Wizard of Menlo Park

While in our home state of NJ for the recent holiday, we went to a site we'd never visited during all years of living there. Considering that it's dedicated to one of the state's most famous residents, this was definitely a much-belated road stop.

Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park, NJ, museum and tower

The Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park, which includes the Edison Memorial Tower and Menlo Park Museum, is located in the Menlo Park area of Edison, Middlesex County, NJ. Edison has been credited with inventing for so many technologies of modern life, not just the phonograph. 

By the time of his 1931 death, Edison held 1,093 patents covering the creation or refinements of devices in telegraphy, telephony, electric power generation, lighting, sound recording, motion pictures, storage batteries and cement technology. He was also a successful manufacturer and businessman who marketed his inventions to the public. Today, there are inventors who have surpassed Edison's number of patents.

Thomas A Edison Memorial Tower

The 131-foot tall Thomas A. Edison Memorial Tower marks the location of Edison's laboratory (nothing remains today). The tower, designed in 1937 by Gabriel Francois Massena and Alfred F. duPont of Wilmington, DE, was dedicated February 11, 1938. This was seven years after Edison's death on what would have been his 91st birthday. The Art Deco style of the tower shaft tapers upward to a 13-foot, 8-inch high replica of Edison’s first practical incandescent bulb which was made of Pyrex segments by the Corning Corporation. Since this design focuses attention to the light at the top, it also enhances the tower's sense of monumental height. 

The tower possesses architectural significance for its stylistic expression, construction techniques and use of architectural concrete. In November 1979, it was listed on the NJ State and National Registers of Historic Places as a significant commemorative landmark. It was closed in 1992 after slabs of concrete began falling from the 54-year-old structure and was put on the list of the state's most endangered historic sites. In 1997, the Edison Township Memorial Corporation started a $3.87 million renovation which ran from 2011-2015. Completion was marked by a re-dedication ceremony which included re-lighting the tower. 

Edison Center Museum, NJ

The small, two-room Edison museum houses a collection of memorabilia including historic light bulbs and portions of Edison's electric train track. In the 1880s, Edison created an experimental electric locomotive and test track at Menlo Park. Powered by electricity sent through the rails, the locomotive operated over a 3-mile track.

The museum highlights many of Edison's inventions including not only the phonograph but many of his light bulbs, as well as photographs of Edison's Menlo Park property and family. The museum is staffed by volunteers with limited hours and unfortunately, it wasn't open the day of our visit. While tours are free, the Edison Tower Memorial Corp. recommends a $5 per person donation. Hopefully, on a future NJ trip we can visit during opening times.

Menlo Park, NJ, was named after the town of Menlo Park, CA, which was the site of an unsuccessful real estate development. In 1954, the township of Menlo Park was renamed Edison Township in 1954 to honor its former resident. Over the next few years, the existing train station was renamed Edison, a post office was established, and all the fire companies in the various neighborhoods were consolidated into the Edison Fire Company.

An inventor and businessman, Edison resided in NJ for over 50 years, not only in Menlo Park, but also in Newark and West Orange. Menlo Park was his home from 1876 to 1882 and it's where he set up his research laboratory and later created what became known as the Invention Factory, the first research and development facility in the world. 

In the early 1870s, Menlo Park was a sparsely populated rural area. Edison purchased two parcels of land, about 34 acres in late 1875. He built the main laboratory building on the block south of Christie Street and built other ancillary buildings including the glass house, a carpenters’ shop, a carbon shed, and a blacksmith shop. By the Spring of 1876, Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory was the world’s first such research and development facility. 

Menlo Park Laboratory Site, Winter 1880-1881

Edison's extensive lab facilities and large staff gave Edison a major advantage over other inventors. He could work on different parts of a system or different inventions at the same time. He's credited with over 600 inventions including the phonograph, which led to Menlo Park being called the "Birthplace of Recorded Sound." The first words that Edison successfully recorded on the phonograph were “Mary had a Little Lamb.” By 1878, this invention was known all around the world and Edison became known as “The Wizard of Menlo Park.” 

Christie St became world's first street lit by lightbulbs in 1879

After the success of the photograph, Edison's next big invention was a successful incandescent lightbulb. Others  had been working on making light bulbs before. None of these earlier bulbs worked for more than a few minutes. On October 21, 1879, Edison’s bulb burned for a continuous 13-1/2 half hours. The next bulbs lasted 40 hours. By Christmas, Edison and his team worked to light the laboratory and his home with several of the new light bulbs, and on New Year’s Eve, Christie Street became the world’s first street to be lit by incandescent light bulbs with the aid of a power system designed by Edison. There's always a NJ connection; this was a very good one.

By the summer of 1880, Edison had perfected the incandescent bulb enough to be able to produce and sell it in large quantities. He remodeled a wooden building to serve as a Lamp Factory, established the Edison Electric Light Company and began working on using electricity for other purposes.

In 1887, Edison moved his laboratory out of Menlo Park into a new and much larger laboratory in West Orange, NJ. He spent the remaining 44 years of his life there, continuing to improve his earlier inventions and creating new ones including the motion picture camera. He died on October 18, 1931 at the age of 84. U.S. President Herbert Hoover on learning of Edison's death broadcast a nationwide radio address on Edison's great achievements and contributions to the progress of mankind.

Foundation outline of Edison's Office and Library, 1879-1884 

After Edison left Menlo Park, the property was abandoned; many buildings were occupied by squatters. The laboratory building was used as a theater, a dance hall, and a barn. Edison’s office, library building and home were used as private residences. The carbon shed was used as a chicken shed. Buildings continued to deteriorate and  completely fall apart. Edison’s home was destroyed in fire in 1914; his office and library building met the same fate in 1919. The laboratory, machine shop and other buildings were scavenged for building materials. By 1926, most of the buildings had either collapsed or burned.

The only two buildings left were moved to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI, where industrialist Henry Ford, a close friend of Edison, constructed a replica of the Menlo Park complex. Ford hired experts to locate surviving material belonging to the original Menlo Park laboratory and a reconstructed model of the building is now located there.

Greenfield Village is a collection of nearly 100 historic buildings on a 200-acre site. It was established in 1933 by Ford, who relocated or reconstructed buildings there from throughout the U.S. On a future road trip, it's definitely on our list of must-see places.

How about you — are there places in your area that you have never visited?