Harry Bennett

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Harry Herbert Bennett (January 17, 1892 – January 4, 1979), was a boxer, naval sailor, and businessman. From the 1920s through 1945, he worked for Ford Motor Company and was best known as the head of Ford’s "service department", the company's internal security agency. While working for Henry Ford, Bennett's union-busting tactics made him an enemy of the United Auto Workers (UAW) trade union. He gained infamy for his involvement in activities such as in the Battle of the Overpass, a 1937 incident where UAW members protesting for higher wages were assaulted by Ford security guards. In one incident, he open fired on a protesting crowd with a machine gun killing a 16 year old boy.

He had various residences in Michigan, including the Great Lakes Landmark and Ford Motor Company; built Pagodahouse, the Asian-themed boathouse on Grosse Ile; Bennett's Lodge near Farwell, a log cabin-style house in East Tawas; and Bennett's Castle, an estate located on the Huron River in Ypsilanti, where he kept pet lions and tigers.^[1] After being fired by Henry Ford II in 1945, Bennett left Michigan to live in California. On January 4, 1979, Bennett died in Los Gatos, California, of undisclosed causes.^[2]