Working Farms

about this exhibit

The soul of 19th-century America comes alive, with wagons, livestock, and fields of ripening vegetables in scenes right from the nation's agricultural revolution. With living history presentations, you can see how people lived off the land.

Highlights

Firestone Farmhouse

Benjamin and Catherine Firestone raised their three children in this farmhouse, including tire maker Harvey Firestone. Originally located near Columbiana, Ohio, the 1828 house was updated in 1882 to appear more stylish and up-to-date. The traditional Pennsylvania German layout of the Firestone's farmhouse was transformed, with a central foyer, separate dining room and kitchen, a sitting room, closets, wallpaper, and fancy new furniture.

Soybean Lab Agricultural Gallery

Constructed in Greenfield Village, this building was an experimental soybean research laboratory during the 1930s. Henry Ford was looking for ways that farmers could use crops for industrial purposes, especially in the manufacture of car parts. Special equipment was designed here to process soybeans into oil and meal. Today, this building houses agricultural implements from the museum's collections.

Perry Royce Reaper, circa 1881

Based on a patented design by John S. Royce of Cuylerville, New York and manufactured by Wyckoff, Tuttle & Olin of Perry, New York.

William Ford Barn

William Ford built this barn near present-day Dearborn, Michigan, in 1863 -- the same year his son Henry was born. Ford mainly used it to store grain and hay, though livestock and tools were occasionally housed in the structure. The barn was moved to The Henry Ford in 1934. Today it's used by Greenfield Village's horses.