their Innovation Nation TV show, and here are a couple of episodes with more railroad stuff

Wrist Air Conditioner - Innovation Nation - The Henry Ford

Watch episode 16 of The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation TV show which profiles an app to monitor your sleep and health in Wrist Air Conditioner.

www.thehenryford.org

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/innovation-nation/episodes/s10e236---industrial-locomotives/[/URL]

 

[Pete_W]

Thanks so much @Travis Butler !! Awesome photos, and well done capturing all the detail on that large steam locomotive. Exposing for a black loco is tricky.

That looks like a great museum!

 

[Travis Butler]

Thanks so much @Travis Butler !! Awesome photos, and well done capturing all the detail on that large steam locomotive. Exposing for a black loco is tricky.

That looks like a great museum!

It is a great museum.

 

[Travis Butler]

Part III: Furniture and Design


20250527-SDIM5968 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The Eames couple, Ray and Charles, were one of the great design teams of the 20th Century. Industrial design. Architecture. They did the famous Powers of Ten movie:



And of interest to photographers, a video introducing the Polaroid SX-70:



The Henry Ford focused on their contributions to furniture design, including some instantly recognizable models:


20250527-SDIM5960 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
The Eames Lounge Chair


20250527-SDIM5975 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
A classic molded fiberglass chair, and its variants...


20250527-SDIM5973 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM5970 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
...and the mold used to make them.

They also covered other furniture and home design:


20250527-SDIM5964 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM5984 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM5982 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

...but my favorite is still the Eames work.


20250527-SDIM5979 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

 

[Travis Butler]

Intermission

Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer weiner...


20250527-SDIM5992 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

That is what I'd truly like to be!


20250527-SDIM5997 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

For if I were an Oscar Mayer weiner,


20250527-SDIM5994 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Everyone would fall in love with me!

 

[Travis Butler]

Part IV: Industrious

One of the things Henry Ford was most known for was the assembly line, and the museum takes up the baton, with many examples of early 20th Century industrial machinery.


20250527-SDIM5940 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM5944 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM5951 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM5957 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

 

[Travis Butler]

And machines imply the power needed to run them...


20250527-SDIM6064 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6065 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
As the sign says, steam engines need care and feeding...


20250527-SDIM6068 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6072 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6074 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6078 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
And they needed coal, and fire, and spewed smoke everywhere.

 

[Travis Butler]

Despite the dirt and the soot, the brick and iron still manages a certain raw beauty for me.


20250527-SDIM6076 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6079 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
"Fairbottom Bobs", the oldest surviving steam engine.


20250527-SDIM6081 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
The Highland Park Plant Engine-Generator has an interesting story behind it. It was built in 1915 as one of nine generators to power the Model T assembly lines at the Highland Park Ford plant. In 1926, they were obsoleted by power generated at the new Ford River Rouge plant... meaning this massive piece of machinery was useful for less than a decade.


20250527-SDIM6083 by Travis Butler, on Flickr


20250527-SDIM6085 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

If I remember correctly, it was too big and heavy to fit through normal doors... so the museum was actually built around it.

 

[Travis Butler]

Intermission II
Back when I was growing up in the 70s, my family would run across these occasionally as we were traveling around the US:


20250527-SDIM5927 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Plunk in your money, watch as the two halves of the mold came together...


20250527-SDIM5931 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

After about sixty seconds, a fair amount of noise, and a strong plastic smell, there was a thunk:

Mold-A-Rama 540 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
(Embedding the video seems to be having problems... click through to the Flickr page if the embed doesn't work.)

And your newly-made instant plastic souvenir would be in your hands, still warm and giving off eau de plastique!


20250527-SDIM5933 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

I thought this was incredibly cool.

You used to find them in all kinds of places where someone might want a cheap, instant souvenir: museums, of course; zoos, aquariums (sis still remembers the blue dolphin we got at one), amusement parks, and more. Today, they're a lot less common. The Henry Ford has 10, which is apparently the most still remaining at any one location. Read the museum talk about their collection.

It's a fascinating history, especially for gadget geeks like me; a web search will pull up lots of stories, and here are a few of my favorites:

How Mold-A-Rama Works

Approach the machine, drop in some coins and watch as hot plastic is molded into a train, gorilla or Frankenstein's monster. Mold-A-Rama machines remain popular with nostalgia fans, but what makes them so appealing?

entertainment.howstuffworks.com

Mold-A-Rama-Rama! The Secrets Behind Chicago's Plastic Souvenir Empire

How a Chicago-area famiHow a Chicago-area family turned cheap plastic souvenirs into a nostalgia empire.ly turned cheap plastic souvenirs into a nostalgia empire.

www.wbez.org

A Brief History of Mold-A-Rama

Long before 3D printing was a thing, kids of all ages were plunking quarters into Mold-A-Rama vending machines to get plastic sculptures made right before their eyes. Let’s take a look back at the history of these mid-century manufacturing marvels.

www.mentalfloss.com

Meet the People Keeping Mold-A-Rama Alive

These retro machines, which make plastic souvenirs right before your eyes, are as popular as ever.

www.atlasobscura.com

Waxing nostalgic: In 30 seconds, Mold-A-Rama makes memories, toys to last a lifetime - Tampa Bay Times

Wax and nostalgia go hand in hand. Stop and smell the Mold-A-Rama wax, and enjoy a souvenir that's a perfect and permanent reminder of vacation bliss.

web.archive.org

OK boomers, remember Mold-A-Rama? — Disqus Refugees

It’s the smell many of us remember, the warm waxy scent that’s a memory trigger of childhood, evoking recollections of school field trips to the museum, vacations to amusement parks, family outings at the zoo. It is the memory of quarters begged from parents, clutched in sweaty fists before being s

disqusrefugees.squarespace.com

20250527-SDIM5929 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

So sit down, relax, and read about a bit of 60-year-old kitsch.

(Sadly, these pics highlight one of the problems I had shooting at the Henry Ford: the lighting. In addition to being dim almost everywhere, the interior lighting gave off an odd yellow-green cast that I was constantly correcting in post - sometimes more successfully than others. And in a few areas, like the Allegheny Locomotive, large windows let in natural light from the outside - which messed up the correction for the interior lighting.)

Oh, and if you want to peek ahead, the full set of pics is now finished and uploaded here:

Henry Ford Museum

Explore this photo album by Travis Butler on Flickr!

flic.kr

 

[JohnnyMauser]

Interesting museum, with machines i have never seen or heard about! I think your story and the pix are great. No need to apologize for the lighting, but i can feel with you.

 

[The Rigger]

It is a great museum.

...And so much more.

 

[Travis Butler]

...And so much more.

I know. ;_; I spent as much time as I could, and deliberately skimmed some areas I had less interest in, and I still ran out of energy and time before I saw everything I wanted. Missed the Tucker 48, for example.

 

[Pete_W]

Intermission II
Back when I was growing up in the 70s, my family would run across these occasionally as we were traveling around the US:

Plunk in your money, watch as the two halves of the mold came together...

Wow, I don't think I have ever seen anything like this!

I guess these days a 3D printer vending machine could be setup to make souvenirs.

 

[Travis Butler]

Part V: Something in the Air

This is It. This is the big one for me.


20250527-SDIM6147 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Back when I was around 8 years old, I found a book in the school library about the Ford Trimotor, also known as the 'Tin Goose' or 'Tin Lizzie'. And I fell in love.


20250527-SDIM6139 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

After World War I, the civil aviation scene in the US was... chaotic, to put it mildly. It was the age of the barnstormers:


20250527-SDIM6096 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Pilots who'd learned to fly in the war bought surplus airplanes from the United States Army Air Service and went touring around county fairs and other events, putting on daredevil shows and giving rides to those who paid the fee. There was no regulation and aviation got a reputation for recklessness and questionable safety.

Then the Fords stepped in.


20250527-SDIM6140 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Edsel Ford had already sponsored Richard Byrd's 1925 flight over the North Pole in a Fokker Tri-Motor:


20250527-SDIM6089 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

That same year, Henry Ford bought the Stout Metal Aviation Company, founded and run by William Bushnell Stout, and put his considerable wealth and industrial ability into producing an airplane that would be strong, sturdy, and above all, safe. (As a further example of the risky state of the industry at the time, the Fokker Tri-Motor model pictured above was involved in a terrible crash that killed famous football coach Knute Rockne.)


20250527-SDIM6149 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

His success is shown by the fact that the Tin Lizzie stayed in ordinary commercial use well into the 1960s. It was undoubtedly primitive by the standards of post-WWII aviation, let alone the Jet Age; but it was durable and could take off and land 'in a postage stamp'; they stayed popular as bush planes long after they were shoved out of normal commercial routes by newer planes. Even after they finally passed out of standard service, they kept flying on the airshow and nostalgia ride circuit, and a few are still flying today.


20250527-SDIM6142 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

This particular plane, the Floyd Bennett, was used by Richard Byrd in his flight over the South Pole.

Ford also encouraged commercial aviation by creating an airport in Dearborn that set standards for airports then in development around the country; he also established commercial air services, did air tours, and many other activities. His interest in aviation waned after his personal pilot, Harry Brooks, died in a flight of the Ford Flivver (see next post), and after the Great Depression put a brake on civil aviation. Ford's last association with the air came with the giant Willow Run plant, built to produce B-24 bombers in WWII. There's a small aviation museum at Willow Run today, which I got to visit on this trip; I'll be posting pics from it later.

 

[Travis Butler]

As a postscript to the barnstorming era:


20250527-SDIM6100 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

In the mid-1920s, the US Government worked to boost civil aviation by passing the Air Mail Act of 1925, which authorized the Post Office to contract with private companies to deliver air mail. This sponsorship led to some of the earliest air transport companies, put commercial air on a more regular footing, and led to some of the earliest purpose-designed commercial aircraft, like the Boeing 40:


20250527-SDIM6143 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

While still primitive compared to the Tin Lizzie, they were still a significant step forward.


20250527-SDIM6138 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The Tin Lizzie wasn't enough for Ford, either; with the success of the Model T in bringing automobiles to the ordinary person, he wanted to bring airplanes to the ordinary person. Hence, the Ford Flivver.


20250527-SDIM6131 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Unfortunately, the Flivver was far less successful than the Lizzie. As noted above, his person pilot, Harry Brooks, died when he flew a prototype Flivver to Florida as part of a contest. Charles Lindbergh was the only other pilot to fly one, and he called it one of the worst airplanes he'd ever flown. Alas.

The Pitcairn Autogyro was a more successful experiment.


20250527-SDIM6162 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Autogyros were an intermediate step between airplanes and helicopters- while they had a spinning rotor like a helicopter, it wasn't powered -


20250527-SDIM6166 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Instead, it used a airplane-style motor to pull the plane forward:


20250527-SDIM6170 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

with the rotor freewheeling to provide lift.

True helicopters were also represented, with Igor Sikorsky's VS-300A prototype:


20250527-SDIM6155 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

While it took a while to get flying right - Sikorsky notably joked at an early test flight that flying forward was "one of the minor engineering problems we have not yet solved" - it was the first to successfully pioneer the standard helicopter design today, a single overhead rotor with a second rotor on the tail.


20250527-SDIM6165 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

 

[CharlesH]

I guess these days a 3D printer vending machine could be setup to make souvenirs.

There have been 3D printer vending machines. There were some of these at Disney World where a child could have their face scanned and then a small princess or prince printed that looked like them. I don't know if these are still there.

About the Ford Museum, they had one of my company's very early 3D printers on display for quite a while. It was one of the first 3D printers, and I spent lots of time in Dearborn back then working with their engineers. Ultimately 3D printing was able to significantly speed up automotive design by quickly making prototypes and tools and fixtures. That 3D printer is still at the museum, but it is off in a warehouse and not on display.