Dearborn

About Dearborn

Dearborn Michigan is in Wayne County and is part of greater Detroit, the tenth largest city in the state of Michigan. Dearborn is the hometown to Henry Ford and global headquarters for the Ford Motor Corporation. In 1786, Europeans first developed Dearborn; the township of Dearborn was founded and named after Henry Dearborn in 1836. Dearborn served as the Secretary of War for President Thomas Jefferson. It became the city of Dearborn around 1929 a vote, merged Dearborn and Springwells currently identified as Fordson, the section between these two cities has never been developed. Dearborn has 24.4 square miles of land and 0.1 square miles of water for an overall of 24.5 square miles. The beautiful River Rouge borders the estate of Henry and Clara Ford, which was named Fair Lane from an area in County Cork the birthplace of Patrick Ahern his adoptive grandparent. This vast 1300-acre property consisted of a massive limestone house, boathouse and stables. The estate also included its own electric power plant where the river was dammed up. Henry Ford owned an electric boat and the boathouse made it possible for him to travel the Rouge River. This river also travels through the town of Dearborn. The power plant supplied power not only to the estate but to part of the city of Dearborn as well. The house consisted of 56 rooms, which included an indoor swimming pool and a bowling alley. The pool has been filled in and is now a restaurant. Part of the property was given to the University of Michigan and became part of the Dearborn campus. The houses where staff lived and the pony barn are currently being used by the University of Michigan-Dearborn and one is home to a child development center. A National Historic Landmark and forest area covers close to seventy-two acres from the original estate. A number of gardens, well kept lawns and flowerbeds are still found on the grounds around the house. Besides the University of Michigan, the Henry Ford Community College is located in Dearborn.