Greatest inventor of them all!
Thomas Alva Edison was born on Feb. 11, 1847 and died on Oct. 18, 1931, at the age of 84. He has been called "the greatest inventor of all time," and "the most influential figure of the millennium."
I recently had occasion to visit his estate in Fort Myers, Florida and came away with monumental respect for this brilliant man.
Already a successful and famous inventor, Edison first visited Fort Myers, Florida in 1885. A native of New Jersey, he was eager to establish a warm-weather escape, where he could continue the prolific experiments he conducted throughout his life.
The 13-acre estate was the summer home for Edison and his wife Mina, who entertained such guests as President Herbert Hoover, Harvey Firestone, and Henry Ford. Ford even moved to the area and kept a summer home beside Edison's estate.
Since the railroad did not come to the area until 1904, and good roads were not created until 1910, all of Edison's supplies were brought in by boat on the Caloossahatchee River.
The grounds, which were donated to the State of Florida in 1947 by Mina Edison, contain the family winter homes, gardens and the laboratory, as well as a museum full of information on some of the 1,368 inventions for which Edison received patents during the 65 years he was working.
Several thousand guests visit the Edison estate each year.
To walk through this famous American's legacy is to realize what a contribution Edison made to the good of mankind. He truly was the man of the millennium.
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