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Ford Forestry Center Celebrates 50th
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JULY 30, 2004 --Michigan Tech and the Alberta Village Museum Association will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the acquisition of the Ford Forestry Center at Alberta on Saturday, Aug. 7.
The sawmill was the key part of Alberta, a model community built by Henry Ford in the 1930s and named after the daughter of H. C. Johnson, the supervisor of Ford's UP operations. The mill and the people who ran it provided wood for Ford cars, but as the company's demand for wood decreased, it scaled back its Alberta operations.
In 1954 the Ford Motor Company donated Alberta and 1,700 acres of surrounding forest to Michigan Tech. The School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science at Michigan Tech has been running the Center since. The School now uses the center for their Fall Practicum for juniors in Forestry and Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences degree programs, teaching, outreach, and research efforts. The Alberta Village Museum Association also runs tours of the sawmill.
A short program will be held at 1 p.m. including a talk by MTU alumnus Roger Rogge, the former manager of the Ford Forestry Center. Michigan Tech President Glenn Mroz and Margaret Gale, dean of forest resources and environmental science, will also be featured.
Bill Kreipke, Ford's corporate historian, will present a bust of Henry Ford to be displayed in the Alberta Museum.
The event also includes tours of the Alberta village, a car show, which will include vintage cars to the MTU Ford Future Truck and cookout. The cookout, featuring hamburgers and brats, starts at 11:30 a.m. Tickets are $11 and include tours of Alberta Village and the Ford Historic Sawmill. Anyone planning to attend the luncheon who has not already preregistered is asked to contact the MTU Alumni Association at 487-2400. Alberta is located about eight miles south of L'Anse on U.S. 41.
Anyone with vintage cars--especially Fords--is invited to bring their vehicles to the Forest Forestry Center the morning of Aug. 7 by 10 a.m. The show is slated to begin at about 11 a.m.
Forty-five minute tours of the mill and its surrounding buildings will be held every 20 minutes starting at 2 p.m., with the last tour starting at 4 p.m. The cost for those not attending the luncheon is $5 for adults, $3 for school children and free for preschoolers. |
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