Auto industry / Business & brands
John Dodge
1864–1920 · machinist, automobile manufacturer, co-founder of Dodge Brothers
The business mind of the Dodge Brothers, who turned a Detroit machine shop into one of America's biggest automakers.
- Born
Niles, Michigan- Died
New York City, New York
aged 55- Birth name
- John Francis Dodge
- Also known as
- John F. Dodge
- Detroit years
- 1886–1920
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
John Dodge moved to Detroit from Niles with his family in 1886 and, with his younger brother Horace, worked as a machinist at a boiler plant. After making bicycles in Windsor, the brothers opened their own machine shop in Detroit in 1900 and moved to a plant at Hastings Street and Monroe Avenue, where they built engines first for Olds and then for Ford, taking a 10 percent stake in the new Ford Motor Company. John handled money and negotiations while Horace engineered. In 1910 they built Dodge Main in Hamtramck, and in 1914 they launched their own car. John's temper and rough manners kept him apart from Detroit's old-money elite, but he was active in Republican politics. In 1908 he and his wife Matilda bought farmland near Rochester that she later turned into Meadow Brook Hall. He died of influenza and pneumonia in New York in January 1920 and is entombed in the family mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Highlights
- Opened the Dodge Brothers machine shop in Detroit in 1900 with brother Horace
- Built engines and chassis for early Fords in exchange for a stake in the company
- Opened the Dodge Main plant in Hamtramck in 1910
- Launched the first Dodge Brothers car in 1914
- His widow's Meadow Brook estate became the core of Oakland University
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 4
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.
Worked here · 1900s–1910
Dodge Brothers plant, Hastings Street and Monroe Avenue
Demolished
The brothers' early Detroit plant, where they built engines for Olds and Ford; the old Hastings Street district was later cleared for freeway construction.
Founded · 1910–1920
Dodge Main (Dodge Brothers Hamtramck Assembly)
Demolished · 1910–1980
The brothers' giant Hamtramck plant, closed in 1980 and razed in 1981; GM's Factory Zero now occupies the site.
Related place · 1908–1920
Meadow Brook Hall
The Tudor Revival mansion his widow Matilda built in 1926–1929 on the farm the couple bought in 1908; now a museum at Oakland University.
Buried here · 1920
Dodge Brothers Mausoleum, Woodlawn Cemetery
The Egyptian Revival family tomb guarded by two sphinxes, shared with his brother Horace.