Impact of Ford's Model T on American Society

Henry Ford is rightly regarded as an icon of American society. In 1903 when automobiles cost approximately $2,000, making them a luxury affordable only by the wealthy, he determined to build a car for the masses. When he introduced the Model T a few years later in 1908, he initiated a revolution in American Society that has never ended. Not only did FordÆs Model T sell for only $950(less than half the price of other cars(within 19 years, its price had gone all the way down to $280, thanks to FordÆs innovative manufacturing genius. He found a way to automate the manufacturing process by using an assembly line to make parts that used to be built completely by hand, thus lowering the price. In addition, he took a stand against the Selden patent for the internal combustion engine and won the right to use the engine without paying for it. Because of these moves, the Ford Model T became a car that Middle America could afford, and the Ford Motor Company sold over 15,000,000 of them.

The effect of this proliferation of automobiles on American society was incalculable. Essentially a horse-and-buggy world up until then, America suddenly became a mobile society. Personally owned automobiles enabled people to travel across the country or across town. People had access to other people, businesses, colleges, cities, and even other countries. Americans became motorists.

With the shift to motoring, it became evident that bigger and better

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nÆs general store, either. Shopping centers sprang up that motorists could drive to and park, having access to a great number of stores at once. Shopping centers were so popular that they attracted other new businesses, such as eateries where shoppers could take a break and get a bite to eat before resuming their shopping. While shopping centers were largely built to service a particular neighborhood or suburb, their successor, the shopping mall, was built to service an area as large as an entire region. TodayÆs shopping malls contain a large number of stores and may have several stories. Shoppers may travel across a state to reach them, and in some cases(as with the Mall of America(across the country. Along with the freedom to drive wherever they wanted at a momentÆs notice, Americans had to accept the cost of financing their new mobile society, however. The cost of building and maintaining roadways was high, and there was also a need for places to park. Parking lots and garages sprang up to accommodate the rapidly proliferating number of cars. Gas stations popped up everywhere, with rival stations often located right across the street from each other. Traffic policemen had to be employed to keep traffic under control a
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Approximate Word count = 1427
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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