We would like to thank Marc Greuther, Chief Curator and Matt Anderson, Curator of Transportation at The Henry Ford for helping to organize this tour of the Roundhouse and an inside tour of Fair Lane the Railcar. We would also like to thank Matt Anderson and docent John Fitzgerald for giving us our tour.
Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. The roundhouse at The Henry Ford was built in 1884 in Marshall, Michigan, for the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad. Today it services the locomotives and equipment of Greenfield Village’s Weiser Railroad. Henry Ford Purchased the DT& I railroad in 1920 and owned it for 8 years and it operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.
Between 1921 and 1942 the Fords and their family used the Fair Lane for over 400 trips, including regular journeys to their winter home in Florida and later to their home in Richmond Hill Georgia and their summer home in northern Michigan. Clara was particularly fond of using Fair Lane for taking family and friends on visits to New York City.
