Business & brands / Politics
Dexter M. Ferry
1833–1907 · seed merchant, founder of D. M. Ferry & Co.
Detroit merchant whose D. M. Ferry & Co. became the world's largest seed company, selling fresh seed in small paper packets across America.
- Born
Lowville, New York- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 74- Birth name
- Dexter Mason Ferry
- Also known as
- Dexter Mason Ferry
- Detroit years
- 1852–1907
- Field
- Business & brands, Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ferry grew up in western New York and moved to Detroit in 1852 to work for a stationery firm. In 1856 he became a junior partner in a seed business, which grew into D. M. Ferry & Co. He changed the trade by selling only fresh seed, which improved germination, and was among the first to sell seeds in small packets displayed in general stores, backed by catalogs and heavy advertising. A fire destroyed the company's Detroit warehouse on January 1, 1886, with close to $1 million in losses, but Ferry rebuilt and by the early 1900s supplied some 160,000 retail outlets, then the largest seed company in the world. He was a founding subscriber of the Detroit Museum of Art, a trustee of Olivet College and Detroit's First Congregational Church, chaired the Republican state committee and sought the nomination for governor in 1900. Ferry Field at the University of Michigan bears his name. He is buried at Woodmere Cemetery.
Highlights
- Entered the seed business in Detroit in 1856
- D. M. Ferry & Co. became the world's largest seed company
- Pioneered small retail seed packets
- Founding subscriber of the Detroit Museum of Art (1884)
- Namesake of Ferry Field at the University of Michigan
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 1907
Woodmere Cemetery
The southwest Detroit cemetery where he is buried.
Related place · 1884–1907
Detroit Institute of Arts (Friday Night Live!)
Successor of the Detroit Museum of Art, of which he was a founding subscriber.