Detroit Pitchman Ollie Fretter

Ollie Fretter

Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1923, Oliver "Ollie" Fretter moved with his parents to Royal Oak, Michigan when he was in his early teens. He graduated from Royal Oak Dondero High School in 1941. After serving in the military during World War II, Fretter borrowed $600 from an uncle to open an appliance repair shop.

By 1950, twenty-seven-year-old Ollie Fretter decided he may as well sell home appliances and consumer electronics. With the post-war G.I. Bill and Veterans' Administration funding boom, America moved from a nation of renters to a nation of home owners. Selling appliances and electronics was a forward-looking career move for Fretter. His first store opened on Telegraph Road, north of I-96 in Redford, Michigan. Within ten years, Fretter had eight Detroit area stores.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Fretter Appliance and Electronics ran print ads in all of Detroit's major newspapers. The ads ran on Mondays to advertise mid-week Wednesday sales and on Fridays to generate weekend sales. The ads featured photos of appliances with the "Lowest Prices in Town" listed beneath them. Fretter's headshot was prominently displayed near his slogan, "If I can't beat your best deal, I'll give you five pounds of coffee."

Typical Fretter Appliance Print Ad

An unidentified Fretter employee revealed to a Detroit Free Press reporter, "Fretter gave away about 200 pounds of canned coffee a month costing about $500. When coffee prices rose, Fretter ordered one-pound cans of coffee with the label Fretter's House printed on them listing the weight as five-pounds. Somehow, Fretter got away with it. The cans became gag items that most customers were good-natured about. My guess is these short-weight coffee cans would be valuable collectors' items today if any have survived.

In 1971, Ollie Fretter increased his advertising budget and shifted into television advertising. He starred in his own commercials projecting a hokey, amateurish charm 40 or 50 times a week over most small market TV stations. His ads ran in the afternoon and late nights when buying television time was cheaper than prime time.

At first, Ollie Fretter played it straight as an owner/pitchman, but to distract his potential customers from the mind-numbing repetition of his commercials, he began hamming it up with all sorts of silly promotions like dressing as various characters. Sometimes, he would appear as a Gypsy violist, a mountain man, George Washington on President's Day, Uncle Sam on the Fourth of July, Johnny Cash, or Mother Nature. He would do almost anything to sell a refrigerator, a vacuum cleaner, a television, or a stereo system.

Ollie Fretter became Detroit's King of Local Advertising despite newspaper columnists ridiculing him in their editorials. He cried all the way to the bank. When Detroit Free Press reporter James Harper asked Fretter why he appeared in his own commercials, he replied, "People like to think they're dealing with the owner of a business. A too professional approach is not good. People like to think they're listening to somebody just like them."

In May of 1980, Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley brought a $25,000 lawsuit against Fretter Appliance and Electronics for violating the Item Pricing and Deceptive Adverstising Act. The company's media advertising and signs that hung in their chain stores proclaimed "The Lowest Prices in Town." Ollie Fretter and his lawyers failed to provide documented evidence to backup that long-held claim.

Fretter updated his company's advertising by making the products the focus. An off-screen announcer described the appliances and electronics featured that week. At the end, Fretter's image was superimposed over the products with him saying, "The competition knows me, you should too." The new approach reflected the loss of Fretter's consumer protection lawsuit and the increasing competition from Highland Appliance.

But there was also a new threat--the big box appliance stores popping up along the retail horizon. Advertising had gone from cute to cutthroat. By offering lost leaders (items retailers sold at a loss) big box stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, and Sam's Club undersold their competition. Fretter rolled the dice and took his company public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986 to raise capital and expand into new markets to compete nationally.

Fretter's long-time competitor Highland Appliance filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy in 1992. It owed its creditors $241 million dollars. Best Buy saw an opportunity and stepped in to fill the retail void by opening six big box stores in the Detroit area by the end of 1993.

Fretter bought up his biggest competitor Silo Electronics, but Silo hadn't posted a profit since the early 1980s. Fretter assumed Silo's debt and lack of liquid assets but expanded into more states anyway. The bottom dropped out of consumer electronics market due to stiff competition and falling stock values. Fretter spread his assets too thin and banks refused to lend him any more money. By 1995, all Silo Electronics stores closed, with all Fretter stores closing by the end of June 1996. Ollie retired after forty-six years in the retail business.

Fred Yaffe, president of the advertising agency that handled the Fretter account from1992 until 1995, noted, "It wasn't any one thing that killed Fretter's business. It was a bunch of things that all happened at once. He had serious competitors with deeper pockets, constant price wars in the appliance and electronics industries, and a lack of new products like VCRs and handheld video cameras."

Oliver "Ollie" Fretter lived out his life in Bloomfield Hills and died at Beaumont Hospice on June 29, 2014 at the age of ninty-one. He was survived by his wife of sixty-five years Elma M., his adult children Laura and Howard, and his grandchildren Alexandra, Andrew, and Catherine.

"Ollie's Ooop" Sale (1979) 

The Long-Awaited Ambassador Bridge Connects Detroit with Windsor

Ambassador Bridge Announcement--Detroit Free Press

When the automobile business took off early in the twentieth century, the need for an international bridge connecting Detroit with Windsor to expand the auto industry and increase international commerce became apparent, but securing government funding for the bridge project was a hard sell fraught with political red tape and delay. The highest-profile person supporting the bridge project was automobile magnate Henry Ford. "The only way to get things done today is by private business," Ford said.

A team of Detroit business leaders incorporated the Detroit Bridge Company and sought out a former Detroiter, successful New York City banker Joseph A. Bower. Bower sold securities to finance the project and was able to raise $23.5 million in privately financed funds, including his own investment.

The project details were presented to the Detroit Common Council and approved unanimously. But one dissenting voice vetoed the project, Mayor John W. Smith. In additional to several ambiguities in the project's prospectus, including revenue for the city of Detroit, Smith was rightly concerned that the bridge deck would only be 135' above the Detroit River.

Mayor Smith, mindful of the future, realized that 135' would limit future navigation of larger freighters. The project engineers went back to the drafting table and re-engineered the bridge to be 152' above the water.

Recognizing the long-term value of the bridge and the threat any further delays might pose to the overall project and his substantial investment, Bower assumed the $50,000 cost of a referendum in a special election supporting bridge construction. The referendum passed by an eight to one margin on June 28, 1927. The next month, McClintic-Marshall engineering firm was awarded the bridge contact which ran from August 16, 1927 until August 16, 1930.

The penalty for late completion would require the firm to pay the interest on the securities until the bridge could generate revenue. If they finished construction early, they would be entitled to half of the bridge's revenue until the official end of the original contract. The newly christened Ambassador Bridge opened six months ahead of schedule despite having to change out the original suspension cables which were found to become brittle in freezing weather. They were quickly replaced with cables spun with stronger cold-roll steel. Still, the bridge cost came in 1% under the original budget allocation.

When finished, the Ambassador Bridge was 1.5 miles long, requiring 21,000 tons of steel. The clearance from the Detroit River was 152' but the bridge's roadway never rises above a gentle 5% grade. The four-lane roadbed (two coming and two going) was 47' wide with an 8' wide pedestrian sidewalk on the west side of the bridge. The bridge was anchored on the American side on West Jefferson and 21st Street. On the Canadian side, the anchorage touched down on London St and Huron Line Road in Sandwich, Ontario.

Opening day ceremonies coincided with Armistice Day (Veteran's Day) Monday, November 11, 1929. An estimated 100,000 from both sides of the Ambassador Bridge were on hand to cheer the ceremonial opening. With much pomp and circumstance, dignitaries from both countries held cermonies on their respective sides of the bridge. At 3:15 pm, Canadian bands played patriotic selections such as "God Save the King" and "Oh Canada," while at the same time, American bands on their side played tunes like "America" and "The National Anthem."

Following the musical programs, speeches were made by dignitaries on both sides of the bridge. Then, bronze "Friendship Tablets" designed by New York sculptor Jonathan M. Swanson were unveiled on the anchorages on both sides of the bridge. The plaques celebrated more than 115 years of friendship between the United States and Canada. The ceremony ended when dignitaries met at the exact international boundry. They shook hands and cut a white, silk ribbon. Then in concord, sirens and fog horns of river craft sounded continuous acclamation while many airplanes soared and circled above the bridge.

The bridge was originally scheduled to open in 1930 which is what the plaques reflect.

In what only can be described as a loosely controlled riot, joyous crowds on both ends of the bridge swarmed the deck. When the roadbed became so crowded that people could not move, some of the braver revellers climbed the construction catwalks on each side of the bridge to the top of the piers. It took well into the night before the bridge was cleared and secured again.

Photo from Windsor Star.

Four days later, the Ambassador Bridge opened for business. The opening was signaled by the passage of two cars filled with dignitaries from each country that left simultaneously from each side of the bridge. They honked in friendship as they passed at the center of the bridge and a signal cannon boomed to officially open the bridge to the toll-paying public. Cheers and applause broke out on both ends of the bridge.

The Ambassador Bridge was now officially open. An estimated 235,000 persons crossed the bridge the first day--35,000 of them were pedestrians. Traffic was backed up almost two miles on each bridge approach with people wanting to claim bragging rights that they had crossed on the first day.

On opening day, American customs officials reported that eleven quarts of whiskey were seized in three separate incidents. Prohibition was still in effect on the American side. At 8 pm, a man carrying four quarts, and at 9:15 pm, a woman carrying six quarts were detained by customs inspectors. Both people used the same excuse, they needed the whiskey to make holiday fruit cake." Just after 11 pm, a single quart was found tucked under the back seat of a car.

It was determined by customs agents that none of the instances was a commercial violation. The smuggled Canadian liquor was confiscated and the offenders were released after paying a $5 fine for each quart.

The Ambassador Bridge had the misfortune of opening just twenty-one days before the Great Depression struck. To compound the misery of the bridge's investors, the new Detroit-Windsor Tunnel opened downtown the following year charging lower automobile tolls. One factor remained in the bridge's favor though, the Detroit Bridge Company held a monopoly as the only Michigan international crossing for the commercial truck business.

When World War II broke out just over a decade later, American gas rationing dramatically cut automobile bridge traffic, but commercial truck traffic increased due to the war effort. In 1944, two years into the United States entry into the war, the Ambassador Bridge became profitable for the first time. Investors were paid 75 cents per share which began an unbroken stream of dividends every year since.

Gordie Howe International Bridge 

A Brief History of the Gordie Howe International Bridge

 

With the installation of final edge girders on the Gordie Howe International Bridge on June 14, 2024, the long-awaited connection between the Canadian and United States sides of the Detroit River transpired.

This momentous occasion was the culmination of a nineteen year journey which began on June 15, 2005, when the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced that a new international bridge was being proposed by a bi-national partnership between the United States Federal Highway Commission and Canada’s Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Its mission was to address “border crossing needs in Southeastern Michigan and Southwestern Ontario.”

Highway traffic research on both sides of the border indicated that the present Ambassador Bridge, which went into service over ninety years ago in 1929, was inadequate to meet the region’s future needs. The new bridge project originally known as the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) would have six lanes with an additional twelve foot wide pedestrian and bike lane, rather than the four lanes of the current Ambassador Bridge.

The cable-stayed bridge would have a 138’ clearance from the river and a total length of 8,202’ (1.5 miles). At its highest point of 722’, the bridge would rival the height of Detroit’s Renaissance Center. Two-hundred, sixteen spun steel cables will support the roadway and bear the traffic weight loads. The bridge will be illuminated at night with high-powered LED lighting.

The bridge plazas will have 24 primary inspection lanes and 16 toll booths. The port of entry and border inspection facilities on the United States side will have dedicated exit lanes to connect with Interstate 75, while the Canadian port of entry’s border inspection facilities and toll collection booths will directly connect to Ontario Highway 401.

Artist's rendering of Gordie Howe Bridge lit up at night.

Arguments in favor of the DRIC bridge were:

·       It would improve global trade between the two countries.

·       It would create an estimated 10,000 constructions jobs and 3,350 permanent jobs.

·       It would ease the daily traffic jams and border delays on both sides of the Detroit River.

·       It would save fuel, reduce air pollution, and minimize time lost, especially on the Canadian side where semi-trucks could avoid the gauntlet of city traffic lights leading to the Ambassador Bridge.

***

Major opposition to the DRIC bridge proposal came from the billionaire owner of the Ambassador Bridge, Manuel “Matty” Moroun, who made his fortune in the trucking industry and from collecting tolls on both ends of the bridge, including owning the Duty-Free shops.

The Ambassador Bridge is one of the few international, privately owned toll bridges in North America. While the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel downtown allowed passenger cars and buses through its crossing, the Ambassador Bridge became the only way commercial truck traffic could cross the Detroit River for almost 100 years, except for slow, obsolete ferry service. Matty Moroun purchased the Ambassador Bridge from the Joseph A. Bower family in 1979 and enjoyed its monopolistic status for over thirty years. Now, the DRIC threatened it.

Ambassador Bridge art deco plaque installed midspan.

Moroun used every legal delay his lawyers could devise and argued in the courts that his bridge had “exclusivity rights” granted to him by the previous owners. The courts summarily shut down that argument. In desperation, Moroun offered to build a six-lane twin span and use the old Ambassador Bridge for foot traffic and special events saying that his proposed project would be less expensive to build. The Canadians argued successfully that Mouron’s project would not solve the underlying traffic problems in the Windsor metropolitan area.

Moroun switched from the court battles to the political arena after losing a lawsuit brought by the MDOT in 2009 for his failure to construct new ramps to connect the Ambassador Bridge directly to Interstate 75 in violation of a previously negotiated contact. Michigan Republicans began voicing their support for Mouron and opposition to the DRIC bridge project.

Manuel "Matty" Moroun

In 2010, Moroun’s opposition to the new bridge prompted the Canadian government to offer to pay Michigan’s portion for the new span in exchange for collecting all tolls from the bridge for the next fifty years to reimburse Canada. Michigan Senator Alan Cropsey, Republican from DeWitt County, remained opposed to the Canadian offer. “The new bridge is unnecessary, and it would put an American businessman (Moroun) out of business. Is this some kind of foreign aid?”

Dan Stampler, president of Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Company, warned that jobs created for the DRIC would go to Canadians casting doubt on Michigan’s Governor Jennifer Granholm’s loyalty as a Canadian born United States citizen for supporting the Canadian funding proposal. “She has offered to sell the Michigan border to Canada,” Stampler said.

Governor Granholm quickly refuted the broadside charge as “Totally absurd! When it comes to jobs and expansion on both sides of the border, this is the only game in town.” The political battle raged on.

In 2011, the Michigan Senate rejected a bill that would have allowed the state to accept a $550 million cash advance to fund the United States portion of the bridge construction. United States special interest politics interfered with the bill’s passage. The new Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder threw his support behind the DRIC bridge bill in his State of the State address telling his party that economic growth was his top priority. “It is time to solve problems,” he said.

In a last-ditch effort to enforce his will, Moroun promoted a proposal for an amendment to the Michigan Constitution requiring approval for the new bridge construction by not only Detroit voters, but also Michigan voters at large in statewide elections. The ballot proposal was defeated by a wide 60% to 40% margin. Mouron’s aggressive lobbying and litigating had worn thin with Michigan voters paving the way for the project to proceed.

***

On May 14, 2015 in a ceremony along the Detroit River on the Canadian side, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Gordie Howe’s son Murray Howe jointly announced that the publicly owned DRIC bridge would be renamed the Gordie Howe International Bridge, after a native Canadian who played hockey for the Detroit Red Wings leading them to four Stanley Cup victories. Because of his prowess on the ice, Howe earned the nickname “Mr. Hockey.” In his remarks at the naming ceremony, Prime Minister Harper said, “Gordie Howe was a proud Canadian who built extraordinary goodwill between the two countries.”

On October 26, 2014, Howe had a stroke while at his daughter’s home. At the time of the naming ceremony announcement, Gordie Howe suffered from dementia and could not attend. His son told him about the honor bestowed upon him. Howe said, “That sounds pretty good to me.” Thirteen months later on June 19, 2016, he died at his son’s home in Sylvania, Ohio of undisclosed causes at the age of eighty-eight, two years before groundbreaking on the bridge began.

Howe’s casket was brought to the Joe Louis Arena for public visitation. The following day, his funeral was held at Detroit’s Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Acting as pallbearers were hockey great Wayne Gretsky, winningest NHL coach Scotty Bowman, and Detroit Tiger legend Al Kaline. Howe’s remains were returned to Canada and interred in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Mr. Hockey--Gordie Howe

***

Construction officially began on the Gordie Howe International Bridge in 2018, but the completion and opening have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The long-awaited bridge opening is now scheduled for the fall of 2025 once the bridge plazas, signage, and traffic lights are installed. People on both sides of the Detroit River look forward with anticipation to the ribbon cutting ceremony marking the end of a twenty year odyssey.

Ambassador Bridge Opening Day Ceremony 

Willow Run Bomber Plant Changes Ypsilanti Forever

Original Three-story Ypsilanti Depot Station.

At the turn of the century, before the second World War, Ypsilanti had an active downtown area along Michigan Avenue. Northeast of town, there was a thriving business district called Depot Town.

Depot Town was the area's commercial hub and provided services for weary train travelers. Ypsilanti's three-story brick depot station was ornate compared to the depot in Ann Arbor. In its day, it was said to be the nicest train station between Detroit and Chicago.

The Norris Building built in 1861 was across from the depot on River Street. It was originally supposed to house a retail block on the ground floor and residential rooms on the two upper floors. Instead, the building became an army barracks during the Civil War. The 14th Michigan Infantry Regiment shipped out of Depot Town in 1862, as did the 27th Michigan Regiment in 1863. 

The facade of the historic Norris Building remains on North River Street, despite a fire which decimated the rear portion of this last remaining Civil War barracks in Michigan. Renovated, the Thompson Building as it is now know is an important addition to the Depot Town community.

Michigan State Normal School was located west of Depot Town on West Cross Street and northwest of downtown Ypsilanti. It spawned a growing educational center which later expanded its mission to become Eastern Michigan University. 

Ypsilanti's residential area with its historic and varied architecture filled the spaces between. Surrounding everything was some of the most fertile farm land in the state.

The water-powered age of nineteenth century manufacturing on the Huron River gave way to the modern electrical age of the twentieth century. The soft beauty of the gas light was replaced with the harsh glare of the incandescent light bulb. The times were changing for Ypsilanti--ready or not.

***

The countryside was prime tillable ground with fruit groves scattered about the landscape. Henry Ford owned a large tract of land in an area known as Willow Run, named for the small river that ran through it. The Ford patriarch used the land to plant soybeans, but the United States government needed bombers for the Lend Lease program with Great Britain. On December 8, 1941, one day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the Nazis declared war on the United States on behalf of their ally. America was drawn into the second world war.

The Roosevelt administration asked the Ford corporation, now run by Edsel Ford, to build a factory that could mass produce the B-24 Liberator Bomber. Edsel Ford, Charles Sorenson (production manager), and some Ford engineers visited the Consolidated Aircraft Company in San Diego to see how the planes were built. 

That night, Sorenson drew up a floor plan that could build the bomber more efficiently. His blueprint was a marvel of ingenuity, but the Ford corporation made one significant change in his master plan.

The best shape to build a front to back assembly line operation is in a straight line. But to avoid the higher taxes in Democratic Wayne County, the bomber plant took a hard right to the south on one end to stay within Republican Washtenaw County, which had lower taxes. This was at the insistence of Harry Bennett, Ford's head of security who had strong ties to Washtenaw County being a graduate of Ann Arbor High School.

The construction of the plant in Willow Run began in May of 1941, seven months before Pearl Harbor. Legendary Detroit architect Albert Kahn designed the largest factory in the world, but it would be his last project. He died in 1942.

The federal government bought up land adjacent to the bomber plant and built an airport which still exists today and is used for commercial aviation. The eight-sectioned hangar could house twenty Liberators.

***

Soon, workers flooded into Ypsilanti and the rapidly developing Willow Run area where makeshift row housing was hastily constructed. The Ford Motor Company recruited heavily from the South. By March 1, 1943, the bomber plant brought in 6,491 workers from Kentucky. That's when the derisive term "Ypsitucky" was first heard. But Ford recruiters also brought in 1,971 workers from Tennessee, 714 from Texas, 450 from West Virgina, 397 from Arkansas, and 314 from Missouri. In the most demographic shift in the area since the white man drove the red man west, the sleepy farming town of Ypsilanti went from a sunrise-to-sunset community to a three shift, around-the-clock, blue collar factory town. 

Suddenly the area was hit with a housing shortage. Ypsilanti homeowners rented rooms to workers or converted their large Victorian homes into boarding houses. It was wartime and money was to be made. Some families rented "warm beds." One worker would sleep in the bed while another was working his shift, but still there was a housing shortage. Many people slept in their cars until they could make other arrangements. 

Long time residents did not like the changes they saw in their town. The bomber factory workers worked hard and drank hard. Fights broke out in local bars, often over women. Ypsilanti developed a hard edge and a dark reputation.

Because so many men were in uniform serving their country, there was a shortage of skilled labor at first. But then the women of Southern Michigan stepped up big time. To make up the labor shortfall, they donned work clothes, and tied up their long hair in colorful scarves collectively earning the nickname "Rosie the Riveter". It was calculated that by the end of the war, 40% of every B-24 Liberator was assembled by women.

***

Little known factoid: The first stretch of expressway in America was made with Ford steel and Ford cement. It connected workers in the Detroit area to their jobs at the bomber plant in Willow Run via Ecorse Road. It's still there and runs along the north end of the former GM Hydromatic Plant and Willow Run Airport.

***

The Yankee Air Museum housed on the east end of Willow Run Airport was established in 1981 to restore and preserve the almost forgotten history of Willow Run Airport, and to commemorate the achievement of the men and women who helped win the war by the sweat of their brow producing 8,685 B-24 Liberators.

***

Background history of the Yankee Air Museum: http://yankeeairmuseum.org/our-history/

Rosie the Riveter short: https://fornology.blogspot.com/2013/03/rosie-riveter-happy-womens-history.html

The following link has some vintage bomber plant footage: http://www.annarbor.com/news/ypsilanti/pbs-to-air-documentary-about-ypsilantis-legendary-willow-run-b-24-bomber-factory/

Dodge Brothers Stand Up To Henry Ford

Automobile pioneers John and Horace Dodge

John Francis Dodge [October 25, 1864 - January 14, 1920] and Horace Elgin Dodge [May 17, 1868 - December 10, 1920] were born in the era of the horse and buggy, and the marvel of the age, the steam engine locomotive. They were born in Niles, Michgan where their father Daniel Rugg Dodge operated his own machine shop next to his house repairing steam engines for boats and farm equipment. He often had to machine his own custom, precision parts. 

In addition to his sons' traditional book learning, John and Horace learned to operate machine tools under the watchful eye of their father. Both boys were mechanically inclined. The family moved several times before settling in Detroit in 1886 where work in the stove, boiler, carriage, and wagon industries was booming. The brothers apprenticed in different machine shops aound Detroit learning their trade to become skilled journeymen.

In 1892, the brothers began working in Windsor, Ontario, at the Dominion Typograph Company owned by Frederick Samuel Evans. While working for Evans, Horace and John invented and manufactured the enclosed four-point, wheel ball bearing hub for bicycle pedal assemblies which made biking easier and more enjoyable. 

The brothers were granted a patent in 1896 and went into business with Evans to create the popular E&B [Evans and Dodge] bicycle which soon became known as the "Maple Leaf." In 1900, they sold their interest in the company for $7,500. 

With that start-up money, the Dodge brothers were able to open their first machine shop called the Dodge Brothers Company on the ground floor of The Boydell Building at 132-137 Beaubien Street and Lafayette Avenue. They began their enterprise as builders of special machinery and high-speed pleasure craft, but the manufacture of automobile parts and components soon took precedence.

A Detroit Free Press Sunday feature article dated September 1, 1901, proclaimed in its headline "Dodge Brothers Open One of the Most Complete and Modern Machine shops in Michigan. Everything is New and Up-To-Date." 

The Free Press staff writer wrote a glowing description of the factory: "The typical machine shop of the age is dimly lit and litter-obstructed. In contrast, the Dodge Brothers machine shop has an orderly appearance with a thoughtful arrangement of machines to facilitate production and minimize the handling of machine parts, with the greatest ease and rapidity at a fraction of the expense and time employed in the days when hand labor dominated manufacturing [sic]. Machines of the latest design are used intelligently operated by the highly skilled labor force. Their reputation for quality is unequaled."

The Dodge brothers' machine shop soon became busy making precision automobile parts and sub-assemblies like chassis, axles, transmissions, clutches, and complete engines. In 1902, the Dodge brothers signed a major contact with  Ransom E. Olds to produce quality transmissions for his Oldsmobile line. Much to Mr. Olds' chagrin, the contract was not renewed the following year because Henry Ford contracted with the Dodge brothers to exclusively build complete engines and other automobile components in 1903. 

The Dodge brothers agreed to supply 650 Model A engines, transmissions, and axles at $250 each. The added business soon outgrew their shop's floor space, so they built a larger two-story building at Hastings and Monroe Streets in 1906. That space today is the Greektown Casino Hotel parking structure. 

By 1908, they outgrew the Hastings Street facility and began building their own modern factory complex in Hamtramck, Michigan, on sixty-seven acres of vacant land on Joseph Campau Avenue where property taxes were cheaper than in Detroit. 

The four-story, four-building complex contained an extensive machine shop, a power plant, a forging plant, and company headquarters, all with plenty of natural light and ventilation from steel-framed windows. Everything was well-organized in a thoughtful, systematic way. 

The plant came equipped with four cafeterias, male and female restrooms with separate lounges in each, and a well-equipped clinic and first aid center. Automakers from around the world came to see Dodge's state-of-the-art parts factory converted into an automobile plant.

***

Henry Ford

In the beginning, very little of the original Ford Motor Company cars were actually manufactured by Ford, including the bodies, powertrains, and chassis. FoMoCo was essentially an assembly business which subcontracted much of its mechanical work to independent machine and tool & die shops around the Detroit area.

The Dodge brothers became Ford stockholders when they each bought 50 shares in 1902. They paid $3,000 cash and pledged $7,000 worth of Dodge manfactured car parts to help Ford get his fledgling company on its feet. 

It was not long after that when Henry Ford realized what he had done when he signed over 10% of his company's stock to them. The Dodge brothers were double-dipping. On the front end, they made money selling automobile components and parts to Ford, and on the back end, they drew handsome dividend checks based on FoMoCo profits.

In 1905, Ford began producing his own engines and transmissions in a move towards self-sufficiency. In 1910 when Ford sold his Piquette Plant and moved into his newly built Highland Park Plant [the largest auto plant in the world at that time] the Dodges realized it was not in their best interests to remain tied to Henry Ford. 

In August of 1913, John Dodge resigned as Ford vice-president, but the brothers remained on the board of directors. The Dodge brothers announced they would quit supplying parts to FoMoCo, so they could begin producing their own cars. They retained their Ford stock and counted on their million-dollar yearly dividend to help finance their rival operation. 

Henry Ford felt betrayed and vindictive. The embittered industrialist began to squeeze the Dodge brothers and Ford's half-dozen other minority stockholders out of their dividends. He wanted to exercise full control of his company without stockholder interference. 

To make it more difficult for the Dodge brothers to attract and retain workers for their new automobile plant, Henry Ford and his vice-president James Couzens announced on January 5, 1914, that FoMoCo would double wages for their assembly-line workers to five dollars a day. 

The move was touted in the national newspapers as a way for Henry Ford to stabilize the chronic absenteeism and high 300% turnover rate of his workforce with a more dependable worker. Paying out higher wages also made it possible for many Ford employees to buy a car on credit for the first time, a car they had a hand in making.

Consequently, sales and productivity surged. Soon, with efficiency refinements in the assembly line and speeding up the line, the time to produce a Model T dropped from 12.5 hours to 93 minutes. FoMoCo doubled its profits in less than two years. Henceforth, Henry Ford was portrayed as the industrial Moses who led his people into the consumer-driven, blue collar middle class.

But the Dodge brothers and the Wall Street Journal criticized Ford's five-dollar-a-day plan as a stratagem to discourage workers from looking for work at their new Dodge plant where they paid only three-dollars a day. 

Thousands of people came from all over the United States to find work at the Highland Park Ford plant and job riots broke out. Ford Security turned waterhoses on the crowd in bitter cold January weather. FoMoCo was compelled to announce they would hire only workers who lived within the Detroit city limits. 

There were other strings attached to the higher wages, like sobriety which was monitored by the Ford Sociological Department. Rather than deprive the Dodge brothers of employees, the result of Ford's plan left the brothers with their choice of the most qualified people from all over the country.

The next scheme Henry Ford devised to squeeze the Dodge brothers out of his company was offering everyone who bought a Model T in 1914 a $50 rebate check, thus denying the Dodge brothers and the other minority investors millions of dollars of dividends. Each time Henry Ford lowered the price of the Model T, the profit pie shrank accordingly. An increase in sales often made up the difference.

Once again, Henry Ford looked like the Rainmaker to the public. John and Horace Dodge were still on the FoMoCo board of directors and were outspoken in their opposition to Ford's blantant disregard for shareholders' rights which cost the minority stockholders millions of dollars in lost dividends.

To further anger the minority stockholders, Henry Ford announced in August of 1916, that rather than pay out dividends to shareholders, he planned to shut down Model T production to expand his manufacturing capablity and develop a whole new automobile. This move adversely affected Ford dealers nationwide as well as workers and stockholders. 

The Dodge brothers knew what was going on. Ford could not stand anyone stealing his thunder, and the positive media attention the Dodge brothers plant was receiving in the national and international press stuck in Ford's craw. Henry Ford wanted to be the only Golden Boy in Detroit.

Ford quietly began to break ground on an industrial complex along the banks of the Rouge River on a scale the world had never seen. Something that would impress even the most discriminating pharaoh of ancient Egypt, an industrial complex that takes in raw materials at one end and converts them into finished automobiles at the other. Ford's vindictive mind reasoned that turnaround was fair play. FoMoCo helped finance the Dodge factory complex; it was only fitting that they help finance his vision.

Henry Ford's Rouge Plant industrial complex

Ford purchased Dearborn farmland that was over a mile of Rouge River waterfront and a mile and a half wide with his own money. He announced that his Rouge project was a personal one. Ford incorporated a new company named Henry Ford and Son which would produce Fordson tractors. Henry Ford told the press that the Rouge River site would involve "no stockholders, no directors, no absentee owners, and no parasites." This was a direct swipe at the Dodge brothers.

When Ford announced his intention to build his own blast furnace and coke plant to make massive amounts of raw steel, the Dodge brothers knew the Ford tractor plant was destined to mass produce automobiles. The brothers refused to take that lying down. 

On November 2, 1916, the Dodge brothers filed a law suit on behalf of the minority stockholders requesting that the FoMoCo pay out a minimum of 75% of its cash surplus to shareholders, amounting to over $39 million.

After more than two years working itself through the court system, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Dodge brothers' lawsuit. Ford was ordered to pay over $19 million to stockholders with $1.5 million in interest. The money hardly mattered to Henry Ford. As the majority stockholder, he owned 58.5% of FoMoCo stock. His payout was close to $12 million.

Henry Ford was determined to buy out his stockholders, so his company would be 100% family owned. While he and his wife Clara took an extended vacation in Southern California, his twenty-five-year-old son Edsel was entrusted with the task of buying out the minority stockholders. 

The opening bid offered was $7,500 per share. The Dodge brothers knew the bid was undervalued. They negotiated for $12,500 per share. On their original investment of $10,000 in 1902, the brothers made $9.5 million in dividends and sold their Ford stock in 1919 for an additional $25 million, realizing a grand total of $34.5 million.

After the settlement was announced, members of the automobile press asked John Dodge for a statement. "Someday," he said, "people who own a Ford are going to want an automobile." In two short years from 1914 through 1915, the Dodge Model 30-35 touring car ranked second behind Ford in total sales.

A 1915 Dodge four-door sedan used by the United States Army.

 

Dodge cars were clearly superior to Ford's Model T. They had solid all-steel bodies rather than sheet metal fastened to a wooden frame; the Dodge four-cylinder engine developed 35 hp, almost twice that of the Model T's 20 hp; the electrical system was 12 volt, compared to the Model T's 6 volt system; the Dodge car used a sliding-gear transmission, rather than the Model T's old-fashioned planetary transmission; and the stylish body came in a variety of colors, while the Model T came only in black.

By 1920, Henry Ford's protracted battle with the Dodge brothers and his heavy debt load financing the construction of the Rouge Plant left Ford close to bankrupcy.

But Ford's financial problems gave the Dodge brothers little comfort. While attending an automobile banquet in New York City, both brothers contacted the Spanish flu. John suffered for a week before dying at the age of fifty-six on January 15, 1920, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel with his wife by his side. 

Horace was also critically ill in a room down the hall from his brother, but he recovered in four days. Horace never recovered emotionally from the sudden death of his brother who had been his business partner all of their adult lives.

Eleven months later, while staying at this Florida home, Horace died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of fifty-two, with his wife and son at his side on December 10, 1920. His married daughter was overseas and could not make it back for her father's funeral.

In 1925, the Dodge widows sold their husbands' company to Dillon, Read & Company for $146 million to become the largest cash transaction in United States history, that is until 1928 when Walter Chrysler purchased the company for $170 million.

Chrysler boasted to the automotive press that the purchase of Dodge Motors was the smartest financial decision he ever made. The mid-priced Dodge fit nicely between  Plymouth on the low-priced end and Chrysler on the high-priced end. Chrysler Motors now took its place among Detroit's Big Three automakers.

The Tragedy of Edsel Ford 

Detroit's Historic Fort Wayne Namesake--"Mad" Anthony Wayne

Portrait of Anthony Wayne painted by Thomas Pauley

 

Throughout the Midwestern states of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan the name Mad Anthony Wayne resonates in communities far and wide. Scores of towns, cities, counties, schools, parks, hospitals, streets, and businesses have been named after this Revolutionary War general.

General Anthony Wayne led his soldiers in essentially rear guard actions harassing the British behind their lines. In several successful skirmishes with the enemy, he ordered surprise "bayonet only" attacks at night that inflicted many casualties. He was known as a courageous general--decisive and quick to act.

The legend behind the sobriquet "Mad" Anthony Wayne owes little to the general's military achievements. It has more to do with a drunk and disorderly colonist--known as Jemmy, the Rover--who the general sometimes used as a spy. A constable arrested the man who began to drop the general's name. When the general heard this, he threatened Jemmy with "twenty-nine lashes well-laid-on if this happens again."

In disbelief, the now sober Jemmy replied, "He must be mad or else he would help me. Mad Anthony, that's what he is. Mad Anthony Wayne." The story made its way around town and became a favorite among the troops. The general's nickname had a rhythm and bravado that was repeated in the ranks until it stuck.

President George Washington called Major-General Wayne out of retirement to command the newly formed Legion of the United States. Wayne established the first basic training facility to prepare  regular army recruits into professional soldiers.

Wayne mustered and trained a fighting force of 1,350 American soldiers and led them to the Northwest Territory (Ohio and Michigan) where they won a decisive victory against British forces and the Indian Confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, just south of modern-day Toledo, Ohio. The war ended and Major-General Wayne negotiated the Treaty of Greenville between the tribal confederacy and the United States signed on August 3, 1795.

While returning to Pennsylvania after the conflict, Wayne died from complications of gout on December 15, 1796. He was buried at Fort Presque Isle. His body was disinterred in 1809 at the request of his family to be buried in a family plot. His bones make the journey to Radnor, Pennsylvania in saddlebags. For that grisly bit of history, consult the link below.

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Aerial View of Old Fort Wayne.

The star-shaped fort in Detroit, Michigan--which bears Anthony Wayne's name--began construction in 1842 at the Detroit River's narrowest point with Canada. Fear of a territorial war with British Canada prompted the fort's building. It was named to honor Major-General Wayne's defeat of the British at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The victory resulted in the United States occupation of the Northwest Territories. Diplomats were able to settle territorial disputes, and the war with Canada never materialized. The new fort never fired a shot.

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Fort Wayne was first used by Michigan troops in 1861 at the outbreak of the Civil War. It became the primary induction center for Michigan troops for every field of American combat from the Civil War through Vietnam.

During World War II, every truck, Jeep, tank, tire, spare part, or war ordinance manufactured in Detroit went through the docks of Fort Wayne to the battlefronts. Also, Italian prisoners of war from the North Africa Campaign were housed at the fort. After Italy's surrender, Italian POWs were given the chance to return home. Many chose to settle in Detroit where there was an established Italian-American community and greater opportunities awaiting them.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Fort Wayne's grounds were open to assist and house homeless families. During the Cold War of the 1950s, Nike-Ajax missiles were installed to prepare for a nuclear war that never came. And during the Detroit riots in 1967, the fort was again used to house displaced families, the last families leaving the fort in 1971.

Today, the Detroit Recreation Department operates the fort with the help of the Historic Fort Wayne Coalition, the Friends of Fort Wayne, and the Detroit Historical Society. The grounds are the home of the Tuskegee Airmen Museum, the Great Lakes Indian Museum, and historic Civil War reenactments. Special events are held throughout the year.

Fort Wayne was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1958 and entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The State of Michigan wants to upgrade the property into a multi-use facility while maintaining the fort's historical significance. Once the new International Transport Bridge is built in old Delray, the United States customs plaza will be located near the historic site. More information on restoration plans can be found in the Detroit News link below.

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Bruce Wayne--Millionaire Industrialist

While researching, I discovered that Batman's alter ego--Bruce Wayne--was named after Scottish patriot Robert Bruce and Mad Anthony Wayne. In DC Comics, Bruce Wayne is said to be General Wayne's direct descendant, and stately Wayne Manor is built on ground given to General Wayne for his Revolutionary War service.

Another little known fact is that in 1930, stunt man and young actor Marion Michael Morrison was originally given the stage name of Anthony Wayne by director Raoul Walsh. Major-General Anthony Wayne was Walsh's favorite Revolutionary War general. Fox Studios decided to change his name to John Wayne because Anthony sounded too Italian.

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For more information on preservation plans for Historic Fort Wayne:

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2015/03/10/detroit-fort-wayne/24743635/

The story of General Anthony Wayne's exhumation may be more noteworthy than his military achievements. For more details, check out this link: http://www.americanrevolution.org/wayne.php

Detroit's Movie Maven--Bill Kennedy

Bill Kennedy at the Movies with Sir Graves Ghastly. Sir Graves would riff on his monster movies and Bill would dish on Hollywood and the movie business.

Every Baby-Boomer from Detroit and Windsor remembers who gave us our extensive Hollywood movie education--Bill Kennedy. Bill started announcing on the radio professionally in the 1930s at WWJ - The Detroit News station. His deep voice resonated over the air waves.

In 1940, he embarked on a movie career and signed a contract with Warner Brothers Studios where he worked from 1941 until 1955. Bill had the voice but not the face. He didn't emote well on screen, so he was relegated to a series of flat supporting roles. He played mainly cops, bad guys, radio announcers (no stretch for Bill), newspaper men, and swindlers. In all, Bill Kennedy has 103 film credits.

In the post World War Two era, Kennedy appeared on numerous B-Western television shows including The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, and The Gene Autry Show. Kennedy always spoke kindly of Gene Autry. Bill was over six feet tall and many of Hollywood's leading men were short and didn't like doing fight scenes with him. Gene Autry was short, but always had a job for Bill when he needed it. Autry told him once, "I like beating up bad guys on screen who are bigger than me."

Bill Kennedy playing a newscaster in a Superman episode.

What many of us in Detroit know that most people don't is Bill's was the voice behind the opening credits of  The Adventures of Superman--one of the most iconic introductions in television history. Bill received a one-time check for $350. He regretted not asking for screen credit which might have benefited his career. The show has been continuously running in syndication since 1952. A link to the Superman program opening is below.

In 1956, Bill Kennedy returned to the Detroit area to host an afternoon movie program called Bill Kennedy's Showtime, for CKLW-TV across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario. The show became a big hit. Bill talked about his jaded experiences in Hollywood's heyday and how he worked with many of the top stars. His deadpan delivery and sarcastic wit won the loyalty of viewers. He had an avuncular, self-deprecating manner--especially if talking about a film he was in. If the movie was bad, he would tell his audience.

The show opened with a tight shot on a picture of a woman smoking a cigarette with Bill's theme song Just in Time playing in the background. The photograph was from a magazine. I can see the model in my mind's eye with her elbows on a table and a smoldering cigarette in her right hand. Bill chose Just In Time for his theme song because his professional life was at a low point when he got the job with CKLW.

Bill wearing a hat to cover up his hair transplant surgery.

In 1969, Bill took his show to WKBD which broadcast out of Southfield, Michigan. The show remained essentially the same with a title change to Bill Kennedy at the Movies. Bill would interview celebrities when they were in Detroit and he took on-air phone calls which were sometimes more interesting than the movies. I enjoyed the live TV commercial pitches of Abe Schroe for his furniture upholstery business.

Abe and Bill always had lively repartee like they knew each other well outside of work. These two got along so well on air that it strikes me Bill was probably part-owner or an investor in Artistic Upholstery. Bill would take a break and Abe would go into his pitch. Nobody else made live commercials on Bill's show--not Ollie Fretter--not even Mr. Belvedere (Detroit inside joke).

In 1983, Bill retired to Palm Beach, Florida. He died of emphysema on January 27, 1997, at the age of eighty-eight. Rest in peace "young, old-timer."

The Adventures of Superman introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2l4bz1FT8U

Bill Kennedy's theme song Just In Time by Frank Sinatra. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIcQ26arWAs