reproduction of an early American village, est. 1933 by Henry Ford at Dearborn, Mich., as part of the Edison Institute. A white-spired church, a town hall, an inn, a school, a courthouse, a general store, and other buildings are grouped about a typical New England village green. Many of the structures were brought from their original location; others are reconstructions. Among them are Thomas Edison's Menlo Park workshop and his Fort Myers laboratory, a William McGuffey group including a school in which classes are regularly held, Noah Webster's birthplace, Stephen Foster's home, Luther Burbank's birthplace and office, and the Wright brothers' cycle shop and home. There are also mills and craft shops that illustrate early methods of production. The village has a blacksmith shop, a cobbler's shop, and a tintype studio. Nearby is the Henry Ford Museum, which has a large collection of Americana.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright© 2004, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved.

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