Even though they were counted among the wealthiest men in America, they were excluded from Detroit high society. So, when the Grosse Pointe Country Club wouldn’t admit him, Horace built an enormous mansion on the adjacent property, with a 12-car garage and testing facility that faced the country club. They also funded the Detroit Symphony and led the effort to build their Symphony Hall.
The brothers began making their mark in Detroit almost as soon as John moved to the city in 1886. The following spring Horace joined him. The brothers were bright, ambitious, and hardworking, and soon John was earning $16.50 a week as a foreman and Horace $13.50 as a machinist in a boiler manufacturing company.
In 1892 they began working for an equipment manufacturer in Windsor on the Canadian side of the Detroit River. They also developed a ball bearing bicycle, the Evans and Dodge Bicycle, in the hope of profitably tapping into the tsunami of interest in the two wheeled transportation phenomena. In 1900 they established their own machine shop in Detroit. They placed an advertisement in the city directory that mirrored their confidence and ambition, “we are prepared to do any class of work that can be done in a first-class modern shop."
They soon established a reputation for quality work and within one year had secured a contract from Ransom E. Olds to supply engines for his fledgling Olds Motor Works. The brothers began supplying transmissions for the company six months later. In February 1903, the second major contract was secured. This time the customer was Henry Ford who retained their services to manufacture the running gear for his forthcoming Model A.
As this was Ford’s third attempt to launch an automotive company, and as he had a reputation of being pursued by creditors, the Dodge brothers entered the agreement with concerns that were made manifest a few months later. In June 1903, with Ford owing the brothers more than $7,000, they negotiated an arrangement that would change their lives and the course of the auto industry. They agreed to write off overdue payments and extend Ford an additional $3,000 in credit, due in six months, in exchange for ten percent of Ford Motor Company stock.
For a decade, the Dodge Brothers worked almost exclusively for Ford, and John Dodge accepted a position as vice president of the company. By 1910 their production facilities had become a bottleneck and so they opened a massive, state of the art factory complex in Hamtramck, an enclave surrounded by Detroit.
By 1913, the Dodge brothers had 2,500 full time employees and were the largest supplier of automotive parts and components in the United States. It had been a meteoric rise and the brothers were wealthier than could have been imagined when they moved to Detroit. But as John Dodge once quipped, “I'm tired of being carried around in Henry Ford's vest pocket.”
And so, the brothers initiated an ambitious 18 month plan that included suspension of their agreement with Ford, additional factory expansion, designing an automobile, and purchasing the machine tools needed for manufacture. Dodge Brothers Motor Car Company, one of one hundred and twenty automobile manufacturers launched that year, was established on July 1, 1914. The initial announcement was made in the Saturday Evening Post in August. This was followed by simple advertising and promotion designed to pique interest. "Dodge Brothers."
Then, “Dodge Brothers, Reliable, Dependable, Sound." were added. There were no illustrations or details. This was followed by carefully selected interviews and press release distribution. "The Dodge Brothers are the two-best mechanics in Michigan … When the Dodge Brothers car comes out, there is no question that it will be the best thing on the market for the money," wrote the Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record in August.