Thomas Edison National Historical Park

Last updated

Thomas Edison National Historical Park
Edison labs Main St Lakeside Av jeh.jpg
Thomas Edison's Laboratory
Thomas Edison National Historical Park
Interactive map showing Thomas Edison National Historical Park location
Location211 Main Street, West Orange, NJ 07052
Coordinates 40°47′01″N74°14′01″W / 40.78361°N 74.23361°W / 40.78361; -74.23361
Area21.25 acres (8.60 ha) [1]
Built1887
ArchitectH. Hudson Holly
Architectural styleLate Victorian, Queen Anne
Visitation55,284 (2011)
Website Thomas Edison National Historical Park
NRHP reference No. 66000052 [2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966
Designated NHPSeptember 5, 1962 (as NHS, redesignated NHP March 30, 2009)

Thomas Edison National Historical Park preserves Thomas Edison's laboratory and residence, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey, United States. These were designed, in 1887, by architect Henry Hudson Holly. [3] The Edison laboratories operated for more than 40 years. Out of the West Orange laboratories came the motion picture camera, improved phonographs, sound recordings, silent and sound movies and the nickel-iron alkaline electric storage battery.

Contents

Properties

Glenmont, Edison's estate Edison home NJ.jpg
Glenmont, Edison's estate

The park comprises two properties in West Orange: the second Edison Laboratories complex and Edison's home in Llewellyn Park about .5 miles (0.80 km) to the west at 40°47′10″N74°14′26″W / 40.78611°N 74.24056°W / 40.78611; -74.24056 .

The laboratory complex comprises the industrial facility built by Edison in 1887 to research and develop his inventions. The complex includes more than a dozen buildings that supported Edison's research into electricity, photography, motion pictures, chemistry, metallurgy and other disciplines. A private library was attached to the main laboratory building. Specialty heavy and precision machine shops made tooling and prototypes. [4] Edison's Black Maria was the world's first movie studio, and the building could be rotated on a turntable to keep sunlight on film subjects. It was reconstructed in 1954. [5]

Edison's Queen Anne style home was designed by Henry Hudson Holly and built between 1880 and 1882 for Henry Pedder. It originally comprised 23 rooms. The mansion was built with gravity-convection central heat, indoor flush toilets, and hot and cold piped water. Pedder was found to have embezzled funds from his employer to build Glenmont, and was forced to surrender the estate, which Edison bought in 1886 for $125,000 (equal to $4,071,296 today), moving in with his newly married second wife Mina and his three children from his first marriage. The house retains its original furnishings in an Eastlake style interior. Edison added six more rooms, and electrical wiring. [6] [7]

Edison's children with Mina grew up at Glenmont, including future New Jersey governor Charles Edison and industrialist Theodore Miller Edison. [6]

History

Interior view of the industrial complex Thomas Edison NHP NJ2.jpg
Interior view of the industrial complex

Edison's home was designated as the Edison Home National Historic Site on December 6, 1955. The laboratory was designated as Edison Laboratory National Monument on July 14, 1956. On September 5, 1962, the 21-acre (85,000 m2) site containing the home and the laboratory were designated the Edison National Historic Site. [1] On March 30, 2009, it was renamed Thomas Edison National Historical Park, adding "Thomas" to the title in hopes to relieve confusion between the Edison sites in West Orange and Edison, New Jersey. Following extensive renovations of the laboratory complex, there was a grand reopening on October 10, 2009.

In 1996, the alternative rock band They Might Be Giants recorded four songs on phonograph cylinder at the museum. One of these recordings, of the song "I Can Hear You", appeared on their album Factory Showroom released later the same year. The other three songs ("Maybe I Know", "The Edison Museum", and a re-recording of the FactoryShowroom track "James K. Polk") were released on the band's website in 2002.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Edison</span> American inventor and businessman (1847–1931)

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.

Glenmont may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Edison</span> American politician (1890–1969)

Charles Edison was an American politician. He was the Assistant and then United States Secretary of the Navy, and served as the 42nd governor of New Jersey. Commonly known as "Lord Edison", he was a son of Thomas Edison and Mina Miller Edison.

Menlo Park is an unincorporated community within Edison Township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Ott</span> American scientist and film actor

Frederick Paul Ott, skilled machinist, was a key employee of Thomas Edison's laboratories from the 1870s until Edison's death in 1931. His likeness appears in two of the earliest surviving motion pictures – the well-known Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze and the little-seen Fred Ott Holding a Bird – both from 1894.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenmont, Maryland</span> Census-designated place in Maryland, United States

Glenmont is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The United States Census Bureau had combined Glenmont with nearby Wheaton to create the census-designated place of Wheaton-Glenmont, from 2000 to 2010. It had a population of 16,710 in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Henry Ford</span> United States historic place

The Henry Ford is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains the presidential limousine of John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln's chair from Ford's Theatre, Thomas Edison's laboratory, the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, the Rosa Parks bus, and many other historical exhibits. It is the largest indoor–outdoor museum complex in the United States and is visited by over 1.7 million people each year. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 as Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1981 as "Edison Institute".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Heights, Newark</span> Populated place in Essex County, New Jersey, US

University Heights is a neighborhood in Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is so named because of the four academic institutions located within its boundaries: Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), New Jersey Medical School (Rutgers) and Essex County College. In total, the schools enroll approximately 30,000 degree-seeking students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edison's Black Maria</span> Film production company

The Black Maria was Thomas Edison's film production studio in West Orange, New Jersey. It was the world's first film studio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Museum</span> United States historic place

The Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park, also known as the Menlo Park Museum / Edison Memorial Tower, is a memorial to inventor and businessman Thomas Alva Edison, located in the Menlo Park area of Edison, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The tower was dedicated on February 11, 1938, on what would have been the inventor's 91st birthday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edison Museum</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edison and Ford Winter Estates</span> Historic houses in Florida, United States

The Edison and Ford Winter Estates contain a historical museum and 21 acre 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llewellyn Park</span> Populated place in Essex County, New Jersey, US

Llewellyn Park is a historic gated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within West Orange in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Llewellyn Park is thought to be the country's first planned residential community, and the site of the first large-scale naturalization of crocus, narcissus, and jonquils. The community features 175 homes on 425 acres (172 ha) and is located 12 miles (19 km) west of New York City.

Theodore Miller Edison was an American businessman, inventor, and environmentalist. He was the fourth son and youngest child of inventor Thomas Edison, and founder of Calibron Industries, Inc. He was the third child of Edison with his second wife, Mina Miller Edison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward G. Acheson House</span> Historic house in Pennsylvania, United States

The Edward G. Acheson House is a historic house at 908 West Main St. in Monongahela, Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States. Probably built about 1870, it is notable as the home of Edward G. Acheson (1856-1931), the inventor of carborundum, and as the likely site of its invention. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edison State Park</span> State park in New Jersey, United States

The Edison State Park is located in the Menlo Park section of Edison, New Jersey. It is located on Christie Street, the first street in the world to be lit up by lightbulb, just off Lincoln Highway, near the Metropark Train Station. It covers a total area of 37 acres (0.15 km2). The park commemorates the site where the famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison had his Menlo Park laboratory. In his laboratory, Edison invented over 600 inventions such as the incandescent electric light and the phonograph, the latter being the first object to record and play sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pottier & Stymus</span>

Pottier & Stymus was a prominent American furniture and design firm of the Victorian period.

Edison laboratory or laboratories refers to one of American inventor and businessman Thomas Edison's labs:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mina Miller Edison</span> American community activist and Thomas Edisons second wife

Mina Miller Edison was an American community activist and the second wife of inventor and industrialist Thomas Edison. She was a community activist in Fort Myers, Florida, known for her work advancing the use of public spaces and education initiatives.

References

  1. 1 2 "Edison Park Management". National Park Service. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  3. "Edison and his Era". National Park Service. February 26, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  4. "Edison's West Orange Laboratory". National Park Service. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  5. "The World's First Movie Studio". National Parks Conservation Association. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Thomas Edison's Historical Home". Edison Innovation Foundation. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  7. "NPS.govPark HomeLearn About the ParkHistory & CultureCollectionsGlenmont Collections Glenmont Collections". Thomas Edison National Historical Park. National Park Service. Retrieved December 6, 2019.