Henry Ford is best known for mass producing the Model T automobile that changed transportation forever. Little known is that he started his career in 1891 as an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company where he invented his first car, the ethanol powered quadricycle. In 1896, he met the company’s president, Thomas Edison, who encouraged him to build a second car. After finishing that in 1898, he soon resigned to start an automobile company. That one failed, but the second try in 1901 was the Ford Motor Company. The two men remained friends and became neighbors in Fort Myers, Florida in 1916. This statue of Henry Ford by artist D. J. Wilkins stands on the edge of the two properties at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates.
