Mastery of Craft

The Campaign for the Great Estate, 2017-2020

“Unless all of us become aware of the importance
of our heritage and take action to preserve it,
our past won’t have a future.”

— Richard Moe, Past President, National Trust for Historic Preservation

The Meadow Brook Estate – represented by the legacy of buildings, artifacts and the successful business and farming operations that made them possible – can inspire and teach us, our children and our grandchildren about the dedication to craftsmanship and hard work that built our region and our country . . . values embraced by automobile pioneers John and Horace Dodge and John Dodge’s widow, Matilda, and her second husband, Alfred Wilson.

Meadow Brook Farms and Meadow Brook Hall were built by the Dodges and Wilsons with these values top of mind, including the sole use of American materials and gifted American craftsmen.

The generosity of friends and supporters has sustained Meadow Brook Hall and its grounds and outbuildings over the past 45 years. But how will the Great Estate be able to succeed with its educational and cultural mission over the next 45 years? How can it continue to serve the community as our own National Historic Landmark?

To imbed and enhance its role as a treasured cultural community asset and to fulfill its vision of exploring and promoting the workplace and societal values that the Dodge and Wilson families lived . . . Meadow Brook once again needs the community’s determined and focused help.

The Meadow Brook Estate now seeks to create and sustain three-dimensional interpretive facilities and state-of-the-art educational programs that use the work ethic and lifestyles of two 20th-Century automotive pioneering families to teach the power of inspired commitment to quality.

For more information, contact Geoff Upward at: or (248) 364-6240.