The great American industrialist Henry Ford, seen here standing beside a 1921 Model T, came to Sarnia to shop for artifacts for his famous museum.

Phil Egan

“History is bunk.”

For uttering those words Henry Ford was ridiculed as an ignoramus in newspapers across the United States.

But what Ford was actually criticizing wasn’t the study of history itself but the way it was taught – the memorizing of dates and events that reveal nothing about the way people actually live.

The wonderful Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan was created to rectify that by illustrating both industrial history and everyday life.

“We have no Egyptian mummies here, nor any relics of the Battle of Waterloo, nor do we have any curios from Pompeii,” Ford later explained. “Everything we have is strictly American.”

Well – almost everything.

Ford was combing the country for artifacts for his museum when his search brought him to Sarnia in 1929.

Before the First World War, most people got around by horse-drawn carriages, including those operated like modern-day taxis. Some of those taxi carriages, known as “hacks,” were built in nearby London, Ont. at the John Campbell & Sons Carriage Works.

In 1882, James Lucas operated a livery stable on Victoria Street. He bought three carriages from Campbell & Sons, brought them to Sarnia, and put them on the street as taxis. They operated until the war, when automobiles replaced them.

The hacks sat unused in Lucas’ stables for 15 years, trotted out only for the occasional parade or exhibition.

Ford discovered the old hacks on his Sarnia visit and, on April 26, 1929, they were taken down to Ferry Dock Hill and loaded on a ship for delivery to Detroit. There, they took part in a massive parade of antique vehicles prior to the museum’s official opening that October.

Today, the Henry Ford Museum can’t say with certainty whether the three Sarnia hacks are still in its collection. But it’s unlikely officials would be amused by James Lucas’ comments after the sale.

“Yes, Mr. Ford paid a handsome price for them,” Lucas told a reporter from The Canadian Observer.

“I wouldn’t like to tell you how much because that would only be exposing (what) a mistake he made, and I wouldn’t like to do that with such a good customer.”

Those of us who get nervous dealing with car salesmen can take heart. Apparently, even Henry Ford occasionally overpaid.