In August 1918, Henry Ford bought the entire northern half of
Green Island, New York. His friend, Thomas Edison, had
introduced Ford to the area; Edison founded GE in nearby
Schenectady and reportedly loved to fish and hunt on that half
of the island hugging the west bank of the Hudson River, just a
dozen or so miles north of Albany. Ford, however, did not see
the purchase as the continuance of any recreational pursuits.
Sure, he, Edison and the rest of the Vagabonds camped on Green
Island almost exactly a year later, but by then Ford had already
announced his intention of developing the 180 acres. A few
months after Ford bought the site, he resigned from Ford Motor
Company during a dispute with the Dodge brothers and other
FoMoCo shareholders. It turned out that resigning from the
company was part of a plan to surreptitiously buy back every
last share of the company at a reduced price, according to David
L. Lewis’s book, “The Public Image of Henry Ford,” but while
away from the company that bore his name, He