UNIT FOUR: THE GROWTH OF MICHIGAN

The Growth of the Automobile Industry

Lesson Five

The Great Lakes

ShipsThe Auto Industry in Michigan

Natural Resources

Capital Resources

Human Resources

Lesson Five Pacing

The BIG Ideas…

Making cars is one of Michigan’s most important economic activities.

Car factories began about 100 years ago.

Because Michigan had many important resources like iron ore, skilled workers and water transportation, Michigan became the leading car manufacturer in the world.

Entrepreneurs like Henry Ford were very important to the growth of the car industry.

The car industry has changed many times over the years.

Analyzing Photographs

Source: The Making of Modern Michigan. http://mmm.lib.msu.edu/search/imagedisplay.cfm?i=AF01a183

Write a description

of this picture.

Analyzing Photographs

Identify the two vehicles in the photograph. A carriage An early car

Compare and contrast the two vehicles. There are many similarities in the design

and construction of the two vehicles. Early cars were called horseless carriages.

Why do you think this is so?

What do you remember about the manufacture of carriages?

During the early 1900s, carriage builders became the first builders of bodies for automobiles.

Parts of the carriages, like the wheels and folding tops, were easy to adapt for the newly invented automobile.

The invention of the automobile grew out of knowledge people already had about carriages, gas engines, and bicycles.

Resources

Because of its location and important resources, Michigan became a world leader in the manufacture of automobiles, or cars.

The three types of resources necessary to produce goods are human, capital, and natural.

Look for examples of the types of resources and list them the three column “Resource Chart”

Resources and the Automobile Industry in Michigan

• By 1890 Michigan had become the country’s leading iron ore producer.

• Iron ore was transported on the Great Lakes to Michigan cities, especially Detroit. There it was used in foundries and machine shops where stoves, tools, and other items were produced.

• These foundries and machine shops had skilled workers whose talents could be used in the early automobile industry. These foundry buildings could also be used to make cars and car parts.

 • People who had become wealthy in the lumber and mining industries in Michigan had money to invest in the growing automobile industry.

 • Bankers in Michigan were willing to invest in the early industry. • Michigan had engineers, designers, and inventors whose ideas were needed for the auto industry.

 • Michigan had unskilled workers who needed jobs.

Resource Chart

Resource Chart

ANSWERS

•Iron ore

•The Great Lakes

•Skilled workers

•Bankers

•Engineers

•Designers

•Inventors

•Unskilled workers

•Ships that carried the iron ore

•Foundries

•Machine shops

Wheels from Bunyan and Banjoes

Song to Sing

Timeline of the Early

Automobile Industry

1903

1896

Charles King was the first to drive an automobile in Detroit. He built it himself.

A few months after King, Henry Ford drove his car, the “Quadricycle,” in Detroit. He had built this in a shed behind his house.

Ransom Olds built his first gas-powered car.

1899 R. Olds founded Olds Motor Works in Detroit in a factory near the Belle Isle Bridge.

1904 Olds Motor Works became the leading automobile company in the world.

Henry Ford began Ford Motors in an old wagon shop.

1908

Henry Ford introduced the Model T.

William Durant started General Motors by buying the Buick, Olds, Cadillac, and Oakland car companies.

The Big Three

Between 1906 and 1909, almost 300 companies started to build cars in the United States.

Why do you think this happened? People wanted to make money in the new industry People viewed cars as a product that would continue to be in

demand and that as long as people were buying cars, people wanted to produce them.

Many of the companies eventually went out of business for a variety of reasons including competition in the industry.

Three Michigan companies began to lead the industry at this time. These companies are General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.

The Growth of the Big Three

Up until 1914, about half of all cars made were Fords.

After World War I, General Motors became the largest car maker.

The Chrysler Company was founded in the 1920s and grew quickly.

By the late 1920s, 8 out of 10 cars in the U.S. were made by the Big Three.

For a technology connection to this section of the lesson, visit the “Michigan Auto Tour” website

located at this address: <http://www.hal.state.mi.us/mhc/autoshow/vehicles/>.

At this website you can click on a year and view historic cars located in museums across the state.

Website to CHECK Out!

Timeline of the Early

Automobile Industry

Identify the person named most in the timeline.

What do you know or remember about Henry Ford.

Entrepreneurs like Henry Ford are people who combine natural, human, and capital resources to come up with a new product or start a new business.

entrepreneur

someone who combines natural, human, and capital resources to produce goods or services Example: Henry Ford is an example of a Michigan entrepreneur.

Henry Ford

Henry Ford was born in 1863, in what is now Dearborn, Michigan. He grew up on his family’s farm and went to a one-room school. From an early age, he was interested in tools and how things worked. He was especially interested in steam engines. In 1879, he left home and went to nearby Detroit to work as a machinist. He made extra money by repairing and selling watches. He worked for many different companies and became good at operating steam engines. In 1891, Henry Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. He became Chief engineer for the company in 1893. This job gave him enough time and money to do experiments with engines.

In 1896, his experiments led to his invention of a self-propelled vehicle, or ‘horseless carriage.’ This was an early type of car, or automobile. It had four wire wheels that looked like bicycle wheels. It had only two forward speeds and could not go backwards. After this, he decided to start his own business making automobiles. The company he started became Ford Motor Company.  In 1908, this company began making the Model T. This automobile, or car, was easy to drive and take care of. It became a huge success. In order to make enough of these cars, Henry Ford opened a large factory in Highland Park, Michigan in 1910 By 1918, half of all the cars in the United States were Model Ts. Ford Motor Company continued to grow and grow. It is still a very important company today.

TEXTBOOKSNON-FICTION BOOKS

Using Other Sources of Information

Graphic Features of Social Studies Textbooks

Graphic Feature Purpose

Photographs To help a reader understand exactly what something looks like

DiagramsTo help a reader understand how something works, how something is organized, or the parts of something

Maps To help a reader understand where a place is located

Timeline To help a reader understand the order in which things happened

Text Features of Social Studies Textbooks

What do you think Henry Ford’s biggest contribution to the automobile industry was?

Many people feel his biggest contribution was the development of an assembly line.

The Assembly Line

The Assembly Line

In the early 1900s, cars were made by hand.

How do you think this might have affected the price of cars?

Cars were expensive and only wealthy people could afford them.

Henry Ford wanted to produce cars that average people could afford.

“What factors would allow Ford to sell cars more cheaply?”

He would have to find a way to make cars more cheaply

He would have to make only a little profit on cars

He would have to use cheaper materials.

Henry Ford’s solution was the use of an assembly line.

The Assembly Line

Ford used an assembly line that had each worker do just one small part of assembling a car.

Before the assembly line, it took workers 12.5 hours to make a Model-T. After the invention of the assembly line, it took only 93 minutes.

Highly skilled workers were not needed as much on the assembly lines.

A Model-T cost about $600 before the assembly line. In 1920, it cost only $260.

By 1920, there were about 8.1 million cars in the U.S. and almost half of them were Model-T Fords.

Other car manufacturers adopted Ford’s system and the assembly line became the main way to build cars.

Henry Ford’s Assembly Line

• Ford used an assembly line that had each worker do just one small part of assembling a car.

• Before the assembly line, it took workers 12.5 hours to make a Model-T. After the invention of the assembly line, it took only 93 minutes.

• Highly skilled workers were not needed as much on the assembly lines.

• A Model-T cost about $600 before the assembly line. In 1920, it cost only $260.

Making a Car

Cut out the pieces.

Complete the cart by cutting the rectangle on the solid lines and folding it on the dotted lines.

Glue on the wheels.

Figure out the average amount of time it took to complete a cart.

Using an Assembly Line

You will be in groups of 6.You will get four copies of the “Making a

Cart” worksheet. You will get one of the following:

Rectangle Cutter Folder Side Gluer Wheel Cutter Wheel Gluer

What are Some Advantages of the Assembly Line?

Creative Writing

You will write a historical narrative describing an event in the early history of the automobile industry.

You should use information and resources from the lesson to help craft your story.

Helpful resources include the timeline, the information sheet on Henry Ford, and the textbook selection.

Use the “Writing Plan” to help you pre-write.

natural resources

things in nature that people find useful   Example: Water, soil, and trees are natural resources.

economic activities

different ways people use resources to make goods and services  Example: Farming and mining are economic activities.

iron ore

a mineral that is used to make steel Example: Iron ore is mined in the Upper Peninsula.

manufacturing

the making of goods in a factory   Example: Manufacturing is an important economic activity of Michigan.

capital resources

goods that are used to produce more goods and services  Example: Factories and tools are capital resources.

human resources

workers and their skills  Example: Truck drivers, doctors, and teachers are human resources.

carriage

a vehicle pulled by a horse  Example: Carriage making became an important part of manufacturing in Michigan.

assembly line

a way to manufacture goods where each worker does just one small part Example: Henry Ford used an assembly line in his factory.

Making a Cart

Rectangle CutterFolderSide GluerWheel CutterWheel Gluer

Writing Plan for a Historical Narrative

Main Characters

Setting

What is the story going to be about?

How will your story start?

How will your story end?

Sample Completed T-Chart

The Auto Industry Then The Auto Industry Now

T-Chart

The Auto Industry Then The Auto Industry Now

Manufacturing cars was an important economic activity of Michigan.

Cars were made in limited colors and styles.

People did all of the work of making a car.

Lots of new car factories were being built in Michigan.

Very few countries were making cars.

Manufacturing cars is an important economic activity of Michigan.

There are many different colors and styles of cars.

Robots are used to help make cars.

Some car factories have been closed in Michigan.

Lots of countries make cars.

Cause Cause

EVENT EVENT

Effect Effect