Built on Detroit's West side in the late 1950s, the school was completed in Fall 1962. Ford was built to accommodate the student overflow from Mumford, Redford, and Cooley high schools as population increased in this area. When it first opened, Ford's north-side was a bare cinder-block wall. When it was removed a few years later, the school's classroom sections were connected to the auditorium and gym.[8]Less than three years after the January 1955 ground breaking ceremony, Detroit's Henry Ford High School (located on Evergreen Rd, between Trojan and Fargo) opened its doors to 9th and 10th grade students on September 5, 1957. The school was built on a 23.5-acre (95,000 m2) site (costing $120,000), which was part of a parcel of land known as Southfield Woods. The building cost was $2.275M. At that time Ford consisted mainly of classrooms and a cafeteria – there was no 11th or 12th grade until the fall of 1959. Ford had no gym, auditorium, or laboratory facilities. Its initial capacity was designed for 1,225 people. The initial enrollment was 1,541 students and 64 faculty. Construction of additional facilities were completed by the end of 1962.