The Amazing Thomas Edison

Jill's Journal: I don’t have a big interest in science, but oh my goodness – the Thomas Edison National Historic Site in West Orange yesterday was amazing. This arch is the gateway to Edison’s laboratory. The man got expelled from elementary school after three months for "lacking smarts" and asking too many questions. Clearly, not all things are as they appear. His mother homeschooled him.


This photo shows a good part of the lab complex, which was in use by 1887. Although he was known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” it was here in West Orange where most of Edison’s 1,093 U.S. patents were invented. Menlo Park was the location of his first, and smaller, lab.

This chemistry lab was the world’s best equipped when it was opened in 1887. It is unchanged from Edison’s days, to the point where many of the bottles still have their contents. There were no OSHA standards back then, so the entire place is highly contaminated. We were warned before walking in that touching so much as a table could make us ill and if anything broke, a HazMat team would have to come and decontaminate everyone. (Thank goodness my kids are good listeners and fought the temptation to touch all the colorful bottles!)

Edison’s time clock, which he, of course, invented. The hands were stopped at the last time Edison went through the doors, after lying in state in his library for his funeral. He is best known for inventing the lightbulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture. “Black Maria,” the world's first motion picture studio, still stands on the grounds. The tar paper-covered building has a hinged roof and was designed to revolve on a circular track to follow the best natural light.

The three-story, 10,000 volume research library sports a bed. Edison’s wife got sick of him falling asleep on random tables and floors while brainstorming at the office, so she had a bed installed to provide some comfort. He worked long hours, regularly 100-hour weeks, into his 80s.




Edison’s personal desk. The roll top was closed and locked upon his death in 1931 at age 84 and not opened again for many years.




The mansion, not far from the lab, where Edison lived with his family for 44 years and entertained notables ranging from Henry Ford to Hellen Keller to the King of Siam. Named Glenmont, it’s in the spectacular “subdivision” called Llewellyn Park. Here’s an interesting note: Llewellyn Park, which was designed in the 1850s, was the first planned residential community in the United States. It’s only about 12 miles from Manhattan and was billed as “Country Homes for City People.” There are approximately 160 lots on 420 acres and it is GORGEOUS. The girls even spotted three deer grazing on a lawn soon after we pulled in. Edison himself had 13 1/2 acres. Subdivisions, or tracts, are certainly not the same today!

Thomas Alva Edison’s grave (alongside his wife’s). The two had three children together. Edison also had three children with his first wife, who died at a young age.

Other intriguing facts about Edison: he was 90% deaf (highly ironic with his musical inventions), was of mostly Dutch heritage, and was equally adept at business as he was at invention and science. One of the 14 companies he founded was General Electric, which is still one of the largest publically traded companies in the world.

And of course, Edison’s most quoted quote is probably, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

The man was simply amazing.