Edison’s Study

Edison’s Study. Original Location of Edison’s Fort Myers Laboratory. In his initial plans for the property, Thomas Edison included a laboratory for his Florida estate. Though he anticipated leisure time, he also wanted a place to pursue inventing. The 1886 laboratory contained equipment for mechanical and chemical experiments. Compared to the $12,000 that Edison spent building and furnishing his winter home, he spent $16,000 on the laboratory. Many of the elements inside the lab came from Edison's various companies, including the dynamo, which was powered by a coal-fired steam boiler, providing electricity for the estate starting in 1887, eleven years earlier than the City of Fort Myers, which was not electrified until 1898., Of the many experiments Edison worked on in the laboratory, one focused on a form of underwater telegraphy. In a February 9, 1904 article for New York Home Journal, Edison said that he

"would be working upon sound, trying to extend the distance at which telegraphing by sound through water can be successfully accomplished. I have a regular workshop and a laboratory... and I go down there with a half dozen assistants. I am using steam explosions in such rapid succession as to form a musical note, long and short pauses (like dots and dashes of Morse code alphabet) can signal three or our miles... I find the Florida waters best fitted for my experiments on account of their freedom from other sounds."

Designed by Florida architect Nathanial Galliard Walker, this study was constructed in 1928 and sat on the original location of the 1886 Fort Myers Laboratory. A gift from his wife, Mina Edison, the building's design incorporated Colonial Revival style elements, including a wood colonial mantle and simplified porch columns with modest capitals and minimal bases. Other features include a rustic coquina stone chimney that highlights Walker's Craftsman ideal of using natural materials as part of the structure. Initially a large trellis was constructed on the south side of the building to support existing vines and botanical features. Edison used the study sparingly for research purposes, preferring his office in the botanical laboratory across the street instead., (captions) , Above Left: North view of the 1886 Laboratory. Right: Edison works on rubber experiments inside the 1886 laboratory with Dr. Francis Schimerka and Fred Ott., Inset: A postcard image of the original 1886 Laboratory, now in Dearborn, Michigan., Thomas Edison stands outside of his recently constructed Study, 1929., Did You Know? , Edison's original Fort Myers laboratory was given to Henry Ford, and in 1928 was moved to his collection of historic buildings at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Once there, the laboratory became the base of operations for The Edison Institute, a project to study and retain Edison's inventions. Known now as The Henry Ford, it remains open to visitors today. Ford financed the construction of Edison's Study and Mina Edison’s Moonlight Garden on the original footprint of the 1886 laboratory.