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Harry Bennett was Henry Ford’s right hand man. Officially, he was in charge of Ford’s accounting department but, unofficially, he was the company’s union breaker. He was the guy responsible for photos like this:


(On the left, you see Ford-employed goons. On the right, you see a pro-union Ford guy getting pounded.)

Bennett did whatever under-the-table activities necessary to ensure that Henry Ford could maintain control over his undereducated, largely immigrant workforce. Because of Bennett’s efforts, Ford was the last of the major auto companies to unionize, not doing so until 1941.

However, there was more that was “on the down-low” about Harry Bennett than even Henry Ford knew. When he wasn’t busy being Ford’s enforcer, Bennett was busily embezzling and building up his own personal empire of crime. Through manipulating the company accounting department and through outright theft and misappropriation of company materials, he made himself very wealthy and influential. He also enmeshed himself in the organized crime scene in Detroit and was known to associate with members of the famous Purple Gang. (For those who don’t know, the Purple Gang was a notoriously vicious organization in the D. They were immortalized in Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” with the line about the prison band, "The whole rhythm section was the Purple Gang.")

Well, Harry liked his privacy and wanted a little place where he could get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, away from the prying eyes of law enforcement. So he had a home built on the shore of a small lake in north central Michigan, about ten miles north of a small town called Clare.


The house was an Arts and Crafts style design made primarily out of poured, molded concrete. As you can see, the concrete was sculpted to look like rough-hewn logs and, back then, probably custom painted to look like wood. Concrete was a popular material for home building at the time but, in addition to being fashionable, it had the added advantage of being much more bullet-proof than regular wood construction. You see, Harry used his lakeside house as a hideout and a safe haven for some of his illegal doings. Yes, it was an expensive, hand-crafted mansion in its day with five bedrooms, a pool and outdoor bar, massive fireplaces, and beautiful year-round views of the lake where he would entertain guests and dignitaries, sometimes hundreds at a time – but it was also designed so he could escape from any room of the house. There were secret tunnels and hidden doors, bulletproof glass in the windows, a moat around the entire property, and the one bridge to island rigged with dynamite that could be detonated any time Bennett wanted. There were machine gun turrets mounted on the roof and a boat always waiting in the lake to carry him across to a hidden car (a Ford, of course) that would take him to his nearby private landing strip. Bennett was ready in case the Feds came rolling up the long, dirt road to his home. His house was designed to be both his castle and his getaway accomplice.

Bennett, much to his chagrin, didn’t take over Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford was ailing and Edsel, his son and the President, died of cancer. Bennett was in position to take control because it was in the middle of the second World War and Henry II, the grandson in line to take charge, was overseas as a soldier and wasn’t around to stop Bennett and his machinations. The remaining stateside Fords went directly to Washington D.C. and told members of Congress they had two weeks to produce the heir to the company’s throne and, if they failed to do so, their company, which had retrofitted their many of their production facilities to build war machines, would stop the building of jeeps, airplanes, and tanks cold. Henry II was delivered post-haste to the U.S. and Bennett did not take control of one of the most powerful companies in the world.

What became of Bennett’s house on the small lake? It’s still there and is one of the central buildings for the Lost Lake Boy Scout Reservation in Clare County, Michigan.


The grand fireplace in the 60 foot long main room. Almost all of the furniture is original. I sat on the same weirdo, custom-made couch as Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel.


This flooring was supposed to be in the main lobby of the Lansing plant. Bennett decided that the colors didn't match and so a whole new floor was ordered while the old stuff was conveniently taken care of by Harry.


A chunk of four inch thick bullet-proof glass from the house's original windows.


A portion of the 128 foot long porch that faces the lake.


The only way on or off Bennett's island. This is the bridge that was loaded with dynamite and ready to blow at a moment's notice.


Just an ordinary bookshelf, right?


Wrong!!


Creepy, uneven stairs that lead to a concrete bunker and an exit to the lake.


The big, bushy tree you see in the middle is the one under which Bennett kept a car in case he had to escape. He'd made his way across the lake, find the car, drive to the airstrip, and escape to the skies.


Anyway, according to that all-knowing oracle, Wikipedia, when Henry II fired Bennett, he went straight to his grandfather's room expecting to get chewed out for firing Henry I's main man. Instead, the older Henry simply said, "Well, now Harry is back on the streets where he started." Cold, Henry, cold.

Wikipedia also tells us that Bennett died penniless in 1979 of natural causes.
When I left for this retreat, I had no idea I'd be learning all about gangsters and Ford Motor Company history. Who knew, right?