In 1903, before the Ford Motor Company was even incorporated, Stephen Tenvoorde signed a contract to sell "Fordmobiles" at his bicycle shop in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Four generations later, the Tenvoorde family still operates what is now the oldest Ford dealership in the world. Brian McMahon chronicles how the fortunes of the company and the state became intertwined during that century.

Ford assembled Model T cars in the world's tallest automobile plant in Minneapolis and a three-story structure in St. Paul--both still standing. These factories quickly became functionally obsolete...