Henry Ford’s Biggest Failure That History Has Forgotten All About

The uprising was a turning point for Fordlandia and new management was brought in. Soon the best pieces of the city began to take shape. A hospital, school, theater and a large water tower became the center piece of the growing jungle city. While the city was booming, the rubber production was not. With all of the managers that Ford had sent to Brazil, not one of them knew anything about agriculture, and the nuance of the finicky rubber tree proved hard to master. Insects and blight were not easily eradicated. Even after botanists were brought in, and a second growing location was added upriver, the rubber production never materialized. World War II became a distraction, and Henry Ford’s health became a growing concern. By 1945 synthetic rubber had been invented, and the demand for natural rubber dropped. Ford’s grandson, Henry Ford II, took over business operations, and promptly sold Fordlandia back to the Brazilian government.

Somehow, Fordlandia never produced any rubber that went into a production vehicle. In the end, Ford’s dreams of creating cities, and spreading his ideology around the world were not to be. Perhaps it was the wrong industry, or maybe it was his desire to exert his rules on his work force, but the experiment was seen as a major failure for the company. The population dropped as the work dried up, and for many decades less than 100 people called Fordlandia home. Over time the buildings and infrastructure have been reclaimed by the jungle, but the water tower still stands as a reminder of what could have been. Today the population has seen a bit of a resurgence, and nearly 3,000 Brazilians live there, with some people taking up residence in the original homes built in Vila Americana. Few people remember that they live in a city of one American man’s dreams.