Thomas Edison National Historical Park preserves
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 ...
's laboratory and residence, ''Glenmont'', in
West Orange, New Jersey
West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census. , United States. These were designed, in 1887, by architect
Henry Hudson Holly
Henry Hudson Holly (1832-1892) was an American architect who, in his generation, was one of the best-known architects with a practice spanning the entire United States. He is probably best remembered as the author of three architectural books. "H ...
. 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.
Properties
![Edison home NJ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Edison_home_NJ.jpg)
The park comprises two properties in West Orange: the second Edison Laboratories complex and Edison's home in
Llewellyn Park
Llewellyn Park is a neighborhood in West Orange, New Jersey, West Orange in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a gated residential community of 175 homes, west of New York City.
History
Llewellyn Park wa ...
about to the west at .
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.
Edison's Black Maria
The Black Maria ( ) was Thomas Edison's film production studio in West Orange, New Jersey. It was the world's first film studio.
History
In 1893, the world's first film production studio, the Black Maria, or the cinematographic Theater, wa ...
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.
Edison's
Queen Anne style home was designed by
Henry Hudson Holly
Henry Hudson Holly (1832-1892) was an American architect who, in his generation, was one of the best-known architects with a practice spanning the entire United States. He is probably best remembered as the author of three architectural books. "H ...
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 $ 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
The Eastlake movement was a nineteenth-century architectural and household design reform movement started by British architect and writer Charles Eastlake (1836–1906). The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in t ...
interior. Edison added six more rooms, and electrical wiring.
Edison's children with Mina grew up at Glenmont, including future New Jersey governor
Charles Edison
Charles Edison (August 3, 1890 – July 31, 1969) was an American politician, businessman, inventor and animal behaviorist. He was the Assistant and then United States Secretary of the Navy, and served as the 42nd governor of New Jersey. Commonly ...
and industrialist
Theodore Miller Edison
Theodore Miller Edison (July 10, 1898 – November 24, 1992) 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 ...
History
![Thomas Edison NHP NJ2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Thomas_Edison_NHP_NJ2.jpg)
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 site containing the home and the laboratory were designated the Edison National Historic Site.
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
Edison is a township located in Middlesex County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan Valley region, Edison is a commercial hub, home to Menlo Park Mall and Little India. It is ...
. Following extensive renovations of the laboratory complex, there was a grand reopening on October 10, 2009.
In popular culture
In 1996, the
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
band
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a d ...
recorded four songs on
phonograph cylinder
Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engra ...
at the museum. One of these recordings, of the song "I Can Hear You", appeared on their album ''
Factory Showroom
''Factory Showroom'' is the sixth studio album by the American rock band They Might Be Giants. It was released in 1996 by Elektra Records.
The album reclaims the more diverse and electronic sound of their early work, but differed from previous ...
'' released later the same year. The other three songs ("Maybe I Know", "The Edison Museum", and a re-recording of the ''Factory''
''Showroom'' track "James K. Polk") were released on the band's website in 2002.
See also
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Edison State Park
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 ...
*
Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Museum
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 towe ...
*
*
Edison Storage Battery Company Building
Edison Storage Battery Company Building, is located at 177 Main Street and Lakeside Avenue in West Orange, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 28, 1996.
The bui ...
*
List of museums in New Jersey
This list of museums in New Jersey is a list of museums, defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, ...
References
External links
Thomas Edison National Historical Park- official site
Stained glass restorationNational Park Service
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Thomas Edison
Historic house museums in New Jersey
West Orange, New Jersey
Protected areas established in 1962
Museums in Essex County, New Jersey
Edison
Technology museums in New Jersey
Industry museums in New Jersey
National Historical Parks in New Jersey
Historic American Buildings Survey in New Jersey
Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey
Houses in Essex County, New Jersey
Science museums in New Jersey
Parks in Essex County, New Jersey
Historic districts in Essex County, New Jersey
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey
National Historical Parks of the United States