The Edison Museum, a science and history museum about the life and inventions of

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 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 inventio ...

, is located in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

at 350 Pine St. on the grounds of

Edison Plaza The Edison Plaza is a 17-story office building in downtown Beaumont, Texas, located at 350 Pine St. The building is downtown's newest and tallest skyscraper. Originally built by Gulf States Utilities as its headquarters in 1982, it serves as the ...

Building

The museum building was formerly the

Gulf States Utilities Entergy Texas (formerly Gulf States Utilities (GSU)) is an electric power generation and distribution company headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas. The company was founded in 1911 as Eastern Texas Electric, a holding company for Stone & Webster. O ...

Travis Street Power Substation. The power substation came on line in 1929. According to the ''Texas State Historical Marker'' in front of the substation building, the substation provided power ranging from street lights to cotton gins to rice irrigation to refineries in spite of

The Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

Museum

"...The museum is the only facility of its kind west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

..." Interactive exhibits about Edison, his inventions and innovations, as well as historic artifacts from his life are featured. Featured inventions include the

incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxida ...

, the

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, and some of Edison's early

motion pictures A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. There is also a reference library about Edison. The collection origin is tied to W. Donham Crawford, former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of ''Gulf States Utilities''. Crawford was an avid collector of Edison artifacts. The collection was bequeathed to the museum in the early 1980s by Crawford's widow. The museum is part of a concentration of several museums in the

downtown Beaumont Downtown Beaumont is the central business district of Beaumont, Texas. It is where the city's highrise buildings are located, as well as being the center of government and business for the region. Downtown Beaumont is currently experiencing a re ...

area. It is located blocks away from the

Tyrrell Historical Library The Tyrrell Historical Library is a public library in Beaumont, Texas. Originally built in 1903 to serve as the First Baptist Church, the building displays a mix of Richardsonian Romanesque and Victorian Gothic architectures, with pointed arch ...

, the

Art Museum of Southeast Texas The Art Museum of Southeast Texas (AMSET) is an art museum in Beaumont, Texas, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States ...

, the

Beaumont Children's Museum The Beaumont Children's Museum is a children's museum temporarily located in the Beaumont Civic Center in Beaumont, Texas. The museum is part of a concentration of several museums in the downtown Beaumont area. It is located across the street from ...

(temporarily located in the

Beaumont Civic Center The Beaumont Civic Center, in downtown Beaumont, Texas, is a 6,500-seat arena where concerts, conventions, trade shows and exhibitions are held. Banquet maximum capacity is 2,000. It has of ground-level exhibit space and space on the second le ...

), and the

Fire Museum of Texas The Fire Museum of Texas is located in a former fire station, the former Central Fire Station, in Beaumont, Texas, built in 1927. The building is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, and is an example of the Renaissance Revival. The building hou ...

References

External links

Edison Museum
- official site {{Thomas Edison Museums in Beaumont, Texas History museums in Texas Thomas Edison Biographical museums in Texas Technology museums in Texas Telecommunications museums in the United States Science museums in Texas

Building

Museum

See also

References

External links