The Edison State Park is located in the Menlo Park section of

Edison, New Jersey Edison is a Township (New Jersey), township located in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central Jersey, Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan River, Raritan Valley r ...

. It is located on Christie Street, the first street in the world to be lit up by a lightbulb, just off

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

, near the Metropark Train Station. It covers a total area of . The park commemorates the site where the famous inventor

Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) 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 ...

had his Menlo Park laboratory. In his laboratory, Edison invented over 600 inventions such as the incandescent electric light and the

phonograph A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

, the latter being the first object to record and play sound.

History

The research and development laboratory in Menlo Park was the first of its kind in the world. On October 22, 1879, Thomas Edison tested a bamboo filament which lasted over 30 hours, which was used to create the first successful

incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a #Filament, filament until it incandescence, glows. The filament is enclosed in a ...

. This accomplishment followed Edison's testing of over a thousand filaments in six months. Three years earlier, Thomas Edison tested his wax and tinfoil phonograph by recording and playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Thomas Edison improved Alexander Graham Bell's telephone using carbon. In addition, he invented an electric train and tested it on a track built around his laboratory, now coinciding with modern day Christie Street and Route 27. In 1887, when Thomas Edison needed a bigger laboratory closer to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, he moved his research laboratory to

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from t ...

. Most of the buildings either burned down or collapsed, and the two surviving buildings, the glass shed and the Sarah Jordan Boarding House were moved by

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

in 1929 to Greenfield Village in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

, now part of

The Henry Ford The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, within Metro Detroit. The museum collection contai ...

museum. The remaining structure from the other buildings was used by Henry Ford to rebuild them in Greenfield Village, where they are still open today. Despite the fact that Edison's laboratory had fully been relocated, on May 16, 1925, John Leib, vice president of the New York Edison Company, dedicated a stone tablet and memorial at the intersection of Christie Street and Route 27 (Lincoln Highway), a gift from the State of New Jersey, with Thomas Edison, his wife

Mina Miller Edison Mina Miller Edison (July 6, 1865 – August 24, 1947) 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 o ...

, and Governor George S. Silzer attending the event. On May 17, 1937, construction began on the Edison Tower, a new monument to Edison. On February 11, 1938, seven years after Edison's death, a tall

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

tower was dedicated in honor of the Wizard of Menlo Park. A small, two room museum houses a collection of Edison memorabilia such as historic light bulbs, phonographs, dynamos and portions of Edison's electric train test track. Tours are available for free, although the Edison Tower Memorial Corporation recommends visitors to donate at least $5.00 per person. The tower was closed in 1992 after slabs of concrete started falling from the 54-year-old freestanding structure. After it was put on the list of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

's most endangered historic sites in 1997, the Edison Township Memorial Corporation started a $3.87 million renovation. On October 24, 2015, the end of the restoration was marked by a rededication ceremony which included the relighting of the tower. Plans were also announced to build a new, larger museum featuring artifact exhibits and interactive activities. Surrounding the two historic acres is a small forest with a couple of trails. The forest features a small pond, a meadow, and several ravines which are visible from the trail. On Christie Street, the world's first street lit by electric lights, there are several informative boards describing Menlo Park in the Edison Era.

References

Inline citations

General references

*http://www.menloparkmuseum.org/thomas-edison-and-menlo-park . Thomas Edison and Menlo Park, July 1, 2013. *http://www.thehenryford.org/village/historicdistricts.aspx. Edison at Work, July 1, 2013. *https://web.archive.org/web/20130531034607/http://www.menloparkmuseum.org/new-museum. New Museum, July 3, 2013. *https://web.archive.org/web/20160201032330/http://www.preservationnj.org/site/ExpEng/index.php?%2Ften_most_12%2Farchive_by_city_detail%2F1997%2FThomas_Edison_Memorial_Tower. Thomas Edison Memorial Tower, July 3, 2013. *https://web.archive.org/web/20131007102132/http://menloparkmuseum.org/rejuvenated-edison-state-park. Rejuvenated Edison State Park, July 4, 2013 *Carlson, Laurie. Thomas Edison: His Life and Ideas. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, Incorporated, 2006. *Makin, Bob. "Edison Memorial Tower Rededicated." MY CENTRAL JERSEY. MyCentralJersey.com, 25 Oct. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Edison State Park Thomas Edison Edison, New Jersey

History

See also

References

Inline citations

General references