June 16: Henry Ford launches the Ford Motor Co. on this date in 1903

By June of 1903, Henry Ford had established himself as one of the rising stars of Detroit's fledgling automotive industry, having already started one company that he then left. While Ford possessed great mechanical ingenuity, he lacked cash; the son of a farmer, Ford had no family wealth and relied on the salaries of his start-ups to feed his family. It was a local coal dealer named Alexander Malcomson who put up the money for Ford to build a new prototype in 1902. On this date in 1903, Ford, Malcomson and 10 other investors signed the papers incorporating the Ford Motor Company (the name was Malcomson's idea) at his coal yard along the Detroit River. Among the original investors: John and Horace Dodge, the brothers who were suppliers to Ford when it launched the first Model A before starting their own company. Here's what the Ford Motor Company looks like today, 111 years later.

Photo: The Henry Ford via Flickr