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The need for a supply of wood for automotive use sent Henry Ford to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the 1920s.
Henry Ford’s quest for vertical integration combined with his disdain for waste helped to establish an entire town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and created a staple of summertime in the process.
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Henry Ford’s cousin’s husband, Edward G. Kingsford (right), helped facilitate the purchase of land and later became the namesake of the town that resulted from the new plant’s arrival.
In the 1920s, Henry Ford was looking to use the vast forests of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a source for automotive wood products for the Model T. His cousin’s husband, Edward G. Kingsford, an early Ford dealer, helped facilitate the purchase of some 300,000 acres of land for a new sawmill and manufacturing plant.
While the city that now bears the Kingsford name celebrates its centennial this year, Ford began operations at its sawmill there in 1921. A complete plant, including a powerhouse, a hydro plant, chemical plant, machine shop, and woodworking and body shops, was up and running by 1924.
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Ford’s charcoal briquettes became the best known of the by-products produced at the plant. They’re still sold today as Kingsford Charcoal.
The plant and its operations were optimized to make full use of the wood coming from the forests, but the best-known by-product was Ford charcoal briquettes, which are now known as Kingsford Charcoal. The charcoal was made from wood scraps that were burned and then mixed with starch before being compressed into compact briquettes. At one point, Ford was the nation’s largest producer of briquettes.
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Ford dealers offered kits complete with portable grills and charcoal briquettes. The briquettes could also be purchased separately.
Ford dealers offered charcoal briquette picnic kits complete with a small portable grill and charcoal for just $1 – one of which remains in the Ford archives collection. They also sold the charcoal separately in 10-pound bags as customers visited during the summertime. They were also available at hardware and department stores.
The Kingsford plant also produced solvents such as methyl alcohol and commercial lumber, in addition to wooden car parts and bodies. In 1925, the plant’s by-products represented $2.5 million worth of annual revenue for Ford, with charcoal briquettes representing the majority of that amount.
Employment at the Kingsford plant peaked at 7,500 by the mid-1920s, but the demand for wood for vehicle production dropped dramatically in the 1930s with the introduction of all-steel bodies. But need for wood used in station wagons, truck bodies and packing cases kept the plant afloat until it was converted to wartime production in 1942. Workers at the plant produced more than 4,000 wooden gliders – an aircraft without an engine or propeller – for the U.S. Air Force.
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Ford managed to keep the Kingsford plant operating until 1951 despite a dramatic decrease in the demand for automotive wood.
As the popularity of station wagons, and their steel content, increased following the war, the shipping costs became too much for the company to bear. After some diligence on Ford’s part to ensure a new buyer that could make use of the facilities and the 1,800 employees who worked there, the 297-acre plant and surrounding land was sold to the newly formed Kingsford Chemical Company in 1951. Assembly of station wagon bodies was transferred to other Ford facilities in Dearborn and elsewhere. Ford would end all of its Upper Peninsula lumber and mining operations by June 1954.
Kingsford continued to utilize the former Ford plant until 1961, when its operations were relocated to Louisville, Kentucky. Kingsford is now owned by The Clorox Company and the buildings that used to house its operations in Michigan are still in use by other businesses, according to WOOD-TV.
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The buildings used by Ford and later by Kingsford Chemical Company are reportedly still in use today by other companies.
It was estimated at the time of the sale that Ford had contributed $350 million to the local economy over three decades through payrolls, local taxes, local purchases and donations. The company’s donations to the city included hundreds of acres of land, which were used for the sites of an airport, a hospital, schools and athletic fields. Ford also built many of the city’s buildings, including 160 homes for employees known as the “Ford Addition.” Ford even provided the town’s water and fire services from 1925 to 1948.
Today, the City of Kingsford is home to a number of diverse industries and small businesses, though landmarks still bear Henry Ford’s name, including Ford Airport, Ford Dam, Ford Hospital and Ford Park. Kingsford High School adopted the team name “Flivvers” in homage to the famed Model T. The community is celebrating its 100th anniversary this week with a variety of activities, including a car show.
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