DEARBORN, Mich.  — For farmers and agricultural enthusiasts, the Henry Ford Museum complex in Dearborn, Mich.,offers a great glimpse into the evolution of American agriculture. The campus houses two museums — the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and the Greenfield Village living history museum. Together, they contain one of the country’s largest collections of Americana, including extensive artifacts related to American farming.

The museum was the brainchild of auto magnate Henry Ford. Raised on a Dearborn farm, Ford never forgot his rural roots but was always drawn to machines over farm labor. As a teenager, he pondered using steam engines instead of livestock in agriculture. At 16, Ford left home to work in a machine shop. Before focusing on automobiles, he developed a crude farm tractor and envisioned mechanizing farms, stating, “I believe that Industry and Agriculture are natural partners.”

Ford also appreciated history — but not the academic kind focused on politics and military campaigns. Instead, he favored the sagas of ordinary people and everyday life. To that end, he became a collector of artifacts from America’s pre-industrial and early-industrial age. His collecting became significant in the early 1900s when he started compiling items from his friend and colleague Thomas Edison.

After becoming an industrialist, Ford decided to turn his collection into a museum showcasing the country’s development. He shared his excitement with his secretary, Ernest G. Liebold, “I’m going to start a museum and give people a true picture of the [early] development of the country.” In 1929, after more than a decade of construction, the museum opened its doors, called the Edison Institute, in honor of Edison.

Today, that institute is the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. The 523,000-square-foot facility contains over 25 million artifacts, including items as significant as the chair in which President Abraham Lincoln was shot, and the bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.

Multiple exhibits portray the crossroads of agriculture and industry in America and present the evolution of farm tools and machinery over time. The collections include rarities like a circa 1780 New York Dutch plow and the microscope used by George Washington Carver, along with machinery, like a steam traction engine from the late 1800s, a 1938 Massey-Harris Model 20 (the first successful self-propelled combine), and a 1969 FMC tomato harvester that could carry twelve workers.

Ford tractors are naturally on display. Ford began work on his first experimental tractor in 1905, after observing how farmers modified his Model A cars into tractors and farm machinery. In 1915, he announced that the company would build tractors. Originally named Fordsons, they became the first mass-produced tractors, sold at affordable prices through Ford dealerships. In 1939, the tractor line was rebranded as Ford-Ferguson, with the Model 9N as its flagship. Despite losing money on each Ford-Ferguson, the company remained committed to keeping tractors affordable for farmers. The museum’s collection includes Ford’s 1905 experimental tractor, the Fordson Production Model #1, and the 1939 Ford-Ferguson 9N prototype.

Exhibits also highlight contributions from figures like George Washington Carver, who showed farmers how to prepare soils for planting, and Luther Burbank, who introduced over 800 new plant varieties. Another segment covers Henry Ford’s use of agricultural products in industry, what he called “chemurgy.” While Ford’s cars contained materials like cotton and linseed, his work with soybeans was particularly important. He developed soy-based paints and plastic car parts. A 1940 photograph shows Ford testing a plastic trunk lid’s strength with an ax. A 1946 advertisement highlighted Ford as, “1st to Grow Automobile Parts on the Farm, Transforming Crops into Motor Car Materials, Benefiting Car Owners and Farmers Alike.”

Outdoors is Greenfield Village, one of the country’s most significant open-air museums. Over 80 relocated and reconstructed historic buildings spread over 80 acres recount three centuries of American life. Visitors can tour settings like a small-town general store, a working gristmill, a slave plantation, and even Edison’s New Jersey laboratory. Streets and fields are filled with 19th-century re-enactors, wagons, and the ever-present Model T.

There are four working farms. The Daggett Farm represents 1760s Connecticut; the Susquehanna Plantation is from 1860s Maryland; the Firestone Farm shows Ohio circa 1880s; and the Mattox Farm recreates 1930s Georgia. Each is operated as it would have been in its era. Barns and sheds are filled with period-specific agricultural tools and machinery, heirloom crops and livestock are tended, and food is prepared using historic recipes and techniques.

Both museums are must-sees, so plan for a day each. A two-day ticket is available. For more information visit: www.thehenryford.org