Soybean Experimental Laboratory (formerly known as Soybean Laboratory and Experimental Laboratory)

(This post is about a building located inside the open-air museum of Greenfield Village. If you are looking for a posting on old farm tools and equipment, please click HERE)


Built in 1930 in the Village, the original intention of this building was for the students who went to school in the Village to experiment in agricultural chemistry.
Henry Ford also believed that his workers could find a way for farmers to use their crops in the industrial world. For instance, Ford designed Model A parts, made an experimental car body, and even a suit of clothes using soybeans!

It now houses many various old-time farming implements and tools such as scythes, hayloaders, spiketooth harrows, handcorn planters, sulky cultivators, and so much more. Besides displaying the actual antique instruments, this building also holds a wealth of information about 19th century farming and the tools used according to the season of the year.


.

Comments

Earle said…
Hello,
Maybe you can help. As you may already know, there was a school on the grounds of Greenfield Village from 1929 - 1968. It was called the Edison Institute and began as a K-12 school. It was a K-6 when I was a student there from 1963 to when it closed in 1968.

Considering the age of information/internet and also that Greenfield Village is such a significant historical institution, I'm mystified as to why there are no records (online) of this amazing, yet short lived, little school that shares 39 years of the history of the Village.

I have yearbooks from the 1930s -40s, when my father and his brother attended and my report cards.
December 28, 2013 at 2:57 AM
Earle said…
By the way, I think it's great what you, your wife and your sons do! I enjoyed your photos and historical narratives.
December 28, 2013 at 3:02 AM
Historical Ken said…
Thank you for your kind comments Earle.
I'm not sure if you are aware of it or not, but they still hold classes inside Greenfield Village. The only tour guides that speak of it, however, is during the train ride when passing the old train cars now being used as classrooms.
You can visit the Benson Ford Research Center, which houses all of their historic information on everything about the museum and village, and get whatever information about the school you need from the time in which you speak. The info is readily available going back to the 1920's.
And it doesn't cost anything to go to Benson Ford, which is located right on the same grounds as the Village.
Good luck!
December 28, 2013 at 5:18 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sarah Jordan Boarding House

Image
This house, built in 1870, originally stood near the laboratory where Thomas Edison and his men toiled in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Widowed in 1877, "Aunt Sally," as Sarah was known, lived in Newark, and was sent for in 1878 by her distant relative, Thomas Edison, to run a place for his workers to eat and sleep. With little employment opportunities for women, Mrs. Jordan accepted the offer and opened the home as a boarding house that same year. Several of Edison's single employees lived here and would sleep two to three to a bed in the six rooms on the second floor. In fact, at the height of the laboratory's activities in 1880, sixteen boarders called this structure 'home.' Edison's house, a good-sized residence, was down the road a short ways. Daily, the 'Wizard of Menlo Park' passed the Jordan Boarding House to and from his laboratory, walking atop the wood-plank walk, wearing a skull cap or a farmer's wide-brimmed straw hat, both hands
Read more

Grimm Jewelry Store

Image
When Englebert Grimm died in 1931, he bequeathed the contents of his store to his good friend Henry Ford, and Grimm's surviving daughter honored that request in 1932. Originally built in 1878 (or possibly 1885 - I have two different sources from the Village) at 2033 Michigan Avenue, Ford obtained the building from the City of Detroit for a $195 salvage fee and, in 1940, had it re-erected inside Greenfield Village. This was the shop where young Henry would stop to visit the owner and sometimes purchase tools or parts to repair watches. Grimm was a German immigrant who, with his family, lived on in the second floor of this building, creating a modest modern home for its time. He offered mass-produced inexpensive clocks, watches, and jewelry to the local Detroit area residents. It was specialty stores such as this that caused the demise of the general store. It is set now as it was in the late 1880's. I have been told that many of the watches inside are those that Henry Ford actu
Read more

Maps Through Time: The Ever-changing Lay Out of Greenfield Village

Image
From its inception over 80 years ago through today, Greenfield Village has gone through numerous layouts, which is no easy task considering that it is actual buildings - historic buildings - that are being moved. I'm sure with each change there were complaints. Well, of course, unless it was Mr. Ford's idea. No one disagreed with the Big Guy. But, even with the last major restructuring in 2003 their were disgruntled customers. My opinion is as long as it's kept historically accurate, I don't mind. What I thought I'd do here was to show, through original six maps from six different decades, the ever-growing and ever-changing history of Greenfield Village. To see the graphics larger, please click onto the photo. Our first map takes us back to October 29, 1929 - that very first rainy day that Henry Ford opened up his Greenfield Village to special guests. Here was Mr. Ford's original vision: Twelve years later, in 1941, one can see just how much the Village grew:
Read more