In the early 1920s, Ford had a large plant in Kingsford, a town named after Henry Ford's cousin. Henry Ford was always looking for new ways to combine resources. One day as the Model T cars were coming off the assembly line, Ford noticed many wood scraps being discarded. He proposed that all wood scraps were to be sent to his chemical building to be made into charcoal.

The Kingsford Company was formed by Henry Ford and E.G. Kingsford during the early 1920s. Charcoal was developed from Ford Motor Company's factory waste wood scrap. The Kingsford Company was formed when E.G. Kingsford, a relative of Ford's, brokered the site selection for Ford's new charcoal manufacturing plant. The company, originally called Ford Charcoal, was renamed in E.G.’s honor.