History of the House
THE STORY OF COLONEL JESSE G. VINCENT and the HOME ON WINDMILL POINTE DRIVE
B
orn in 1880 in Charleston, Arkansas, Jesse Gurney Vincent spent his childhood on a farm near Pana, Illinois. Always a tinkerer, he set up his own blacksmith shop at the age of 10 and could be found hanging around railroad repair shops. He attended the Little Red School House for early grades and then was sent to Cote Brillint Grammar School in St. Louis, Missouri. He quit school in 8th grade and started taking correspondence courses, through which he received his degree in engineering. In 1897, at the age of 17, he took a job as a bookkeeper and then became a toolmaker and machinist for the next 3 years with the Universal Adding Machine Company in St. Louis. In 1902, he met and married Clarinda Brood. Not long after, they moved to Detroit where Vincent took a job with Burroughs Adding Machine Co. Alvan Macauley, then the head of Burroughs, made him Superintendent of Inventions where he stayed until 1910. He then joined the Hudson Motor Car Company and became its Chief Engineer in 1911. Macauley, his former boss at Burroughs, joined the Packard Motor Car Co., and in 1912, he called Vincent to join him. In 1915, Vincent was elevated to Packard VP of Engineering, a post he held until 1948 with the exception of the two years spent in the U.S. Air Service. He retired as a Packard Director in 1954.
Aviation and the
all their past research and technical knowledge, co-designed the Liberty Engine. The 400-horsepower V-12 was one of the most powerful engines at that time. Designed to be mass-produced, and with interchangeable parts, it became the standard wartime aircraft engine. Produced by Packard, Ford, Lincoln, GM and others, more than 13,000 came off the assembly line before Armistice, and more than 20,000 were built the following year. Used in numerous types of planes, some engines were released to the civilians market as war surplus and many were used in speedboats for rum-running during Prohibition. The Liberty engine was eventually modified into air-cooled and supercharged versions for marine use. In 1919, while serving in the Army Reserves, Vincent was promoted to Lt Colonel, achieving the rank of Colonel in 1920.
Liberty Engine
With the U.S. entry into WWI, Vincent accepted a commission as Major with the Signal Corps in the U.S. Army in 1917, and started to build experimental aircraft. He was placed in command of McCook Field in 1918, and became reserve Military Aviation head in August of that year. He was designated Chief of Airplane Engineering in September. Over a 6-day period in Washington, DC, Vincent and Major E. G. Hall, of Hall-Scott Motor Company, using
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Junior League of Detroit
