Menlo Park, New Jersey | |
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Unincorporated community | |
Replica of Edison's lab, where he improved the light bulb and made it commercially practical. Henry Ford, Edison's longtime friend, built it at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.
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Location of Menlo Park in Middlesex County Inset: Location of county within the state of New Jersey | |
Coordinates: 40°33′54″N 74°20′15″W / 40.56500°N 74.33750°WCoordinates: 40°33′54″N 74°20′15″W / 40.56500°N 74.33750°W | |
Country | United States |
State | New Jersey |
County | Middlesex |
Township | Edison |
Elevation | 141 ft (43 m) |
GNIS feature ID | 878259 |
Menlo Park is an unincorporated community located within Edison Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States.
In 1876, Thomas Edison set up his home and research laboratory in Menlo Park, which at the time was the site of an unsuccessful real estate development named after the town of Menlo Park, California. While there, he earned the nickname "the Wizard of Menlo Park". It was in his Menlo Park laboratory that Thomas Edison invented both the phonograph and a commercially viable incandescent light bulb filament. Christie Street in Menlo Park was the first street in the world to use electric lights for illumination. The Menlo Park lab has been called one of the greatest laboratories ever. Edison left Menlo Park and moved his home and laboratory to West Orange in 1887. After his death, the Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower and Museum was constructed near his old Menlo Park lab and dedicated in 1938. Edison's old lab site and memorial now make up Edison State Park. The municipality in which Menlo Park is located, which was called "Raritan Township" while he was alive, was officially changed to Edison Township on November 10, 1954, in honor of the inventor.