Henry Bourne Joy (1864-1936)
Lt.-Col. Henry B. Joy, President of the Packard Motor Car Company
He was born at Detroit and graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover (1883), and Yale University (1892). During the Spanish-American War, he was serving on the USS Yosemite with his old friend and brother-in-law Truman Handy Newberry when they captured the SS Antonio Lopez. In 1902, on a trip to New York City, he happened to see two Packards chase down a horse-drawn fire wagon. Intrigued, he bought the only Packard available in the city. Joy loved the car, and, impressed by its reliability, he visited James Ward Packard at his headquarters in Ohio. Packard confessed that he needed more capital and so Joy enlisted a group of investors that included his brother-in-law, Truman Handy Newberry. On October 2, 1902, the Ohio Automobile Company became Packard Motor Car Company, with Joy's investors obtaining majority ownership. They moved the company to Detroit and engaged Albert Kahn to design and build the world’s first reinforced concrete factory on East Grand Boulevard. The company prospered under Joy's leadership and he became President in 1909 and Chairman in 1916.
In 1913, he co-founded and served as the first President of the Lincoln Highway System that runs from New York City to San Francisco. His interest in aviation led Packard to develop combat aircraft for use in World War I. The test airfield at Lake St. Clair was named Joy Aviation Field until it was acquired by the government after the war and renamed Selfridge Air Base for Thomas Selfridge, the first person killed in an airplane. The street leading to Selfridge is still called Joy Road. In the meantime, Joy served in the US Army Signal Corps retiring with the rank of Lt.-Colonel. Having initially supported Prohibition, he quickly saw its flaws and his testimony to Congress contributed to the Repeal of Prohibition in 1933. In 1892, he married Helen, daughter of U.S. Congressman John Stoughton Newberry and they had two children who survived to adulthood.
In 1913, he co-founded and served as the first President of the Lincoln Highway System that runs from New York City to San Francisco. His interest in aviation led Packard to develop combat aircraft for use in World War I. The test airfield at Lake St. Clair was named Joy Aviation Field until it was acquired by the government after the war and renamed Selfridge Air Base for Thomas Selfridge, the first person killed in an airplane. The street leading to Selfridge is still called Joy Road. In the meantime, Joy served in the US Army Signal Corps retiring with the rank of Lt.-Colonel. Having initially supported Prohibition, he quickly saw its flaws and his testimony to Congress contributed to the Repeal of Prohibition in 1933. In 1892, he married Helen, daughter of U.S. Congressman John Stoughton Newberry and they had two children who survived to adulthood.
