Auto Machine Shop

Dodge Brothers Facts
The Dodge brothers, John Francis (1864-1920) and Horace Elgin (1868-1920), were among the earliest and most successful automotive pioneers of the twentieth century.
John Francis Dodge and Horace Elgin Dodge worked together around the turn of the twentieth century in the field of transportation-specifically in the newly formed auto industry. Originally working from a small machine shop in Detroit, Michigan, the pair contributed to the success of several famous automakers, including Ransom Olds and Henry Ford, before designing and beginning to manufacture their own Dodge Brothers automobile. They were also famous for the fortunes they built from their automotive empire, which they used to make Detroit into a world-renowned center of art, music, and architecture.
John and Horace Dodge were both born and grew up in the western Michigan town of Niles in the years following the Civil War. John was born October 25, 1864, and Horace was born May 17, 1868. Their father, Daniel Rugg Dodge, ran a foundry and machine shop, where he built and maintained engines for the river boat traffic. "The boys spent much of their free time puttering around their father's foundry, learning the skills of the forge and machine shops," explain Jean Maddern Pitrone and Joan Potter Elwart in The Dodges: The Auto Family Fortune and Misfortune. "Since the boats that navigated the St. Joseph River provided the Dodge shop with most of its business, the boys soon became familiar with the intricacies of the marine engines their father and uncles repaired." The family business provided a living but very few conveniences for the family. The boys and their older sister Della "had no shoes even in early winter when Maria [their mother] sent them to the brick schoolhouse down the road from their home," explain Pitrone and Elwart. Despite these handicaps, both Della and John graduated from high school in Niles, while Horace completed his education in his father's shop.