Dearborn 2015

Dearborn is a city in the state of Michigan. It is located in Wayne County and is part of the Detroit metropolitan area. Dearborn is the 8th largest city in the State of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 98,153. First settled in the late 18th century by French farmers in a series of ribbon farms along the Rouge River and the Sauk Trail, the community grew with the establishment of the Detroit Arsenal on the Chicago Road linking Detroit and Chicago. It later grew into a manufacturing hub for the automotive industry. The city was the home of Henry Ford, and is the world headquarters of the Ford Motor Company. It has a campus...the University of Michigan as well as the Henry Ford Community College. Dearborn has The Henry Ford, the United States largest indoor-outdoor museum complex and it's also Metro Detroit's leading tourist attraction. Dearborn residents are primarily of European or Middle Eastern heritage. German, Polish, Irish and Italian are the primary European ethnicities. Middle Eastern ancestries make up the largest ethnic grouping with Lebanese, Yemeni, Iraqi, Syrian and Palestinian groups present.

During my travel to Dearborn, I found it to be a small town with rich history. And the name Henry Ford is all over the city of Dearborn! My sites included: The Henry Ford Academy, Henry Ford IMAX Theatre, the Henry Ford Museum, which has a life-sized statue of Mr. Ford outside, the Josephine F. Ford Plaza and Memorial Fountain and the Ford Conference and Event Center. I also spotted a 1928 Ford Model AA Express in the parking lot on display. The Automotive Hall of Fame is a very interesting architectural structure. But the highlight of Dearborn, Michigan was my visit to Fair Lane...the estate of Mr. Henry Ford, which was once farm land bought by Ford. The 1,300-acre estate along the River Rouge includes a large limestone house, an electrical power plant along the rouge dam, a greenhouse, a boathouse, riding stables, a children's playhouse, a treehouse and extensive landmark gardens designed by Chicago landscape architect Jens Jensen. The residence and part of the estate grounds are open to the public as a historical landscape and house museum, and preserved as a National Historic Landmark. The house, with 56 rooms covering 31,000-square-feet, was considered befitting but less grand than other great houses and mansions of the era in America. It includes an indoor pool and a one-lane bowling alley. After spending quite some time at the estate, I ended my visit by stopping by the Islamic Center of America, the John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Caroline Kennedy libraries and Dearborn's small City Hall building, where outside stood a War Memorial Statue that could bring tears to your eyes.