This is a 50th anniversary model of Edison's incandescent lamp invention which occurred in 1879. The filament was made of carbonized sewing thread. Gifted curator of the Edison Birthplace Museum in Milan, OH, Laurence J. Russell, is shown in the small photo below.

A VISIT--
to Thomas Edison's Birthplace

In the 1840s Milan, OH was a world-class grain port (second only to Odessa, Russia) due to a home-built canal which linked the town to Lake Erie. In its heyday the town also was a shipbuilding center; producing 75 lake schooners.

It also was there in February 1847 that world-class inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born.

His ancestors arrived in New Jersey in about 1730 and were Loyalists to the British during the Revolutionary War. After the colonial victory, their land was confiscated and they later migrated to Canada.

Edison's father, Samuel, was engaged in a Canadian political struggle of the time and was later forced to escape across the border into the US where he and his wife settled in Milan.

Edison's mom bought a residential lot in town and pop built the home in 1841--six years later to become Thomas' birthplace; the youngest of seven children.

Sitting on the side of a steep hill adjacent to the canal basin, the modest dwelling actually is three stories tall. The room of Edison's birth would be dwarfed by many closets in a modern home.

And, the rest, as they say, is fairly well-known contemporary history.

Edison held a record 1,093 patents and was most noted world-wide for his inventions of the incandescent light bulb and the phonograph.

Today, the tiny brick birthplace has been restored as closely as possible to its original condition and period furnishings. It sits beside a colonial styled museum that contains many of Edison's inventions and memorabilia.

After Edison's death in 1931 opening his birthplace to the public as a memorial and museum became the private project of his wife, Mina Miller Edison, and their daughter Mrs. John (Madeline Edison) Sloane.

Today's museum opened on the centennial of the inventor's birth in 1947.

Laurence J. Russell, Curator of the Edison Birthplace Museum, has worked with Edison's youngest daughter, Madeline, since 1963.

We had the marvelous good fortune to have him conduct our recent tour of the facilities. His humor is elegant. His knowledge is encyclopedic. If today's history students had him in their classroom our country's collective wisdom would enjoy a hefty boost.

Curious? (that's a healthy attribute by the way), take a peek at the museum's website here: http://www.tomedison.org/ and do yourself a favor by enjoying a visit.


Joetta Goodman, my ladyfriend, is pondering the historical marker at Edison's birthplace,the small brick building to the right. The gray building to the left houses the historic site's museum just blocks from downtown Milan. In the lower photo a portion of our tour group listens to Curator Russell in the home's parlor.