From 1887 to 1931 Thomas A. Edison, his laboratory employees, and invited guests entered the laboratory complex through this gate and arch. Guards and a tall picket fence (replaced by this chain-link fence in 1917) prevented sightseers and . . . — — Map (db m24160) HM
Thomas Edison was not just an inventor – he was a businessman running an industrial empire. Around the laboratory, Edison built large factories where thousands of employees mass-produced his inventions for the public. Edison understood the . . . — — Map (db m24173) HM
Building 5, the largest of the laboratory buildings, extends 250 feet along Lakeside Avenue. Henry Hudson Holly, architect of Thomas Edison’s home, planned this single, three-story building. But Holly’s building proved too small for Edison’s plans . . . — — Map (db m24156) HM
The Invention Factory In the fall of 1887, Thomas Edison moved into his new laboratory complex in the town of West Orange, N.J. For the next 44 years Edison directed teams of research assistants in his “Invention Factory” and . . . — — Map (db m24252) HM
In 1887 this building was one of the best-equipped chemistry laboratories in the world. Within its walls, Thomas Edison and his chemists experimented on everything from phonograph records to rubber. “Grand science, chemistry,” Edison . . . — — Map (db m24242) HM
Within this building carpenters shaped wood models, or patterns. From these wooden pieces, Edison and his employees made the parts for working models, specialized machinery, and other devices. The skilled workers in the Pattern Shop and other shops . . . — — Map (db m24243) HM
Metals were vital to Thomas Edison – from iron, copper, and various alloys used in new inventions to gold for plating phonograph record molds. Here in the metallurgical laboratory, workers collected, assayed, and evaluated the metals used for . . . — — Map (db m24246) HM
This open space between the laboratory buildings served many purposes: delivery area, test site, motion picture set, photograph backdrop, greeting area, and parking lot. Activities here changed almost daily. The laboratory buildings surrounding the . . . — — Map (db m24181) HM
In 1893 the Black Maria became the world’s first building constructed as a motion picture studio. This odd-shaped structure was designed to keep sunlight on the stage while Edison’s film pioneers made kinetoscope films. Although most filming took . . . — — Map (db m24179) HM
This building is a replica of the original “Black Maria”, the world's first motion picture studio.
Dedicated to the memory of Thomas Alva Edison the founder of the motion picture industry. — — Map (db m24249) HM
This replica movie studio symbolizes the early motion picture industry. Called the “revolving photograph building” when constructed in 1892-93, the studio was soon nicknamed the “Black Maria” by Edison’s employees - . . . — — Map (db m24155) HM
