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Thomas Edison Winter Estate and Henry Ford Estate | |
Location | Fort Myers, Florida |
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Coordinates | 26°38′05″N81°52′48″W / 26.63472°N 81.88000°W |
Built | 1886 (Edison Estate) 1911 (Ford Estate) |
Website | http://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org |
NRHP reference No. | 91001044 [1] |
Added to NRHP | September 8, 1988 (Ford Estate) August 12, 1991 (Edison Estate) |
The Edison and Ford Winter Estates contain a historical museum and 21 acre (8.5 ha) botanical garden on the adjacent sites of the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford beside the Caloosahatchee River in Southwestern Florida. It is located at 2350 McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myers, Florida.
On April 18, 2012, the American Institute of Architects' Florida Chapter placed the Edison and Ford Winter Estates on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places. [2] The American Chemical Society recognized the Edison Botanical Research Laboratory at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates as a National Historic Chemical Landmark on May 25, 2014.
The present site dates from 1885, when Edison first visited Southwest Florida and purchased the property to build a vacation home. He had traveled down to St. Augustine, Florida during the winter of 1885 at the behest of his doctor, who thought that the warmer climate would help cure an illness that Edison was suffering from. [3] After recuperating in St. Augustine, he ended up traveling first across the state to Cedar Key, and from Cedar Key to Fort Myers. His home, completed in 1886 and later dubbed "Seminole Lodge", served as a winter retreat and place of relaxation until Edison's death in 1931. [4] Edison's good friend, Henry Ford, purchased the adjoining property, "The Mangoes" from Robert Smith of New York in 1916. Ford's craftsman style bungalow was built in 1911 by Smith. In 1947, Mrs. Mina Edison deeded the Edison property to the City of Fort Myers in memory of her husband for the enjoyment of the public. It was opened for public tours soon after.
In 1988, the adjacent Henry Ford winter estate was purchased and opened for public tours in 1990. In 2003, the governance of the site was transferred from the City to a new non-profit corporation, Thomas Edison & Henry Ford Winter Estates, Inc. (dba Edison & Ford Winter Estates, Inc.) whose mission is to protect, preserve and interpret the site. The new corporation completed a $14 million restoration project in the following years. A separate fundraising arm, Edison-Ford Winter Estates Foundation, Inc. was created to assist the restoration project with no function in governance.
Edison's botanical garden contains more than a thousand varieties of plants from around the world, including African Sausage Trees and a 400-foot (120 m) banyan tree planted in the mid-1920s. [5] The gardens feature plants grown for industrial purposes (such as bamboo, used in light bulb filaments) and those which Mina Edison planted for their beauty, including roses, orchids and bromeliads. The Moonlight Garden was designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman. [6]
Before Hurricane Irma the collection included: Acalypha hispida , Arenga pinnata , Artocarpus heterophyllus , Billbergia spp., Blighia sapida , Bougainvillea glabra , Bougainvillea spectabilis , Calliandra haematocephala , Cananga odorata , Cattleya hybrid, Cattleya spp., Chorisia speciosa , Citrus spp., Clerodendrum speciosissimum , Cordyline terminalis , Cycad spp., Dendrobium , Dombeya spp., Epidendrum ciliare , Ficus auriculata , Ficus benghalensis , Ficus saussureana , Hibiscus schizopetalus , Holmskioldia sanguinea , Ibosa riparia, Ixora chinensis , Kigelia africana , Leea coccinea , Malvaviscus arboreus , Musa spp., Parmentiera cereifera , Plumbago auriculata , Solandra nitida , Spathoglottis plicata , Tabernaemontana corymbosa , Tecoma stans , Thunbergia erecta , Pleroma semidecandrum (syn. Tibouchina semidecandra), and hundreds more.
During the period of 1914–1918 (World War I), Edison became concerned with America's reliance on foreign supplies of rubber. He partnered with Harvey Firestone and Henry Ford to try to find a rubber tree or plant that could grow quickly in the United States and provide a domestic supply of rubber. In 1927, the three men contributed $25,000 each and created the Edison Botanic Research Corporation in an attempt to find a solution to this problem. In 1928, the Edison Botanic Research Corporation laboratory was constructed. It was in Fort Myers, Florida that Edison would do the majority of his research and planting of his exotic plants and trees.
After testing over 17,000 plant samples, Edison eventually discovered a source in one of the species of flowering goldenrod, Solidago leavenworthii . Thomas Edison died in 1931 and the rubber project was transferred to the United States Department of Agriculture five years later.
Visitors to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers can view more than 20 acres (8.1 ha) of historical buildings and gardens including the 1928 Botanical Laboratory and the Edison Ford Museum. There are also a variety of programs, tours and activities.
Edison Ford also offers school and education tours for all ages, an extensive summer camp program, science and engineering class for homeschool students, [7] emerging inventors programs for children ages 18 months – 5 years [8] as well as travel and offsite tour opportunities. Other specialty programs include holiday nights, antique car shows, garden talks and a variety of special events throughout the year. The site can be reserved for events, weddings, corporate functions, meetings and group tours.
Edison Ford Winter Estates is a National Register Historic Site and received the Award of Excellence for restoration from both the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Garden Clubs, Inc. The site is a Florida Historic Landmark and has been designated as a National Historical Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society, the first site in the state of Florida to receive this honor.
The Edison and Ford Winter Estates research library and archival materials are also available for viewing by appointment. The research library contains over a thousand books on Fort Myers history and botany, as well as biographies on Thomas Edison and Henry Ford and their families. [9]
Open to the public since 1947, Edison Ford Winter Estates receives more than 200,000 visitors annually. [10] Designated as an educational and charitable not-for-profit organization, Edison Ford is governed by a board of trustees, professional staff and a large volunteer group.
Cape Coral is a city located in Lee County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. Founded in 1957 and developed as a planned community, the city's population had grown to 194,016 as of the 2020 Census, a rise of 26% from the 2010 Census, making it the 130th most populous city in the United States. With an area of 120 square miles (310 km2), Cape Coral is the largest city between Tampa and Miami in both population and area. It is the largest and principal city in the Cape Coral – Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city has over 400 mi (640 km) of navigable waterways, more than any other city on earth.
Fort Myers is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 2021, ranking the city the 370th-most-populous in the country. Together with the larger and more residential city of Cape Coral, the smaller cities of Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, and Bonita Springs, the village of Estero, and the unincorporated districts of Lehigh Acres and North Fort Myers, it anchors a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) which comprises Lee County and has a population of 787,976 as of 2021.
Ficus benghalensis, commonly known as the banyan, banyan fig and Indian banyan, is a tree native to the Indian Subcontinent. Specimens in India are among the largest trees in the world by canopy coverage. It is also known as the "strangler fig" because it starts out as epiphyte, that is, leaning on another tree that it ends up suffocating.
Ficus citrifolia, also known as the shortleaf fig, giant bearded fig, Jagüey, wild banyantree and Wimba tree, is a species of banyan native to southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America south to Paraguay. It is distinguished from the closely related Florida strangler fig mainly by the finer veining in the leaves.
The Seminole Gulf Railway is a short line freight and passenger excursion railroad headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, that operates two former CSX Transportation railroad lines in Southwest Florida. The company's Fort Myers Division, which was previously the southernmost segment of CSX's Fort Myers Subdivision, runs from Arcadia south to North Naples via Punta Gorda, Fort Myers, Estero, and Bonita Springs. The company's other line, the Sarasota Division, runs from Oneco south through Sarasota. Seminole Gulf acquired the lines in November 1987 and operates its own equipment. The company's first train departed Fort Myers on November 14, 1987.
Fair Lane was the estate of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States. It was named after an area in Cork in Ireland where Ford's adoptive grandfather, Patrick Ahern, was born. The 1,300-acre (530 ha) estate along the River Rouge included a large limestone house, an electrical power plant on the dammed river, a greenhouse, a boathouse, riding stables, a children's playhouse, a treehouse, and extensive landmark gardens designed by Chicago landscape architect Jens Jensen.
Florida SouthWestern State College is a public college with its main campus in Fort Myers, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. The college has satellite campuses in Charlotte County and Collier County, and outreach programs in Hendry County and Glades County.
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The Edison Museum, a science and history museum about the life and inventions of Thomas Edison, is located in Beaumont, Texas, United States at 350 Pine St. on the grounds of Edison Plaza.
Southwest Florida is the region along the southwest Gulf coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is known for its beaches, subtropical landscape, and winter resort economy.
The Plant Collections Network (PCN) is a group of North American botanical gardens and arboreta that coordinates a continent-wide approach to plant germplasm preservation, and promotes excellence in plant collections management. The program is administered by the American Public Gardens Association from its headquarters in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the USDA Agricultural Research Service.
State Road 867 and County Road 867 together create a 14.6-mile (23.5 km) long road known as McGregor Boulevard in Lee County, Florida, paralleling the Caloosahatchee River between Punta Rassa and Fort Myers. The entire road was formerly state-maintained.
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The Murphy-Burroughs House, also known as the Burroughs Home and Gardens, is a historic home in Fort Myers, Florida. It is located at 2505 1st Street. On August 1, 1984, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
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The Caloosahatchee Bridge is a bridge located in Fort Myers, Florida. It carries U.S. Highway 41 over the Caloosahatchee River, which is where its name comes from. The bridge has four lanes and is 55 feet (17 m) tall.
Historic Spanish Point is a 33-acre (13 ha) museum and environmental complex located in Osprey, Florida at 337 North Tamiami Trail. The museum includes an archeological exhibit of a prehistoric shell mound known as a midden, a turn-of-the-century pioneer homestead historic house museum, a citrus packing house, a chapel, boatyard, gardens, and nature trails.
Henry Ford House may refer to:
Thomas Park Bougainvillea Gardens is a heritage-listed former private garden and now public park at 151 Harts Road, Indooroopilly, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Henry Thomas and built from 1914 to 1918. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 10 October 2014.
Ficus drupacea var. pubescens, also known as the Mysore fig or brown woolly fig, is a variety of F. drupacea distinguished by its fruits and leaves having a dense yellow-brown pubescence. It is naturally distributed throughout Southeast Asia, and has been introduced elsewhere. It forms a distinct shape with large, buttressing roots. Its leaves are characterized by a distinctly pointed tip, and it is pollinated by small wasps.
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